Brr, brr, brr.
It’s the sound of the loudspeaker around 3:45, signaling that school principal Gloria Woods-Weeks is about to make an announcement. Everyone tenses up because it’s probably the same thing that it was three times the week prior. She doesn’t even bother to say full sentences, as only three words are necessary to get the point across.
“Teachers. Students. Lockdown.”
Five of the eight days from October 6-13 ended in either a hold or a lockdown. They ranged anywhere from twenty minutes to almost an hour, with students waiting for police to do a thorough search of the building, sometimes looking for a person(s) of interest. Students and teachers sat silently in the corners, with lights off and doors locked. Officers searched classrooms, sometimes with guns drawn.
After some time, the same loudspeaker tune rings over the announcements, and we’re told that we’re free to go home.
The person submitting the anonymous tips, as long as they’re not identified, faces no repercussions for these actions. While I personally believe that nothing done is truly anonymous, especially in this digital age, the perpetrator still walks free.
See Something, Say Something is a nonprofit founded by Sandy Hook Promise that helps students anonymously report threats that they’re aware of. It’s also one of the platforms Riverside uses. The point of anonymity is to encourage students not to worry about potential repercussions.
But at this point I believe that keeping the system anonymous encourages more false reports. The perpetrator sees all of the hassle and more importantly, sees no one at their front door looking for them, which gives a sense of security.
As a student journalist, we’re advised to avoid citing anonymous sources. In the absence of accountability people can say whatever they want, which gives them the opportunity to be dishonest at no real cost.
I believe that the only way to move forward while getting the best of both worlds is to change the wording from anonymous to confidential.
At Riverside’s town hall meeting, superintendent Anthony Lewis shared that by law, Riverside must provide students with an anonymous tip line. But by heavily promoting and encouraging students to use the confidential system, considering it has the same benefits as the anonymous system, it’s easier to differentiate between genuine and disingenuous tips.
The confidential system would still encourage students to speak up if they see a weapon, even if the carrier is a friend or threatens to retaliate. True anonymity may actually hurt the reporter because they have no resources in case of retaliation. When it’s confidential information and the right people are aware, protection plans can be put into place. If a person is confident enough to claim that a weapon with the capability of fatal force is on our campus, they should have to report the who, what, when, where, why, and how. Even if they can’t give everything, any additional information can help officers determine their next steps.
The cons of the current system feel almost endless right now. The Oct. 6 lockdown felt almost nostalgic, considering the numerous lockdowns we endured the previous year, and it was easy to shrug off. But by that Friday my chemistry teacher wasn’t even assigning our fourth period class new work because we needed to catch up to her other periods.
I know that many of my classmates who have extracurricular activities need to leave right before the bell rings, which they can’t do if they can’t leave the school at all. It also wastes time and resources law enforcement could be spending on other crimes happening around the city, including the helicopter circling the school, as well as the time and gas of parents stuck in a line that stretches all the way out onto Rose of Sharon Road.
There’s no perfect solution to this issue, but anonymity helps neither the one giving nor the one receiving the tip. Regardless of what the district ends up doing, it’s obvious that the system we have in place currently is not sustainable.
