As they hid in the darkness, Taylor quietly panicked about the white jeans she wore that day, which made her stick out in the crowd. According to an email sent to parents, the hard lockdown was prompted after a social media post claimed someone had a gun on campus. They turned off all lights, locked all doors and hid in silence. 26, Taylor and her Brookwood classmates frantically dropped their orchestra instruments and ran into a storage room. For others, it’s devising escape plans in each classroom, just in case the worst happens.
For Taylor, that means wearing colors that she thinks will help her blend in. Nonetheless, the headlines and statistics have left many students feeling anxious. Some schools have clear backpack policies and metal detectors. All metro area public schools have cameras and resource officers. Doors back into buildings remain locked at most schools other than when students change classrooms or at the start and end of the school day. Schools say they are tightening security. And there were 195 cases statewide in which a student was disciplined for bringing a handgun to school in the 2021-22 school year, nearly three times as many as in 2014-15, according to data from the Georgia Department of Education. There were at least 11 gunfire incidents at Georgia schools and colleges last year, resulting in nine injuries, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, which compiles press reports. And each incident of violence brings with it a steady stream of horrific headlines. jumped to the highest number in 20 years in 2020-2021, according to a report released last summer by the National Center for Education Statistics. The teenager was among eight students recently interviewed by Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporters to gauge feelings about school safety on metro Atlanta campuses. But lingering in her mind is the fear that, one day, there could be a mass shooting by an intruder or another student. Taylor, 17, doesn’t necessarily feel unsafe at school.
Kids, teens weigh in on weapons, school safety measuresīlack is the only color Gwinnett County student Taylor Jones wears to school.Īfter sitting in a closet inside her orchestra room in the pitch-black for hours during a lockdown, the senior worries that any bright colors will make her an easy target if an armed assailant were to ever get inside Brookwood High School. Originally published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Jan.
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