Every day people wake up to their information sources bombarding them with news of misfortune. But there are times when these happenings seem distant, and it becomes easy to forget that the dangers of the world could happen right here.

In light of the December shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, CT, schools nationwide have been on red alert. Stagg is no different. With a new momentum after Stagg’s own two lockdowns in early February, administration is looking to keep students and staff safe at all costs. And according to Assistant Principal Gamal Salama, more emergency drills are only a jumping off point. “The district requires two a year, but we will be doing more,” Salama said.
                                                                                                                                                                                    Another thing to notice is that no administration will ever use the word “drill” to announce an evacuation, whether it’s a drill or not. Principal Andre Phillips said, “We’re not going to say drill or for real. We need people to take it seriously. We need people to follow procedures.”
                                                                                                                                                                                              The procedure that took place last month wasn’t respected as it should have been. A number of teachers didn’t order students to stay quiet or hide under desks, and some didn’t even turn off their lights or stop teaching. Phillips and Salama, as well as all of the safety coordinators on campus, recognize that people weren’t taking the situation seriously like they should have been. “The rules weren’t being enforced,” Phillips said . And it would have been impossible for anyone in a classroom to ignore the urgent message on the all-call.
                                                                                                                                                                                        Except for a few – seemingly forgotten – classrooms in the back of the school.
                                                                                                                                                                                             The dance and fitness rooms, as well as L3, have no mode of communication with the rest of the school. No intercoms, no phones, nothing. The closest all-call is in the gym, which is separate from two of those rooms. Physical education teacher Rosslyn Halekakis has been working for several years to get at least a phone in each classroom, but to no avail. “I’ve tried and tried and tried and tried but still nothing.”
                                                                                                                                                                                           This, among other events, raises a serious question. Is campus safe? Nothing is foolproof, but some say that there is a gap in what needs to be done and what is actually being done.
                                                                                                                                                                                         There used to be security cameras on campus, but eventually they stopped being used for various reasons.  Emergency situation plans and evacuation maneuvers were recently put in sub packets. The evacuation map was just rewritten so as to be clearer and more concise. And there are still classrooms on campus that aren’t connected to the rest of the school by any technology.
                                                                                                                                                                      Administration is trying and doing what they can, when they can do it. But according to science teacher  Marcus Sherman, “It’s taking a lot longer to get to where we need to be than it should.” Sherman is, and has been,  an advocate for increased measures of protection on campus.There are huge gaps in the measures taken to make campus a secure place, and to keep students safe there can’t be those gaps.
                                                                                                                                                                                             “We have a lot of work ahead of us to be ready for any emergency situation,” Salama said. “Any threats at all.”