As school safety and security continue to populate the news following school shootings like Lamar High School in Arlington and the vandalism on campus, students share thoughts and concerns about the fatal situations.

“There is improvement in the security we’ve gotten,” senior Lisa Dickey said. “All our doors are locked, and you can’t leave campus without being stopped. I think they had good intentions, and it had a purpose, but do I think it really helped or changed anything? No, not really.”  

Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District has responded to concerns about the safety of the school by increasing its security presence on all campuses. The district also employs police officers to patrol schools across the district to maintain safety and security. 

“With any emergency, all staff responds,” security supervisor Jerome Scott said in a previous article about increased security. “We come to the situation, assess, intervene, separate the individuals, find the aggressor and the victims and do the crowd control.” 

Recent studies have shown the mental health of students has suffered with the threat of school shootings.  

“I feel like [threats] make the environment less safe and more anxiety-ridden,” freshman Linda Williams said. “Especially with our generation, anxiety is a very common thing.” 

While some have concerns about how schools can respond to dangerous circumstances, EOC English and debate teacher Vanessa Capaldo said those in the district are doing what they can to keep everyone safe.

“We’re trying to keep their kids as safe as possible,” Capaldo said. “If they only feel comfortable keeping their kids at home when there’s a threat, I completely respect that.”  

With more than 130 mass shootings just this year according to The Gun Violence Archive, the question of how to improve security and prevent mass shootings is something Dickey said needs urgent answering.  

“I genuinely did not think that there would ever be threats at the school I went to,” Dickey said. “I was like, ‘Oh, that couldn’t be us,’ but then, we got threatened, and nowadays I come to school every day fearing for my life. I am scared every day.”