The finding of several (potential) weapons among students (see Monday paper) should indeed be reason to worry. Not that it’s the first time by any means, but the problem appears reoccurring.
A few schools have resorted to active use of metal detectors at the entrance or even inspecting students’ bags in the recent past; however, these things usually seem to fade once the immediate crisis is deemed over. Some might also ask what’s next, full body scans?
The latter is certainly not what one would like to see at a place of learning. It can also go too far, as happened when teenagers were strip-searched by authorities at Albert Schweitzer School in Curaçao.
Nevertheless, coupled with the current local trend of sparking, recording and posting school fights, as well as mass shootings at primarily US schools, concern expressed by the St. Maarten Police Force KPSM is completely justified. They plan decisive action to curb this development, but cannot do it alone.
Guidance counsellors, social workers and teachers are among others in a position to help, as could especially older siblings and peers who know better. But the most important role is that of parents or legal guardians.
They need to make it their business to know what minors they are responsible for take to school, as heavy-handed an approach as this may seem to them. And if that means checking their belongings on a daily basis, so be it.
