In the aftermath of the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, firearms are on the minds of educators throughout the country. Safe learning environments are the most basic requirement for good education, and the school administration has always been dedicated to ensuring that Saint Ignatius students are in capable hands during their time on campus. Security guards vigilantly patrol the school grounds, and “No Firearms” stickers are installed on all entryways into school buildings as part of state regulations. Still, as Principal Daniel Bradesca notes, “We need to reevaluate our way of thinking” about school safety in light of the events at Newtown.
Saint Ignatius’ location in the midst of bustling downtown Cleveland has always added variety to life on campus, but the ease of access students have to the surrounding community means that it is much more difficult to take certain security precaution than it may be elsewhere. “We do not have a traditional campus – so we cannot lock down the way the average school does,” Mr. Bradesca pointed out. However, there are still things that he believes the school community can do to promote safety. “The biggest asset we have when it comes to security is each other. The more open and forward we are, the safer we will be.” By emphasizing communication between students and security staff, Mr. Bradesca aims to ensure that the only people in campus buildings are those who need to be there.
During the process of adjusting security measures at Ignatius, the school administration hopes to take cues from other educational institutions with similarly open learning environments – many of which are colleges or universities. Mr Bradesca is facilitating cross-institutional dialogue partnering Saint Ignatius and a number of those institutions, including Cleveland State, Case Western, and Akron University, and hopes to be apply those universities’ techniques for safe education in urban settings back here. As he says, “They can’t lock their doors all the time, and we can’t either.”
Although there are few within the school community who would criticize better communication and increased vigilance on-campus, there is at least one voice on campus who thinks more may need to be done to assure safety at Saint Ignatius. Mr. Marty Dybicz, moderator of the Conservative Caucus, cautions that any changes to the school’s response plan need to be carefully considered but that it is important to gives teachers real resources in the case of an emergency. As he says, “Warm and fuzzy feelings for humanity do nothing to make anyone safe.”
To that end, My. Dybicz advises we should “continually be evaluating whether safety here can be improved.” Although he has yet to issue a verdict about whether or not teachers should be armed, Mr. Dybicz certainly thinks the idea is worth considering. “I do admit I currently lean toward arming teachers”, he says, and, ever the Theology teacher, his arguments are firmly rooted Catholicism. His reasons, which are “prudential judgments based on Catholic doctrine” include his desire to ensure school safety, to prevent the school body from being helpless in the case of a catastrophe, and his belief that tragic incidents like the school shooting at Newtown might have been avoided were someone on campus able to respond more quickly and with greater force to the shooter. “ If we were to arm teachers, they would have to be the right people with the right training”, Mr. Dybicz emphasizes, and by no means is he a runaway supporter of gun rights. “I am open to modifying current gun laws. I’m not a member of the NRA. No right is absolute, including the right to bear arms.”
So far, the school administration seems open to nearly any option for improving student safety, with one prominent exception. “No teachers are going to be carrying guns at Saint Ignatius,” affirmed Mr. Bradesca. In the quest for increased security, it appears some options will still be left off the table.
