Student safety is important. This week we will look at how schools are changing the way that they react to crisis situations and how technology is being used to alert people. Go to the link below and read the article. Then write a reflective comment about the topic.
Were you aware of the incidents reported in the article? Does our school have a text messaging system for emergencies? Should it and if so, who should be contacted through the system? How should students be involved? Under what circumstances should such a system be used?
12 comments:
"Texting for Security" - Hytham Bakir
The only incident reported in the article that I was aware of was the Virginia Tech incident, that was heard over the whole world. I don't think our school has a text messaging system for emergencies but it does have the safe haven rooms with the intercoms. I think that our school should have an emergency texting service, the police and other authorities should be contacted, including the embassy, and so should all students and parents. Students should be involved by providing numbers for everyone they know and themselves. Under all emergencies should the system be used, fires, intruders, strangers, etc...
After reading “Texting for Security”
AS I read the article, I noticed one incident that had happened, and that was the Virginia Tech massacre. I noticed it right away mainly because the killer was a Korean named Jo Seung Hee. This was all over in the Korean, British and English news. It was the screaming headlines for several weeks in Korea. In our school, I don’t think there is the system of sending text messages in emergency because if you have the phone on and if it rings during school hours, you get it taken away. I don’t think it is necessary in our school because we have security doors and those telecommunication systems on the wall. But if it gets really urgent later on, then maybe the school will allow turning on the phone for emergency text message. The teachers should be the first ones to be contacted, since it’s also their duty to have the students safe. I definitely disagree about the idea of students being involved since there might be more casualties. As I said before, if there has been an attempt or a rumor that there will be weapons in the school, then you might need that system.
"Texting for Security"
I was aware of one of the incidents reported but I had not heard of the others. I believe that our school does not need these devices because we have security doors and a communication system to all the class rooms from the office or from any other classroom. If our school did have a messaging system, it would not work out because barely anybody has their phones on, and even if they did, they would have it on vibrate, and if it vibrated in class, then the person would not check his/her phone until after class, therefore the messaging system in our school would not be great. I believe that the messaging system was made for big schools, not like ours. The students should not be involved in any type of rescue missions, we have security for that! The system should be used only when there is really a dangerous intruder in the school, not before that.
Although we often see technology being used to improve security systems, I believe that the use of e-mails, text messaging and Facebook as a form security will become problematic when the shooters start to use that technology to their advantage. For example, if the masked freshman at St. John’s University had used the text message as a way to determine the area where the most people would be, more people would have died. Although this form of security could help if the shooter did not come from the school, all the examples in the article point towards student shooter than outside shooter. Therefore I believe that the safe haven approach our school has is the safest form of security we could have. The text messaging system would work better in our school because we could inform students to go into the safe havens.
The only incident that I recognized form the article is the Virginia Tech shooting; the others, St. John’s and UW Madison I did not notice. I knew about this incident well because I lived in Virginia most of my life and I have many friends who go to Virginia Tech who I needed to check up on after the massacre hit the news. In ACS, we considered having an SMS service but it fell through right at the beginning; they took all the students’ numbers and then problems occurred. Another reason it would not have worked even if they didn’t run into problems is that students are prohibited from having their phones on during school hours, which means a warning would not be able to be sent to the students if a terrorist attack occurred during the school day would. I think that our school does need an SMS system because cell phones have revolutionized the world helping people contact others all over the world for emergencies and other important things. With cell phones, children and teenagers can contact their parents at any given time for important things. It is almost like a tracking advice so that people know that their loved ones are safe. I feel that although we have a security team and secure gates, glitches always occur and no one can ever be completely sure of their safety. I do not thing students should be involved in the system, I think that they should only receive messages and notify their families. I think an SMS system should be used in security breaches and in simple things like school closings for snow days and reminders for days off and important dates.
I never heard of most of the incidents mentioned in the article, only Virginia Tech. I've never realized how often campus violence takes place. This is more of a problem than I thought, at least in the US. I didn't think it happened that often or in such many ways and methods. This is more of a problem than I thought. Our school doesn't use a text messaging system for emergencies, cell phones are banned completely from being seen on campus, ringing in class, or even being turned on. I think it would be a pretty good idea to start such a system in our school. We have safe haven drills and similar things but I don't think that's effective enough. We need a more widespread form of urgency. Although we're not allowed to use our phones on campus, most of us have them in our pockets all the time. It's one form of communication that can connect all of us instantly anywhere on campus. In case of emergency, all students should be sent a text message stating the problem and what they ought to do for their safety. I don't think students should be required to do anything but have their cell phones on themselves all the time; other than that, it's mainly the school's administration's responsibility to send out the messages as soon as they confirm the conflict. I think this kind of system should be installed everywhere no matter how safe the environment is or seems to be because these kinds of happenings could take place anywhere at anytime. They're unpredictable and widely spread.
Texting for Security
I wasn’t aware of most of the incidents except for the Virginia Tech incident. I don’t think that our school has a text messaging system for emergencies, but I do know that the school uses the e-mails to inform us of something. I think that we should have a system like that since we are in an area where there is likely possibility of an attack. I think that the students should first be warned of the danger and then the parents so that way the students know what to do. The text messaging system should only be used if there is a big emergency such as someone with a weapon breaking in or shots hear in the campus.
By
Sasha
I was not aware of most of the incidents in this article except for the Virginia Tech article. I think that our school should have an IM texting service that could help us communicate fast in case of an emergency. Students should be the like the branches of a tree. In every school there is no one that has a cell number unknown to no one. This allows that in each advisory if you have 2 people that send messages to the rest of their advisory etc… the message would get around much faster. The message would first go from the director to the advisors and then the advisors to the 2 representatives of their class that then pass on the massage to their peers. Such a system should definitely be used in case of an emergency and nothing else because usually cell phones are not allowed in class here so therefore you should only use this system when really needed. These however should be used in drills, just like the fire and lockdown drills we should have a texting drill.
I was obviously aware of Virginia Tech since it was so intensely advertised in the media but the other two incidents are completely new to me. I would like to point out what this illustrates—the media will not present an issue to the public until a death statistic is used, which brings me to my point on text messaging emergency systems: why take action only after the situation has happened, rather than spend money on preventative measures, such as offering advanced psychological or psychiatric sessions for students, which will always be much more effective? Now obviously text-messaging systems would definitely help with external crises and if an internal situation takes place, we should use what we have, however, I just don’t believe they are the most effective measure against internal crises. I don’t believe our school has a text messaging system for emergencies but I know it does call people on house phones for snow days or days off after a crisis has happened. I believe it should have such a system since most of our crises would be external rather than internal and I believe within such a system, they should inform students as well as parents in teachers in order to involve them. Such a system would possibly be used in our school under circumstances of a natural disaster like an earthquake or maybe even an external attack, which has actually taken place in the past and the only way I was informed of it was through the guy who attempted to break into the school since he knew so many ACS students. By Nai
As I read this article "Texting for security" the only incident in the article that was reported was the Virginia Tech incident. I don’t think that our schools have a text messaging system for emergencies but if we did it would not work because teachers tell us to turn our phones off during school periods, but there is a safe haven. We would not really need it anyways for all the guards and security we have. But I think that we should have a texting emergency service so that if anything happens were all alerted. Most students in our school have cell phones so it would not be a problem. Teachers should be the first ones to be contacted to calm the students that are in the classes and guide them to safety. And maybe the parents too. The student should definitely not really be concerned in this situation. The texting message emergency would be use full if there is a dangerous emergency such a heavy fires, terrorist entries or even important days off.
by: Ousmane
I was never aware of any of the incidents, but at ACS I think this way of security wouldn’t be good, because many people have their phones turned off or on vibrate. Anyways, there is enough security at the school like safe rooms and guards. Also,there is some people at ACS that do not have cell phones which can cause a problem. And the school doesn’t allow cell phones to be out during school hours. To avoid incidents such as the one at Virginia Tech,ACS should set up school mettings olny for security to insure better safty
Post a Comment