Every day in this country teachers — from large schools and small schools, urban schools and rural schools, all across America — go to school every day asking themselves, “What am I going to do if there is a shooting today during first period, before school, during class change?”
School secretaries, cafeteria staff, custodians, administrative support staff and para-educators ask themselves the same questions every day.
Mike McKenzie
They do this not out of fear but out of realization that they need to be mentally prepared, beyond the school safety plan and drills, to make split-second decisions in order to save children’s lives.
Every day!
Every day in this country, school counselors, media center staff, assistant principals and principals ask themselves the same questions in their heads. They role play in their minds how they will respond if a shooting happens before school, during lunch, during dismissal, during an assembly, during the football game, and every other time of the day. They do this because they know and understand that their split-second decisions will save children’s lives or cost children their lives.
Every day!
I know this because I was a high school principal for 15 years. Like principals, teachers and other school-based educators from all over this country, I knew I had to be mentally prepared at any given moment to make split-second decisions that would either cost lives or save lives. It is not something I dwelled on or feared — it had simply become integrated into part of my mental preparation for the day.
Every day!
Unfortunately, there have been far too many educators who have had to make those split-second decisions to save lives. We find ourselves in all too familiar territory. Another school shooting with more lives lost. We can predict with near 100% accuracy the following response: an outpouring of grief, expressions of sympathy from across the country, moments of silence, calls for prayers, calls for stricter gun control, calls for putting armed people in the schools, calls for more mental health services and calls that it is too soon to have the discussion, etc. All well intended, perhaps, yet we can predict, again with near 100% accuracy, that another school shooting will follow that one and the next one and the next. And, sad to say, at the current pace we can predict it will be sooner rather than later.
I have always tried to be a solutions-based person, and I understand that there is no one solution. Here is my suggestion. Legislators and leaders from across the community, diverse in their thinking, come together and we “lock the door”. They have one question to answer: What needs to be done to make our schools, children and staff safe? And then do it! Not what can be done, but what needs to be done. Not what we can afford to do, but what needs to be done. “Yes but” answers are not permitted in the meeting. Everything is on the table. Those legislators and other leaders will be required to leave their perspectives and political beliefs at the door when they enter the room. Surely school safety transcends political beliefs and perspectives. The door remains locked until they come up with a plan that answers that one question. And they will be required to be brave in their thinking and action.
We ask the same thing of educators, and they rise to the occasion.
Every day!
In every school shooting there is a story of bravery by an educator. A secretary, custodian, food service staff, para-educator, teacher, coach or principal who stepped between the shooter and intended targets in order to save the lives of others. Sometimes these brave educators survive, and others times they do not survive. We have heard stories of brave educators hugging crying students during school shootings, hiding in a closet and hoping the shooter does not hear the sobbing children.
Surely, if this is the level of bravery we have come to expect from our educators, we can expect our decision makers and leaders to bravely make the decisions that need to be made. Surely we can expect our decision makers and leaders to answer the tough question: What needs to be done to make our schools, children and staff safe? If our educators can be brave when facing a shooter, surely our decision makers can be brave when facing the tough decisions!
I did something this morning that I have never done before. As I kissed my wife good bye on her way to work at a local elementary school, I said, “Be careful.” I know that she would not hesitate to put herself between a shooter and students. I know that every person in that building would stand between the shooter and the students. I know that every educator I have ever had the privilege of working with or knowing would shield students from a shooter. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind!
I hope that in the days and weeks ahead I can say, with no doubt in my mind, that our leaders and decision makers are addressing that question: What needs to be done to make our schools, children and staff safe? I hope that in the days and weeks ahead I can say they answered the question and took action.
Mike McKenzie is the Executive Director, Central Kentucky region for NaviGo College and Career Prep, a division of Children, Inc. Prior his current role, McKenzie served as Director of High Schools, Alternative Schools and CTE programs for Fayette County Public Schools for 4 years. He was also the principal for Lafayette High School in Fayette County Public Schools from 1996-2008.
NaviGo, a division of Children Inc., offers college and career coaching to any student who has the desire to be coached. By helping students identify their interests, passions, and talents, NaviGo Coaches help students determine their pathways to success. To learn more visit childreninc.org or navigoprep.com
