“During the threat I didn’t really feel safe,” said freshman Dalton Barnett. “Someone could come in at any time.”

We students live in a constant threat because school funding is dwindling. However, the threat is not our quality of education. The threat is our against our safety. Whether the culprits are greedy politicians, spending funds on programs benefiting their parties, or school officials, dealing with a needle in a haystack, the starter of the problem is not the focus. The focus is a speedy solution that can prevent harm to the welfare of our lives.

Schools can not afford or get the proper resources to handle or prevent security threats. The resources just are not there and are getting less and less. The school has yet to properly prepare for a threat, all of the procedures are not at their full potential and resources are spread thin. The state has cut education budgets Couple this problem with another snag: Parents do not always agree with the administration’s decisions of discipline and methods of protecting students. “They need to do something about this student this is nothing to play with i will take my child out of that school. He’s warning them and those grown people just letting it go,” said parent Mary Woods.

//Money

The School budget is small and keeps getting smaller to the point that the necessities are barely covered.

Textbooks are severely outdated and are falling apart, classrooms rarely have things like tissue or hand sanitizer. How can schools protect students if they can not even afford the basics? Schools are begging for money and teachers give extra credit to students who bring in supplies for the classrooms. The Stockbridge district has applied for grants to pay for ALICE, active shooter threat training. Schools should not have to hope to get grants to pay for them to be able to protect students and provide basic supplies.  

//Time

The school only has students in schools for a limited time and that time is precious. Students attend for an average of seven hours which is a short amount of time. The day has already been squeezed for every last  second. The school day has been structured to maximize the time students learn, therapy does not fit into this structure. An average therapy session is one hour and with all the students who need help, there just is not enough time. If the school can not provide, the parents will have to find a therapist in the wild. Getting one will not be easy or fast, but it needs to happen. Therapists are just doctors and the brain is an organ that can stop functioning properly, when a part of the body does not work as it should a doctor helps to fix it.

//Resources

Schools can not make kids get help if the parents choose not to. School’s support systems leave much to be admired with its lack of support for both students and teachers. Students and teachers alike have too much responsibility and no support. Students have four classes each with its load of homework plus any jobs or extracurriculars. Teachers have to teach, protect, support students and plan lessons. Counselors are in short supply and students are in too high demand. Many counselors put all of their focus on special needs students causing those who need help to fall through the cracks.

// Responsibility

The school plans to add more and more responsibilities on teachers. There are plans to train and inform them on trauma and mental health in the future. Teachers are expected to teach, be police officers and counselors, when many teachers can not even teach. The responsibility of 20 + students is a lot, many people are unable to even handle one. Getting help can be expensive and time consuming. Therapy is not cheap, the average session ranges $75 to $105, if a spot is available.

// Action                                                                                                                                                            

Getting help can be expensive and time consuming. Therapy is not cheap, the average session ranges $75 to $105, if a spot is available. ALICE is just beginning, the full protocols have yet to be implemented as the schools are slowly introducing them as to not overwhelm students. There are no ALICE protocols for after school. The school’s resource officer system is in its infancy and there is one officer to three buildings. The police services are not 24/7 for the district. The problems have arisen, the district may not be able to meet them in time.f