School Safety

Download HSE Report It! HSE Report It! Precautions in place

FHS aims to promote safety in wake of St. Louis shooting

Sophia Krueger kruegsop000@hsestudents.org

Access code: hsereportit

On Oct. 24, three people were killed in a mass shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis, Missouri. e gunman, a former student, entered the building through a side entryway and opened re on the fourth oor, killing a student and teacher before being shot by police. According to CNN, there have been at least 53 school shootings at K-12 schools in the U.S. this year, a total larger than in all of 2021. An event that has become even more frequent since 2018; the year that created a lasting fear in senior Mira Athmarao’s mind. “I vividly remember being in my seventh grade social studies class when [Noblesville High School] got the news about the shooting [at Noblesville West Middle School], and I was frantically texting my friend there, [to see if they] would be okay,” Athmarao said. “Ever since that day, every classroom I go into, [I am thinking], ‘what’s the best escape route?’ at constantly runs through my mind.” For junior Hannah Decaudin, the Noblesville West shooting also le a lingering fear in her mind. Over time, her fear has shrunk, and she believes FHS has done well at preventing a similar situation from happening. “I feel like teachers and the school are very open about the protections they take,” Decaudin said. “We have all the signs that show what to do in each stage of [security] in the school. Teachers are made to lock doors in case of emergency, and they make sure to not have students prop the doors open [as well as] keeping outside doors locked during the school day.” Fishers follows an Indiana state requirement to conduct an active shooter drill once a semester. However, it is a drill that Athmarao does not see as bene cial to student safety. “I think that the drill itself is kind of useless because it [might not] be a random person that’s forcing their way in,” Athmarao said. “I believe if there was a shooter, then [they] would be from our school, because that’s what we’ve seen in cases of other public shootings. So teaching the shooter how we plan to avoid their rampage is [not] the best idea to go about it.” Decaudin nds the A.L.I.C.E. (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) drill to be important in preparing for an unexpected person from outside the building. “It’s important to know what to do in case of an intruder and especially to know the best way to exit and nd safety,” Decaudin said. “And if that’s not possible, how to defend yourself.” e school district utilizes an app called ‘HSE Report It!’ that allows students, sta and community members to send anonymous information regarding safety concerns. According to Assistant Principal Chrissie Sturgill, it is an important communicative platform. “We get such good information,” Sturgill said. ”As long as students continue to look out for one another, that is going to be…the biggest thing throughout the country. ings that have stopped major things from happening are kids reporting things that are happening, and our kids are doing a great job of letting us know anything that they have of concern.” While some schools have aimed to create a safer environment by requiring students to wear clear backpacks, Decaudin and Athmarao agree that would be an invasion of privacy. Sturgill says this approach to safety has not proven to be successful. “[In] the St. Louis shooting, that person did not go to that school,“ Sturgill said. “ e one in Texas, the kid did not go to that school. e one in Florida, the person came into the school. If we were to have clear backpacks, that still doesn’t stop any of those three shootings right there.” While the ideas on how to keep a school safe may di er from individual to individual, Sturgill presents a more humane way to try and prevent a more frequent tragedy from occurring. “I would encourage students to just look out for each other and treat each other with kindness,” Sturgill said. “If we could do that at Fishers High School, if we can make that our culture, I think that will help, too.”