With school shootings and violence within schools becoming more prevalent, students may wonder what is being done to protect them?

Earlier this year a student at Whitman was arrested after allegedly hitting another student with a frying pan. In light of the recent “jumpings” and gun carrying incidents at Clarksburg, MCPS decided to release an official statement on how they protect students.

The statement goes through several of the threats MCPS high schools have faced this year, the legitimacy of these threats, what type of legal action will be made against the people making threats and what parents can do to prevent their kids from making one of these threats.

The statement does not directly state how they protect staff and students, besides the obvious things such as cameras and security guards. Security guard Henry Warren is a retired cop. “We try to be observant, build relationships with the students and we also have our cameras throughout the building letting us know what is going on,” Warren said.

Warren feels that there can be room for improvement. “I feel more security guards would be adequate and more cameras around the school wouldn’t hurt,” Warren said.

Sophomore Nideesh Shanmugam isn’t as worried about school shootings as much as fights or other forms of violence. Sophomore Nicolas Gianes feels the security measures taken by schools are enough, but “sometimes I worry about school shootings or violence at school,” Gianes said.

As more and more schools around the country implement new security measures such as clear back-packs and metal detectors, people hope that violence in schools will be a thing of the past.