Project Citizen

Are you prepared for a crisis? I don’t think so. You should know how to handle different situations in case of a school emergency. School safety is important because it has been disputed about recently, and to keep students safe in an environment they are comfortable with. These subtopics of school safety include concussions, technology safety, social and emotional safety, drill safety, and building safety. School safety is crucial to every school nation and worldwide.

The goal/problem of Project Citizen is to research and create a solution to improve school safety. Some previous Project Citizen topics have been street safety, and bathroom cleanliness and safety. At our school, Edgewood Middle School, we are currently researching the second topic of safety for Project Citizen. Some goals to be successful in Project Citizen are hard work, doing research, work as a team, and most important, be organized. The 4 steps to Project Citizen are to identify the problem, research the problem, evaluate possible solutions, and develop public policy ideas. Public policy is the principles, often unwritten, on which social laws are based.

School Safety: the safety of school settings, such as the incidence of harassment, bullying, violence, and substance use, as supported by relevant research and an assessment of validity. School safety is extremely important at Edgewood. Some statistics about Edgewood’s safety plans and routes include building objects, like staircases, AEDs and exits. The 5 staircases at Edgewood are labeled: A, B , C, D, E. They go clockwise. Also, the number of lockers is important. On the first floor there are 420 lockers (only 195 in use), on the second there are 308 (only 151 in use), and on the third there is 425 (only 1...

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...s is a threat to school safety because people could be injured if a tornado grab safety pack, close the door after exiting the room, and have class travel to a lower level area with few windows, where students curl up near a wall and cover head. Then wait for further instruction. An earthquake is an event that occurs when a tectonic plate shifts and the earth shakes, and can send dangerous debris in dangerous places. The current policy for an earthquake drill is a teacher notifies students of emergencies, have students crawl under their desk and then wait for the alert to end.

Also, building safety is a huge issue. The current policy for an intruder in the building is to lock the classroom door, turn off lights and close blinds, have the whole class to hide and huddle in an unviewable corner of the room, and then wait for an announcement that the intruder is gone.