Over the past couple of months, there have been a few security related emails sent out to the Parker community. All relatively vague. It’s confusing how something as crucial as security is information that is allowed to be withheld.
“We are writing due to some recent incidents in the neighborhood that have impacted our community’s safety. While we cannot share the details of these incidents…” Ok, closing the email. It seems like our administration just loves to confuse students and their everworried parents. Why fear-monger when gun-violence is rampant across the country and people don’t even feel safe leaving their houses for a multitude of reasons? It really shows the lack of thought put into these all school emails.
However, to get off the administration’s back, we’re here to discuss a different issue: students’ lack of realization of the importance of Parker’s security. It’s sad that we need these, but Parker has full time security guards, locks on all doors leading to outside, and secure plans for if something were to ever go wrong. Though it may seem impossible to some, many schools don’t have concrete protocols for safety incidents. Many schools also don’t have the amazing, welcoming, and joyful security guards that we are extremely lucky to have. CPS high schools across the city sometimes have all students going through TSA-like metal detectors just to enter their school. Could you even imagine?
Another aspect of security that students take for granted is the security of their items. Multi-thousand dollar jackets casually sitting on the floor of the alcove, an entire Apple ecosystem left in a library study room, or even full backpacks left in random hallways are just a few of the plethora of examples of people not realizing they can’t just leave their stuff everywhere. Our security ensures that stolen items are tracked down and that people cannot just come into the school and rob it. It may seem trivial, but the Parker bubble isn’t just a social buzzword but a physical barrier of security at 330 Webster.
On Friday, April 17, the police came to Parker after a water gun from the senior assassin game was mistaken for a real gun by Parker’s third-party security company who monitors the cameras for any potential weapons or threats. Though a mistake, the intense security of the school is actually something we should all be grateful for. Oh how that is so far from reality. After the email was sent, outrage sparked amongst the seniors. People were speculating that the administration was protecting a parent or generally fearmongering the grade about the game. Nobody, though, took a minute to think about if the email was actually telling the truth. What if it truly was just mistaken for a real gun? And, why would that be a bad thing? Do we enjoy feeling unsafe at school? We didn’t think so.
Ms. Zeller’s timely response to a senior’s email assured the senior class that the school was neither employing scare tactics nor protecting a parent. The hypersensitivity of the security response is just a byproduct of the day and age we live in—and seniors should’ve been smart enough to realize that. It wasn’t something to be petty about. Yes, vagueness only fuels confusion. But our frustration with that shouldn’t blind us from the bigger picture: the reality is that these systems exist to help keep us safe. We should recognize the privilege of learning in a school where safety is prioritized.
