By Tanner Mielke
Since the Virginia Tech tragedy, the all important question of school safety has been raised again. The bi-weekly current events forum, Thursdays at 3, decided to discuss school safety.
Steve Milligan, librarian and Spanish instructor, served as the moderator and for this discussion was joined by Chief of Police, John Fisher. The forum was held at the Centennial Campus library as well as the Rampart Range and Downtown campuses.
It started by discussing the events and Virginia Tech but soon moved onto the safety of PPCC. With the question, what is our plan at PPCC? Fisher answered with, “We have trained the full time faculty, and there are emergency operation guides on the back of every door, which is also available on PPCC’s website under Emergency Response Guide.”
Students also need to remember that police escorts are available, and that there are officers 7 days a week, 24 hours a day on each campus. Fisher says if anybody needs anything, “all you need to do is call.”
Police assistance can be called anytime at (719) 540-7111. In an emergence, you can also dial 911, and the call will be relayed to campus police through dispatch.
A round of questions then started, which brought up many good thoughts. One question was the possibility of phones in the classrooms. Fisher responded by saying, “We are looking into it”, he went on to say, “a work order is placed to put a P.A. system in the Rampart Range campus.” Fisher also wanted to remind everybody that a large number of students do carry cell phones with them.
There was also the issue about the students personal contact information. It seems to be an important step to remind students to check their contact information and update it as needed so family members and others can be easily contacted in case of emergency.
Possibly the largest part of the discussion was how much instructors should let students focus on tragic events, such as Virginia Tech, during class. Some instructors who attended the forum said that is was important to take time at the beginning of class and discuss it if need be, and then get on with the class. Students can often be distracted by tragic events and may find it hard to focus on class work.
Steve Milligan brought up the point, “Is it possible to watch too much news? That’s my question.” After talking about seeing the news on TV while he was at a restaurant, he went on to answer with, “It seems to me to be an unhealthy thing.”
To remind everybody at the discussion about the media, a comment was made, “The media will never cover things that didn’t happen.” It was to make everybody remember that there are problems on campus that are being solved and the system that the campus has is working.
The forum ended with the conversation of how students should be on the look out. Everybody has their bad days, but what does a student do when they suspect others of having more than just a bad day? Fisher made the note that the Centennial campus has two officers trained in crisis prevention. When a student suspects that others or themselves are in danger from somebody else, they should either talk to an instructor if comfortable enough or contact the presidents office.
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