The Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy has brought significant and unwanted attention to every school across the country. Districts are feeling the pressure to step up security and other safety measures to better ensure the safety of their students. However, schools are focusing too much on keeping intruders from entering the premises.

Following the Sandy Hook incident, Parkway has reexamined the safety of its schools. The city of Chesterfield has already made a call to action, agreeing to implement student resource officers into every Parkway elementary school and all other private and public primary schools.

It’s nice to see that schools are taking extra precautionary measures as of late, but the attention being given toward security is almost ridiculous. It’s not like there were no safety measures in place before the shooting. Intruder drills are conducted every year, and our school has completed them successfully in the past. The school is run by administrators and other adults who are both willing to and capable of protecting the student body from any harm a stranger may cause.

It isn’t that students and parents should not be worried about the safety in school, but a cruel shooting does not mean we are any more prone to danger than before that event. The chance that an emergency situation would occur at school is the same as it has always been, no more and no less. And if an alert did take place, I’m more than confident that the school would be able to defend its population.

Since intruders are no greater threat than they have been in the past, the school needs to focus more on improving the safety of its students in other areas of interest.

For instance, the entrance to the main parking lot of the school has been a danger to students walking to the front of the school from the back lot, but nothing has been done about it.

Students are known to accelerate through the curve leading into the main lot as they arrive to school. As they do so, many drivers fail to notice the people walking across the entrance and it’s the perfect setting for an accident. Furthermore, a tree, other cars, and the drivers’ own vehicles obstruct the view as drivers come around the curve, further inhibiting their ability to notice pedestrians who are crossing the street.

Though the students who are running late in the mornings may not appreciate it, students could be better protected if a speed bump was created along the curve. It would slow drivers down enough to hopefully notice any other students who may be walking across the street and prevent any kids from being struck by vehicles.

It’s understandable that in the aftermath of such a horrifyingly tragic event, the first instinct of many schools is to become scared. Out of that fear, they come up with ways to prevent those dangers, but they become so absorbed by the immediate threats that they fail to recognize the others that are hazardous for students. Parkway needs to shift its attention to all aspects of student safety and not dwell on the worst case scenario. In the end, it will create a safer environment for students.