As of February 8, a Florida judge ruled that local school districts have no responsibility to warn students and faculty of possible school threats. This ruling has sparked controversy in regards to the prevention of school violence. Many believe schools may use this responsibility as excuses for racial profiling and discrimination, while others believe warnings are critical for the prevention of future acts of violence. Several Charter students have been asked the following question: Do you think schools are accountable for informing families/faculty of potential school threats?

“I disagree with the judge’s ruling. I think that schools are responsible for the well-being of their students/faculty. It’s the community’s right to know if they’re in danger or not. Obviously, the chance of wrongly accusing someone, or suspecting something that won’t happen, will always be prevalent. However, I’d much rather go through a false alarm, rather than go to school and witness something bad happen that could’ve been prevented.” -Camila Correa, Freshman

“I think it’s the school’s responsibility to warn the community of possible threats. By giving consequences to students displaying a firm basis of threatening behavior, such as posting something threatening on social media, it gives a precedent that this behavior is wrong, and people shouldn’t act like this. But, by turning a blind eye, the school is basically saying “we are okay with dangerous behavior”, which can overall make the school look bad and show how much the school cares about its students.” -Nathan Josue, Freshman

“What? […] Schools need to be transparent with their students and staff, especially when it comes to their safety.” -Amanda Pagan, Sophomore

“After hearing the news about this ruling, I was more shell shocked and emotionless than anything else. Being a student of Broward College, let alone a student of Charter, this kind of ruling does affect me directly given the threats behind it. But, seeing how it can be twisted into other categories beyond keeping the school’s community safe does matter as well. I just hope that this ruling was based on one’s morals and the information presented was everything possible to truly make such a call. Nonetheless, I do worry that in the event something like MSD were to happen again (which I hope not, knowing that school systems are better prepared) this ruling and overall news can be the community’s downfall, since parents and students will blame the judge for such a tragedy because they were not notified beforehand of something brewing. Communities just want to be safe and rest assured that they are being dealt that way, so to say that this case was a bit far fetched is a bit of a stretch. I do hope that as the years roll by, we do become more aware of the stipulations and potential threats schools are being handed; this way students no longer have to weigh themselves to that anxietal standard of always looking over their shoulder.” -Gabriela Carvajal, Sophomore

“Schools should be responsible for warning faculty and students of possible school threats. Even though possible dangers are only “possible”, you never know what’s going on in someone’s head or what they’re going to do. Warning students/faculty of potential dangers can prevent very fatal occurrences, especially because it might not affect a singular person, but the well-being of the entire school community. But as this can cause racial profiling and bullying, before warning people of possible threats, schools should have proper evidence and/or witnesses of the threats.” -Alyssa Chin, Junior

“School threats are a fast growing problem. I believe that not only our school, but every school should have measures where they tell the students warnings about threats. For instance, there could be times where a student may act suspicious during school and then it’s a possibility that they may be our school’s downfall. So yes, in my opinion, schools should make it a priority to not only go over safety precautions, but also let us be able to feel and be safe in school.” -Jenelle Graham, Junior