Smile, you’re on camera — Ida B. Wells is taking precautions to keep our school safe.
On Sept. 4 a school shooting took place at Apalachee High School near Winder, Georgia. Four people were killed and nine others were left injured. There have been 37 school shootings in K-12 schools this year so far. Increasing gun violence surrounding schools since the turn of the century has led students and educators to be ever-invested in reducing it.
The principal of Ida B. Wells High School, Ayesha Coning, is committed to the safety and welfare of students, staff and visitors. She says, “I want our student body to know we have camera stations at the corners of the hallways.” IBW has around 30 new cameras in the building. This will help monitor what goes on in the hallway, as well as who enters and exits the building. By enhancing the school safety protocols, PPS is proactively prepared to handle the threat of intruders or active shooters.
At IBW, there are also three security guards. They take care of student needs and regularly patrol the school. One common thread of our security staff is wanting to work with students. Katie Parnell, one of IBW’s security guards believes that having students stop letting others into the school will greatly benefit IBW’s safety. “The world isn’t as innocent as we think it is,” Parnell said. She feels a strong connection with the students and wants to keep them safe. One of PPS’s goals is to keep buildings secured at all times. Students tend to let others outside the school in thinking they might be a student or staff member.
Between Conning and Parnell this is a similar concern.
Security guards are engaged with students in a number of ways. Building relationships, serving as role models and handling conflicts. Jake Lang, a security guard at IBW said, “Going home and every day having the sense of people feeling safe [is] my top priority.” Lang has done various security duties for 20 years. “Checking in with the students, making that bond [friendship], so that they can trust us if something happens [and then] we can intervene.”
One of the benefits of attending IBW is the off-campus lunch privilege. The security team is available to students during lunch and monitors the surroundings. Having security patrol hotspots outside of school helps reduce potential conflicts. Their presence impacts student behavior.
More than just cameras were added to make IBW safer. A senior at IBW, Kira Faber said, “The 120-130 hallway got new doors which is good. They have push button locks now, cause otherwise you’d have to lock them from the outside. If there was a lockdown teachers would have to go outside to lock the doors.” This upgrade has made Faber feel safer in case of an emergency.
Although these safety measures may seem small, they help IBW continue to improve its safety and create a safe environment for its students. With the remodel of IBW, many hope to see big measures taken to ensure campus safety for everyone.
