Trauma kits were first introduced a few weeks ago at the high school, and expose the true nature of the security at PV. Presenting bags full of health supplies in each classroom implies that the school is simply waiting for something bad to happen.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the staff at Pleasant Valley High School had an in-service day. Instead of adhering to the usual schedule, teachers were led into a training called Stop the Bleed. The lesson was presented just as the name suggests, as it was meant to prepare teachers in an instance of a school shooting. The training consisted of stuffing wounds on artificial body parts and reacting in the situation of an intruder.
In response to Stop the Bleed, Psychology teacher Ann Berger said, “The training is doing exactly the opposite of creating a safe space.” The brain reads physical, emotional, and psychological pain the same way. Therefore, hanging a trauma kit on the wall in every classroom in the building will create an anxiety-centered environment.
Berger brought light to other medical problems. “Statistically speaking, it is more likely that a student will have a seizure or a diabetes-induced issue in the classroom than a bullet wound. That does not mean school shootings should be taken lightly, but that PV is not dealing with the real issue.” she said.
The upsetting in-service day brings up a point: if injury training is necessary in a school, the security must not be adequate enough to prevent the situation from happening in the first place. According to CNN, in 45 weeks in 2019, there were 46 school shootings. The occurrence of public violence is very quickly becoming a normality. With crime rates increasing, no institution is exempt from the possibility.
Senior Jenna Riordan had an opinion about PVHS compared to other high schools. “Sure, I feel safe, but so many other schools have things like metal detectors and lanyards with student ID’s,” she said. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2017, only 10 percent of schools used metal detectors, and about 24 percent of schools required student identification. This could tie into the increase in public violence.
According to Deputy Jamey Fah, several weeks ago, a teenager not enrolled in Pleasant Valley entered the school through a student and started a fight. Luckily, the situation could have been much worse, but that occurrence shows that PV can do more to make the building safer. Those precautions should be taken before any kind of injury training is implemented.
Jan 20. was an eye-opening day for many staff at PVHS. The Stop the Bleed program was tone deaf to the real issues occurring in the community. Safety training is a precaution that should be taken, but displaying “trauma kits” in every classroom is an unnecessary and uninviting solution to a large problem. Before students begin to question their safety, security changes need to be made at Pleasant Valley.
