What You Need to Know About School Safety?
While there are many responsibilities of a school administration and one of the most important is maintaining a safe environment for both students and staff. In light of the recent school shootings, the safety of Mission Vista and many other schools have been called into question.
In the wake of the recent shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, many students have questions about what they would do to stay safe if something similar occurred on the MVHS campus. Many want to know what school administration is doing to keep the students safe, but that is not an easy question to answer. While admin knows that it is important for students to know what to do, they are concerned about letting a potential intruder know the entire safety plan.
Assistant Principal Ms. Zilk assures explained there the school does have a comprehensive and detailed safety plan that is revised and updated by admin every year. The plan goes through a rigorous review by district officials and by the School Site Council. In addition, Zilk explained that school administrators also attend regularly scheduled district safety meetings throughout the school year. These meetings include representatives from the district, Oceanside Police Department, and Vista sheriff's and fire department.
Vista Unified School District also shared some information as to how staff and teachers are trained to keep the campuses safe via a podcast that may be accessed on the school website or via vusdwave.podbean.com. The podcast explains that there are lock down drills practiced twice a year. “A lock down is called, everyone goes to the nearest occupiable, lockable space - whatever that might be - and get inside, close the door, lock the door, turn the light off, close the blinds or curtains, and hide in a secure defensible position,” explains Jeff Geyer, the district’s safety and Environmental Manager.
While the podcast defines clearly what the district is supposed to do in the event of a school shooting, do teachers and students at Mission Vista receive the same instructions and information as administrators and district officials? A teacher at MVHS that would like to remain anonymous expressed worries about the lack of standardized instruction given to teachers, saying, “I feel like the sheriff’s departments should come in and train us on how to handle an active shooter because the active shooter policy or procedures are antiquated, they’re old, and they don’t take into consideration modern classes.”
Some students also feel unprepared. “We’re just asking for directions. We want to make sure we’re safe, and if something were to happen right now we would have no idea what to do. Even though they have something in mind, students don’t know that,” explains junior Melyssa Oliva.
Senior Emily Schmidt shares her views saying, “I understand that they [school officials] don’t want information to get to a potential school shooter, but what’s going to end up happening is, in the case of an actual school shooting, it’s going to be complete chaos because no one is going to know what to do.”
Questions are out and awaiting response: How are the students of Mission Vista being kept safe? How can school officials strike the balance between keeping the safety plan private and also keeping students and staff informed and prepared? It’s time to find the balance between oversharing information and having an informed student body.