81 miles. The distance that spans from Oxford, MI, to Saline felt much shorter than that after November 30th. Whenever a tragedy like this occurs, the same questions always seem to arise.
How could someone think of committing an act this horrible? Why are schools not stopping this? What can we do to prevent these?
After the murders at Oxford High School, these questions felt much closer to home for the Saline community. However, this is occurring all across the country, as Oxford was one of the 222 school shootings in 2021, according to Center for Homeland Defense and Security. For the community, it has become a widespread discussion about what the district can do to help students who might feel they need to turn to violence, in order to prevent an unmeasurable tragedy.
Jason Pickett, social worker at the High School said, “the best preventive measures are not barricades, rather it’s connecting with those students.” It has been proven that these students often feel incredibly lonely and alone. One shooter stated that “I’ve had to rot in loneliness. It’s not fair.”
Therefore, it is paramount to the high school that students are reaching out when they need help or are nervous, whether it be to a trusted parent or teacher. They have even set up a hotline titled “OK to say,” which is intended for students to text in when they feel worried about another student or themselves.
School Resource Officer Jon Gassaway stated that “I got multiple alerts from the hotline... it’s been incredibly effective so far in helping me do my job.” The hotline is among one of many preventive measures that the schools have been utilizing. However, Theresa Stager, interim principal at the High School, stated that there are regrets from the dissipation of the Hornet Hotline. While the Hotline was sometimes ridiculed by some students, it’s clear that the district felt it helped students and staff, and there is some residing frustration over the forced removal of it.
However, it is clear that sometimes preventive measures are not often enough to stop the mass shootings that occur at these high schools. Students often feel too alone and are mired in hate that a hotline is not enough to stop them. Therefore, the school has tried to implement more security measures. An increase in the surveillance in the common areas, a locked door at the front of the school, and the implementation of security officers. Gassaway made it clear that this school was one of the more progressive in terms of security, yet he also said that he has thought of the pressure of being the only officer.
In the Saline community, some parents have advocated for the implementation of metal detectors at the gates, or pat downs of students. According to the US Department of Education, in 2019, ten percent of High schools had implemented metal detectors. Yet, everyone that was interviewed stated they were against the idea of the extra security measures. Musetta Deneen, assistant principal, said that “it’s something that people want because they want an answer to the problem, but there is no answer.”
Furthermore, a moment of terror and confusion was inflicted upon the Saline community on December 3rd. The Friday after the Oxford shooting, rumors started to swirl about threats being leveled across the state, including at the High School. Many schools across the county shut down, including all Ann Arbor Schools, Dexter, and Canton. Yet, Stager said that the threats never reached the credibility to cancel. “We had so many law agencies involved, such as the county and state police and the FBI, that deemed the threats non credible.” Contrastly, Stager stated that the threats were so hard to trace back because of the interconnectedness of social media. One of the biggest issues that has risen in the day of Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter, is the constant sharing and reposting of potentially harmful information, which makes it incredibly difficult for there to be potential traces back to the threat.
So, as parents sit in constant fear of receiving the dreaded call, the devastating news report or the destructive text message “there is an active shooter at your son/daughters school,” questions arise of what can we do? The key query is whether schools should focus more on the preventive mental health aspect or the security measures they can take.
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