September 5, 2023

In 1999, the year of the Columbine shooting, less than 20% of American schools had security cameras in place. As of 2020, over 91% of American schools do.

(Source: National Center for Education Statistics) 

For the Reckon Report in September, we’re focusing on education. Public education has long been a flashpoint for debate in America. But in the last few years, school board meetings, school libraries and curricula at all levels of education have faced attacks, especially at the state and local levels. Most recently, that challenged curricula have included climate change denial and numerous other controversial issues related to race, gender and evolution.

Does your child’s school have metal detectors at the door? What about armed guards patrolling the hallways? Are they a recent addition in your local school district, or have they been present as long as you can remember? There’s a term for the proliferation of these kinds of security measures, and you may have heard it in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas last year. It’s called the “hardening of schools,” and it’s been happening at an accelerated rate in recent years. And while there’s little evidence that armed guards in schools reduce fatalities, fortifying schools is still a big business in the absence of comprehensive gun safety legislation. 

(Image credit: Eric Gray/Associated Press)

A quick look back

At the time of the Columbine shooting in April 1999, fewer than 1 in 5 schools in the US had security cameras in place. Now, surveillance cameras in the corners of hallways or above the doors of classrooms are about as commonplace as water fountains and lockers. Some school districts have even experimented with “aggression detection” surveillance technology, which hasn’t been proven to work, according to an investigation co-published with ProPublica and WIRED. Last year in the aftermath of the tragedy in Uvalde, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law that required at least one armed guard to be present in every public school in the state. The fact that the school district already had armed security, including its own police force, did not appear to be a factor in Abbott’s thinking. The result is that billions of dollars of the state’s budget surplus are going towards undergirding measures that have often failed in moments of crisis while getting rid of libraries in the state’s largest school district in favor of so-called “discipline rooms.”

(Photo credit:Getty Images)

Why it matters now

As the 2023-24 school year gets underway, students, teachers, parents and community members are going back into classrooms that are increasingly like fortresses. Districts across the nation are doubling down on measures that are often considered security theater, not unlike the TSA. Meanwhile, students are being deprived of essential services and experiences, like libraries and arts and music education. The funneling of tax dollars into school fortification raises many questions, such as “Are these methods proven to be effective?” and “Does this actually make children safer?”

Go deeper

• In wake of Texas shooting, some schools want to ‘harden.’ In many cases, that’s already happened. —Chalkbeat 

• One of the country’s largest districts is turning libraries into discipline rooms —EducationWeek 

• Why there’s a cop at your kid’s school (transcript here) —Slate 

• Do armed guards prevent school shootings? —The Trace 

• Aggression detectors: The unproven, invasive technology schools are using to monitor students —ProPublica/WIRED 

A final Reckon note...

Any reasonable person wants kids to be safe at school. There is no debate about that. Kids should be able to go to school without getting shot. But kids should also be able to enjoy their childhoods, and school plays a major part in that. When they’re subjected to a more militarized and surveilled environment, they’re not going to enjoy themselves. And so far, the solutions espoused by school systems and taxpayers over the last few decades haven’t really borne fruit. So, what if it’s time to do something different? 

Got something you want us to dive into soon? Let me know at avelasquez@reckonmedia.com.

That's all I've got for this week!

Thanks for reckoning with me,

Aria

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