Let Student Voices Drive Our Safety Related Policies

When I finished my term on the BOE last summer I hoped that the divisive rhetoric around school safety would abate.We are so fortunate that our kids can walk to and from school safely, there are rarely physical fights in schools, homicides in our community are exceedingly rare, and our kids, for the most part, have teachers and staff who care about them.But I still worry for our children’s safety. Not from an extremely rare mass school shooting but from things like student anxiety, depression, and substance abuse that can be exacerbated by bullying, nastiness, feelings of isolation, and/or intolerance.We need to do better as a community.We all want safe schools.But, how can we expect students to try to understand different perspectives, think critically, and agree to disagree with civility if adults in our community do not?Let’s focus on making sure all of our students feel connected to school, are not experiencing bullying, and have the support to succeed academically and socially.That means assessing the climate of the district and developing an action plan to address areas of concern.

(www.p12.nysed.gov/sss/ssae/schoolsafety/school-climate.html).  Let student voices, not a few adult voices, drive our safety related policies, procedures and programming. 

– Heather Reynolds, Saratoga Springs