How will gun control affect school safety? When most of us think of schools we think nice, friendly, and most importantly safe environments. As time has progressed, we as a nation have come to realize that this is not true for all schools. With recent tragedies like the Connecticut shooting at Sandy Hook elementary, students, parents, and people realize that not enough is being done at schools to protect students and people at school.
In a city like Fresno, there are many public schools that also might have the same feelings regarding school safety. It is not an easy task to protect a school where roughly a thousand students attend, it is not to say that it is impossible but more changes can be made to prepare and protect from a tragedy.
For the most part most schools in fresno had finally gotten the memo a few years ago to have more campus safety officials and guards. When you walk onto a high school in Fresno you immediately notice that there are several campus safety officials on duty, and there are obvious reasons for that.
There are children in elementary schools who bring guns and knives onto school campus, as it has happened in Fresno. One may argue that they are only kids and that all they did was bring a plastic toy or weapon, but the message is there. Violence has become a normal part of what we and the media have accepted and portrayed. This is instilled into youth minds as being okay- its not. This is a warning that there is definitely something wrong, and there should be more measurements taken to protect the future of america, because it all starts with the children.
To read more of The kNOw’s stories on violence, visit the SafeZone section of our website.
In 2006, over 25 youth began participating in weekly after-school writing workshops where they congregated in the hallway of a two-story building in West Fresno and learned the essentials of creating media and telling their stories. The group evolved over the next five years and is now proudly recognized as The kNOw Youth Media.
Through our program, we create opportunities for our youth participants, who in turn create long-term positive change in their communities. Our approach weaves youth development and youth media innovation to produce our biannual youth publication, multimedia projects, and community forums.
The kNOw began as a project of New America Media, which was the country’s first and largest national collaboration and advocate of 2000 ethnic news organizations. In 2018 The kNOw became a project of Youth Leadership Institute.
