Letters to the Editor

The following letters were written by 11th grade students in response to the following questions:

1.How safe do you feel in our school?

2.What should be done to make our school safer?

To the Editor, 

I personally believe our school is as safe as it can get from the fact that we’re located in downtown Manhattan, and the numerous cameras and police officers that surround the area 24/7. I’ve never felt unsafe when coming to school and coming back from school, I think we’ve done all that we can to be safe in the city. Events that might happen before we show up to school (based on your transportation) have nothing to do with the school itself and the security that we have. The school does its best to keep its students safe while were here and I believe they’ve done a good job so far.

Alisia W. 

To the Editor,

I think that you should talk about this shooting and the people that died in it. Please talk about the traumas that these poor people need to experience now that their loved ones were killed and how the shooting wasn’t the first, with so many suffering from gun violence.

James T.

To the Editor,

To start off, I never really thought about how safe I feel in school because there has never been a case where something bad would happen in my school. I always felt comfortable in school. Knowing that nothing bad has ever happened to me in school is something that I am happy for because there are cases in which there would be problems for other school whether it be a school shooting or not.

I do feel uncomfortable and sad when hearing about a school shooting.It makes me wonder what type of person is capable of doing this and what type of atrocity they have done. However, going back to the question I believe that I feel comfortable and safe in school.Therefore,  instead of making schools safer by adding police officers and metal detectors, we should say schools should actually focus on supporting the social and emotional needs of students. A preventative strategy should be to make sure kids are respected, that they feel connected and belong in schools. That means building kids’ skills around conflict resolution, stress management and empathy for their fellow classmates – skills that can help reduce all sorts of unwanted behaviors, including fighting and bullying.

Jerry R.