Seventeen students and faculty died at Parkland High School on February 14th, 2018, after being shot allegedly by Nikolas Cruz. This tragedy caused many protests for gun control and safety in schools. So now we ask, “Do students feel safe in their schools?”

All of the students surveyed who attend Clackamas and Rex Putnam High Schools,  felt safe in their school, but only 10% of those students believe there was enough security at their school.  When asked if the security at their school is sufficient, Sean Andre, a Sophomore.at CHS, replied that the security in their school is “subpar” and that “they could use some more security.” Despite this, those in the survey say they feel safe or “Safe enough”. Students mention drills they have gone through as a way to make them feel safer.

But the poll shows that only 40% of those surveyed know the drills, with 60% of those students not being sure or not knowing at all. Valeri Fries, a Junior at Rex Putnam, states why this is saying “they mess around in drills so they wouldn’t know what to do” while Kamren  Browen, a Junior at Clackamas High School, suggests the problem is, “We don’t practice it in every class, only the class that the drill happens in.” The general lockdown procedure for most classes is locks lights out of sight.

From the students surveyed, all of them feel safe in the environment they are in, and feel in the case of a school shooting, their school would be secure. Yet, all of them feel like there could be improvements such as increasing security, practicing drills more, going over a lockdown at least once in each class, and taking drills more seriously.

A safe environment is essential for students learning, and the hope of many of the students we surveyed students is that these improvements will help their schooling as a whole. Whether these things are implemented or not is yet to be seen, but it depends on both the students and the school district to make the changes needed to create a safer environment.