Keeping our schools safe

The Cornwall Board of Education and Principal Robert Vaughan are to be commended for their dogged pursuit of a solution to the very difficult problem of defining and implementing security measures at the Cornwall Consolidated School.

As pointed out in reporter Karen Bartomioli’s article last week on the Cornwall page of this newspaper, the topic has been discussed at every board of education meeting since October. And at every meeting, there has been a good representation of parents and community members in attendance to discuss the problem. This was not done easily or quickly, but rather was given careful and thorough thought by all involved.

The solution is having all the school doors locked and a camera trained on the main entrance, with school administrators at three locations receiving the feed and being responsible for determining whether the person at the door should gain entry. It may seem to some that this solution is stringent, with too many layers in between the students and the outside world. Let’s admit that those who raise their children in the Region One towns are hopeful that these schools have escaped many of the thornier problems associated with their counterparts in more urban areas, problems such as daily violence, drug and alcohol addiction and domestic violence. However, it is impossible to deny that such problems are real issues even in this relatively rural region and must be faced, discussed, and dealt with in a cooperative way.

Students must feel that the adults around them have taken measures that show they understand the dangers in the world and care deeply enough to change the way things are done in order to create the safest possible environment for both the children and the adults, the staff, teachers and administrators, in the schools. Our children, and we, do need to come to terms with the possibility that such problems can cause threats in our daily lives, and we all need to be prepared to cope with them. The most important thing is not only that the solution agreed upon maintains a safe atmos­phere in our schools but also that the children and all in the schools feel safe.

This solution for Cornwall may yet change again, if those who signed a petition asking for more analysis before a decision was made are not satisfied with the safety measures approved by the board. Some may feel the plan is too harsh, some too soft. But the measures adopted are within the standards of schools of similar size across the country and within the budget, so worth trying. If the students and all in the school feel safer and better protected because of these steps taken, then it will allow better education and inspiration to continue to happen within those walls of the Cornwall Consolidated School.