School as Prison, and other useless ways to improve safety

March 01, 2004

Number 2 Pencil carries a sad Washington Times article on the beefed-up security at one high school which recently had a fatal shooting:

The plan, which Mr. Williams described as "custom-designed" for the Southeast high school of 1,097 students, will include up to 30 police officers and security guards patrolling the building in a combination of fixed and roving patrols during school days. The 24 security guards, six police officers and one school investigator called for in the plan will be under the command of a police sergeant . . .

Other changes at Ballou will include the purchase of four metal detectors, three X-ray machines, a computer system with a photo-ID database that will include student schedules and disciplinary infractions. Images from the school's 53 surveillance cameras also will be fed to the police department's Joint Operations Command Center.

Kimberly writes:

That's no longer a school. That's a prison. "Joint Operations Command Center?" Barricades around security equipment? Fixed and roving patrols?

She's right, of course. We have a number of ideas of what leads to school discipline problems, and a lack of metal detectors and armed patrols aren't on the list.

Yet again, school administrators completely lose their already-slim grip on sanity when reality smacks them in the face. Reality in this case taking the form of a homicidal gun-wielding student.

The solution, of course, is to beef up security! Of course, that's it! Johnny wouldn't have shot his classmate had there been police in the building, right? And if he'd had to pass through a metal detector, his negative feelings for his classmate also would have been screened out at the door, right?

Do school administrators really think like this? By their actions, it is sometimes hard to tell.

But when you build a prison, you have to run it like one. And that "single entry point" just won't cut it for a host of practical reasons. We'd be willing to bet that if someone wanted to get a gun in that building, he'd have little trouble. All one has to do is come after school and stash it someplace.

For starters, there's the question of special after-school activities. Do they make all parents and teachers walk though the metal detectors? If there's a school play, will the entire cast, crew, and audience have to file through that single entry point? On parent-teacher conference nights, will they make all the parents file through? We don't think they have the guts to maintain their "secure perimeter" 24-7 because it's too much work, not to mention expensive.

No, it's folly to think that you can "guarantee" security or safety 100% of the time.

Administrators should instead look in the other direction, towards core discipline and self-esteem programs.

Discipline
Show us a school with a discipline problem and we'll show you a group of ineffective administrators.

Yes, it is that simple. It doesn't matter what demographics you have in that school, it can be public or private; rural, suburban, or urban; large or small; well-to-do or high-poverty. Discipline is a factor of leadership, not your student body (although it is much easier to blame the student body or "the neighborhood").

No, effective administrators can enforce any sane and reasonable code of conduct, as long as it is firm and fair, and consistently enforced, without "wiggle room." Students respect that. This desire to eliminate "wiggle room" is what spawned "Zero Tolerance," largely by clueless administrators (effective administrators have no need for Zero Tolerance policies because their discipline code is already an effective tool).

Zero Tolerance policies are just one symptom of ineffective administrators. Get caught with Tylenol? "We have zero-tolerance for drugs!" Bring a half-inch GI Joe prop to school? "We have zero-tolerance for weapons!"

Another symptom of ineffective administrators is the flip side of zero tolerance. We mean the ultra-tolerant indulgence given to genuine threats, such as chronically violent or abusive bullies. We wrote about one principal, whose policy was to simply send the bully back to class, as opposed to giving the kid a meaningful consequence to encourage the student not to do it again.

Meanwhile students are watching, and learning. They are learning that administrators have no sense and cannot be trusted. They are learning that discipline policies are "anything goes" with largely random consequences, which are often upside down: real threats are appeased, and harmless behavior is given a Def-Con 4 response.

And these same administrators feel metal detectors will make their schools safe.

Self Esteem
After the Columbine shootings, there was some muted commentary on the role "self-esteem" building may have played. One aspect of certain self-esteem programs is to praise the child for nothing, building not self-esteem, but narcissism.

Another aspect is to have the student never experience failure or disappointment, for that can harm the child's self-esteem, as if it were made of crystal. Of course, insulating people from reality doesn't do beans for their self-esteem, but the experts rarely acknowledge that.

At some point, reality will make an unwelcome appearance.

It's been suggested that the simple act of being dumped by your girlfriend can have drastic consequences, if you've never had to face disappointment. And what happens when you have narcissism combined with social rejection? Aggression, says this study by researchers at the University of Georgia.

Heaven forbid you should be in the "wrong" clique at school. From a 1999 story on Columbine High in The Onion:

"We have begun the long road to healing," said varsity-football starting halfback Jason LeClaire, 18, a popular senior who on Aug. 16 returned to the school for the first time since the shooting. "We're bouncing back, more committed than ever to ostracizing those who are different."

Added LeClaire's girlfriend, cheerleader Kellie Nelson: "A school where the jocks cannot freely exclude math geeks, drama fags, goths and other inferiors without fearing for their lives is not the kind of school I want to go to."

Maybe administrators will outlaw cliques next?