Better safer than sorry seems to be the mindset of Brawley Union High School officials regarding safety on the Brawley High campus.
We say “safer” because no high school campus, in these times, is going to be completely safe, considering the proliferation of bullying, weapons, violent video games and countless other factors in our land that contribute to the potential for violence on high school campuses.
Security at all of our nation’s schools has become a major national focus since the mass killings at an elementary school in Connecticut in December, but high schools in this country have had safety issues for decades. One proposed solution has been to have armed security at every school in the nation, but that idea is being heatedly debated.
Rather than being caught up in that hubbub, Brawley high school officials did the methodical, and right, thing in executing a security review of the campus in an attempt to identify weak points in campus safety. Results of the review were presented to the district school board this week and on Wednesday district trustees hired two part-time security guards as a result.
BUHSD Superintendent Hasmik Danielian told trustees that because the high school has students coming and going throughout the day, some gates on the campus must remain open. The security guards can better monitor who is leaving and coming onto the campus.
Considering that Brawley High is a large high school in a busy working-class neighborhood with lots of foot traffic in general, the action by the school board was a wise one.
Danielian said student safety is the No. 1 priority in the BUHSD. We would advise other school districts in the Valley to do similar systematic reviews of the security on all of their campuses.
That would demonstrate to parents, and everyone else, that the safety of the students is their top concern, too.
THE ISSUE:
Campus safety
WE SAY:
BUHSD decision a good one.
WHAT DO YOU SAY?
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