Dear Homewood-Flossmoor staff and administration,
Recently, you have made the decision of adding lanyards to our daily apparel.

This to us partially feels like a steady reminder of how unsafe we are on an open campus.

If every time we walk out of our door, we become fearful of the numerous counts of possible deaths that we can encounter then we will drive ourselves crazy.

In the height of such extreme controversial issues in America involving gun control-or lack thereof- it’s possible for a mass shooting anywhere.

Many schools across the U.S put this into action after the Columbine shooting in 1999, but we decided almost 20 years later to add lanyards when some schools have even gone to the extent of having clear backpacks.

We think this is a good first step to more safety on our campus.

We never had an issue with weapons before so to the extent of the clear backpacks would be a little much, but other schools in the Chicagoland area believe it’s necessary.

H-F has also installed new security cameras all across campus and have security guards monitoring the path during passing periods.

Some schools have students have to walk through metal detectors just to get into their high school…and these types of security actions happened years ago.

The matter is that schools put these actions into play after they have an incident or a dangerous event.

Why do schools feel it’s necessary to go to the extreme after a life-threatening event happens?
Not to be ironic to the 23 school shootings that happened in 2018, but lets beat the bullet. There’s been an increase in the security guards and many door entrances have been locked.

H-F has so many entrances and we’re surprised that strangers have not entered before.

We now have a front entrance that can’t be opened without a security guard buzzing them in.

Many schools established a code where once the students are inside all doors are locked. We can’t do this since we have an open campus, but what if the path was inclosed of some sort.Where students can constantly be safe and…beat the bullet.

That is something that will always be true. We can’t become stagnant in our lives, or become consumed by fear.

A bombing or shooting could happen in a church, a city street or a concert.
But this can’t keep us from living. So until then, we need to take the safety precautions necessary.