On Friday, October 2, students went to advisory instead of Morning Exercise. The original thought was to use this hour-long chunk of the day as time to practice a lockdown drill, but after Parker heard the news that nine people had been gunned down the day before in the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, administration cancelled the MX and the drill.

According to CNN, on October 1, Christopher Harper-Mercer, a 26-year-old student enrolled at the school, fatally shot an assistant professor and eight students in a classroom. Nine other students were injured.

Although a situation like this is unlikely to occur at Parker, it led some members of the community to wonder. What security measures is Parker taking to ensure the safety of its community, and are these measures enough?

After the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre of December 2012, when 20 children and six adult staff members were fatally shot by a gunman, Parker began to ramp up its security. “The fact that the Sandy Hook shooting occurred in a school much like Parker frightened the Parker community,” Rick Dusing, Director of Facilities at Parker, said. “Parents fired off a lot of emails with concern for their children’s safety.”

Several security changes were soon put in place following the events at Sandy Hook. Student identification cards were introduced, where students were given I.D. cards and are now required to scan in whenever they enter or leave the campus. “We are accountable for all of our students,” Dusing said, “and if a situation comes up regarding a particular student, we can know immediately if they are at Parker or not.”

An issue with the student I.Ds is that students don’t always use them. Assistant Principal Ruth Jurgensen sees this as a safety violation, and if the problem is not fixed, she would like to see significant measures taken. “If I were the Upper School Head, which I have been in the past, I would close campus,” Jurgensen said. “I would say that we don’t have 100 percent compliance, so no one can leave.”

Another security change made was the renovation of the front entrance that occurred in the summer of 2013. “We made a new security desk at the front entrance of the school, added the inner doors and a third set of doors,” Dusing said. “The security consultant said the purpose behind this was to have greater visibility on who is coming into the school. Now, if a person who is not affiliated with the school tries to enter, we run their I.D., have them sign in, and see what they are really doing here. If they cannot come up with an adequate reason for their presence at Parker, they will be denied entrance into the school.”

The fact that the perpetrator at Umpqua Community College was a student at that college raises questions about Parker’s student security. Dusing wonders to what extent the school is willing to take its security measures in that regard. “How far are we going to go?” Dusing said. “Like CPS with metal detectors? Simply put, we hope that kids aren’t bringing in weapons.”

Senior David Halpern trusts his fellow students. “I think Parker is pretty safe as it is,” Halpern said. “I trust the community, that no one would do such a thing as to bring a dangerous weapon inside.”

While there is trust among the community, Parker has also been looking at other school’s security systems.

“We have looked at what techniques other schools have been using,” Dusing said, “but I feel that we need to make our own procedure that fits in with our school.”

A 2011 research paper written by The University of Chicago Urban Education Institute entitled “Student and Teacher Safety in Chicago Public Schools” highlights other methods of security used by U.S. high schools, asserting that 53% of U.S. public schools search student lockers, 54% lock entrance and/or exit doors during the school day, 90% place school staff in the hallways, and 93% require visitors to sign in upon entering the school building.

While some Chicago schools have metal detectors, these can be a “kind of, in-your-face, right out there type of device,” Dusing said. “It’s not like Parker,” he added. “It’s really a cultural decision that administration would have to make.”

Installing metal detectors is not something that will be a part of Parker security in the near future. “I think that metal detectors would not be appropriate,” Jurgensen said. “Installing metal detectors would be a major culture change at Parker. The schools that have them tend to have a culture that is presumed to be violent, and I don’t think Parker shares this culture.”

At some Chicago Public Schools, cameras and metal detectors are used for safety precautions. Courts addressing the constitutionality of school metal detectors permit them for safety purposes, if not crime detection.

Chicago was dubbed the “Murder Capital of America” and is notorious for its gun violence. So far in 2015, Chicago has witnessed 418 homicides.

According to Jurgensen, gun violence is a societal issue, not a Parker issue. Jurgensen said, “I think gun regulation would make us safer.”

The requirements for concealed carry of a firearm have recently become much more specific.  To carry a concealed firearm in Illinois, state law requires an Illinois Concealed Carry License. For one to acquire a licence, one must be 21 years of age, have a valid Firearm Owner’s Identification card, not have any convictions of a misdemeanor involving the threat of violence, DUI’s or DWI’s on record, and not have any current arrest warrants.

The Supreme Court of Illinois held that searching students upon school-entry with a metal detector required no individual suspicion.

According to Dr. Gary Childrey, Upper School Guidance Counselor and Coordinator of Community Health, the chances of such a violent encounter of the sort experienced at Sandy Hook at Parker are low. “Not only do we have families,” Childrey said, “but the kids here know each other very well and care about each other.”

He also argued Parker’s already low risk is even lower due to its size.

“Someone who would be willing to commit such an atrocity would have to be deeply disturbed,” Childrey said. “Given that Parker is so small, such disturbances would be extremely easy to detect.”

Childrey trusts Parker’s ability to sufficiently see what is going on in the lives of its students. “Because we are a small school that has so many advisors, teachers, and counsellors,” he said, “we tend to be able to detect these types of people.” He credits Parker’s low student-to-teacher ratio with the ability to distribute enough attention to each individual. “There are a lot of eyes on a lot of kids,” Childrey said, “so we can easily see if someone is upset or going through a rough patch so that we can make an intervention and find out what is going on and how to help them individually.”

Childrey and other guidance counselors at Parker work to monitor the mental stability of students. “We meet with teachers, grade heads, and administrators weekly to talk about kids that we might be concerned about,” said Childrey. “We talk about student life. If the teachers express concern over a particular student, they will inform us counselors, and we meet with the administrators to see how we can intervene in the most effective way possible.”

Jurgensen, for one, is confident in the school’s ability to keep the community safe. “A lot of institutions react, not anticipate,” Jurgensen said. “In my position, I like to anticipate.”