Columbine. Sandy Hook. Uvalde. News headlines of horrific school shootings in the U.S. have struck terror in the hearts of educators, students and parents for decades. Yet, despite the ever-looming threat of violence, teachers keep going to work and students continue attending school every day. Studies show that although shootings continue nationally, day-to-day danger in California schools has decreased.
In March 2023, scholars Rami Benbenishty, Ron Avi Astor and Ilan Roziner published a study in the World Journal of Pediatrics about victimization in California middle and high schools from 2001 to 2019. With the California Healthy Kids Survey, they analyzed data from over 6 million students and found enlightening results.
Their statistics indicate that victimization and weapon use reduced significantly during the 18 years, with the largest decrease in physical fighting. According to survey results, feelings of safety and belonging at school increased, as well as adult support.
“I’ve worked in communities that had higher crime rates and poverty before coming to Los Al most of my career, so I always say kids are pretty much the same and want the same things in their experiences in school,” said Christiana Kraus, principal of Los Alamitos High School.
Benbenishty, Astor and Roziner wrote that shootings are only one part of American school safety and should be considered distinct from other types of violence, such as other weapon use, physical fights, theft, vandalism, verbal bullying, cyberbullying and sexual harassment. It appears that reductions in overall school violence could be the result of more investment in safety in response to shootings.
“I think while we are a school that still has to watch closely, that sense of violence on our campus in a typical setting isn’t something we see very often,” Kraus said.
The devastating news of school shootings around the U.S. blots out the smaller progressions schools have made to keep their students safe in a constantly changing environment. These moves toward increased safety include regular lockdown drills, campus security and zero-tolerance bullying policies, all of which LAHS enforces.
A large factor in the increasing danger and violence surrounding American high school culture is the consequences of social media. Fear is a powerful weapon, and students with access to social media accounts with a wide audience of peers can leverage that to create an uncertain atmosphere.
“Issues are not happening face to face, they are through keyboards, which makes it a more complex problem because we’re chasing the tail of something spreading through social media,” Kraus said.
Social media makes it much easier for people to spread messages, and this can have positive and negative ramifications. The fact that social media can shield people’s identities makes that even scarier because we feel much braver hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet.
“Instances of students posting threatening or inappropriate comments can lead to confrontations between the creators and the victims of such comments,” said Jerry Friedman, Director of Safety and Student Services for Los Alamitos Unified School District. “Fortunately, Los Al Unified uses various measures to monitor Internet usage and activity.”
With the Say Something anonymous reporting system, LAUSD investigated a tip earlier this year. Through Say Something, a student reported a threat, later deemed non-credible, referencing the date Friday, Sept. 22.
“Upon receiving reports of inappropriate or threatening comments, whether in person or on social media, school site administrators conduct thorough investigations,” Friedman said.
Although the details of the threat were kept confidential, it seemed that the discovered threat was posted to social media and caused panic. Many LAHS parents, worried about safety, kept their students home from school on Sept. 22. LAHS took this threat, while non-credible, very seriously and employed the necessary precautions: connecting with law enforcement and keeping in constant communication with the community.
“We worked hand-in-hand with local, state and federal agencies to quadruple-check the situation,” Kraus said.
Some students felt genuinely concerned about coming to school that day, but others took advantage of the situation. Many teachers schedule tests for Fridays, and some students used the threat as an excuse to stay home and avoid schoolwork. The school instructed teachers to proceed with their usual business, but classes varied on how they handled class and makeup work.
My classes on Sept. 22 continued with their lesson plans. The only difference was a noticeably larger number of empty desks. In one of my classes, we took our test as planned and those absent made it up the next week. However, according to LAHS students who attended school on Sept. 22, some had free periods, took easier quizzes that were easier than makeups or received extra credit for being in class.
I’m not sure there was one correct way to handle the situation. I think it depends on the teacher, the class and the students. Initially, it doesn’t seem fair to give students who showed up an easier time when those who stayed home may have done so because they or their parents feared for their safety. On the other hand, what about those who played their parents to get out of a test? Is it fair for them to have an extra day off when their peers came to school to learn?
I believe it’s up to Griffins and their families regarding how to handle events like Sept. 22. But I also think that student gossip, rumors and misinformation, all exacerbated by social media, can blow incidents out of proportion and create excess fear.
While I understand the risk and distress of coming to school on a date like Sept. 22, I don’t believe LAHS would allow students to come to school if they believed we would be in harm’s way. With the extra security and police presence on campus on Sept. 22, Kraus said it was probably “the safest day ever” at LAHS.
“We always honor family and the positions they take,” she said.
One can wonder if not coming to school on a day like Sept. 22 gives power to the person who created the threat: power over their peers, teachers, staff, families and the community as a whole. An anomaly in LAHS’ daily attendance like Sept. 22 has a “significant” impact on the school, according to Kraus.
“That’s a lot of money,” she said. “It’s probably six months of one teacher’s salary.”
Kraus and others also observed that these kinds of threats often plan for Fridays; this doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me.
“I try not to be jaded, but it is pretty frustrating when you see that’s when they come up,” Kraus said, adding that incidents usually occur near big testing days or when students can have a three-day weekend.
But even though these threats could just be students wanting a longer weekend or an extra day to study, LAHS takes the utmost care in dealing with any potential endangerment to student safety.
“Los Al Unified prioritizes ensuring the physical, social and emotional safety of all students and staff,” Friedman said.
Society tends to emphasize the negative, scary statistics that, in reality, don’t reflect the national context and progress schools have made with student safety. In a time where violence seems only to be increasing, it’s important for students to feel grateful that protective measures allow them to attend school safely.
