“I do feel safe because I think this is a caring community and that’s what it takes. Every environment can be safer and we should always strive to do better,” Assistant Principal Shelly Phernetton explained why she feels safe in the school. She oversees safety and security by making sure all areas in the building are secure.

Having the right protocols is one of the most important things for keeping a building and a large group of people safe. Without everyone knowing what to do and how to do it, nothing would flow. Part of Phernetton’s job is to oversee safety and security. Safety can be a thing that is overlooked because people assume they are safe, but in a confusing world that cannot happen, especially in a school.

She looks over everything from the “physical safety of the building and the grounds and having enough lights in the parking lot.” Phernetton explained she deals with everything that, “might be connected with the safety of the people,” within this building.

In most buildings in America, students and staff have in the back of their heads the question of whether or not they are going to be okay. Some people do not question their safety at all and some stress about it all day. For those who stress about their safety, it is hard for them to focus on school. Those are the people that administration needs to focus on. Staff does not get credited enough for how much effort they put in, all summer long they are looking to see how they can make the school safer.

“Staff takes on a lot of stress too because they want to protect the students,” Phernetton said.

Social media is one of the biggest problems in America today for many reasons. One of the most prevalent issues is misinformation. During a time of mass confusion and chaos getting the right information is needed, but when students spread the wrong message before staff can get the right one out that is when panic sets in. It is easy for students not to know what to do and immediately send a text with information that they don’t know is true. That is something very scary because it creates more confusion.

“Social media is going to beat a response from the school,” Officer Dave Wynia said. Students will send out tweets, then the parents get alarmed and concerned.

Every person deserves to have someone they can go to that they trust, and that person they are most likely very close with. It is difficult to trust a large group of people that someone may not know at all, and they have to trust them with their life. But that is what one has to do when they go to school or are at any public event. Trusting staff because they know what to do in stressful times. As well as parents trusting the school and the police officers that this is their job and not to interfere.

Wynia said that we can all feel safer and more comfortable between the school’s communication and with parents and students trusting staff.

Everyone wants to be safe, whether it is in public or at a friend’s house or school. Safety is the number one priority for staff everywhere around the country and in our own town. Not only is there physical safety, but there is also the safety of making sure there are no drugs and other things that should not be at school. There will always be people that are doing bad things and with a large school that is very difficult to completely eliminate. But by teaching kids how to handle situations when they are around them, we can grow as a community.

Wynia explained that there are kids that, “don’t want the social media drama.” If kids feel safe, they will want to come to school, so as a community we need to make everyone, “feel comfortable.”

Trust is the most important thing in every aspect of life and students should consider trusting our staff because the “teachers care,”  Wynia said. “Your admin aren’t running and hiding or locking themselves in the room, they are out in the hall.”

Trust the staff because they really do care about everyone’s safety and want every single student to enjoy their school with as few concerns as possible.

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