Even though it’s only been a few weeks since the start of the new school year, school safety is still very important to many parents in North Carolina. The shooting at a Georgia school on Wednesday has shaken some of them.
“You want to say to your kids, it won’t be real, but in the back of your mind … you never know,” Rebeka said.
That day, Lassiter’s two kids had a security drill in Durham County, which is a very important safety measure in today’s world.
“One of my friends was actually in a drill, and the whole time she’s texting me and she’s scared, and we’re praying for her,” Bragg told me.
The parent from Wake County who used to teach said that fears for her safety are one reason she quit.
“Part of the reason why I don’t teach anymore is because of how dangerous it is, and after seeing what happened yesterday, it really just it breaks your heart,” Bragg said.
It scares me to think that something like that could happen to me at any time. It scares me as a parent, and I can only think how scary it is for students.
ABC11 has been given the safety rules by school systems in the Triangle. Some of these are methods that let students report things they see without giving their names.
In response to the most recent mass shooting, the White House has also called for stricter gun rules. But for parents like Lassiter, the need to find ways to reduce the risk of mass shootings is becoming more urgent.
“Safe locks, better background checks, all of those things,” he said.
Some schools have added more security, like door locks and metal scanners, but some experts said it was more important to focus on people. Lassiter said she does the same thing with her kids at home.
“I think sharing and being open about our emotions and as adults, being open about our emotions to our kids as well, just shows them that they’re healthy and that they are something that we need to express and that there’s also places we can express them in a healthy manner,” said Lassiter.
“I firmly believe that the social emotional health of our children is really important … if we could have more people (in schools), I would be so much happier.”
According to the FBI, the suspect in the Georgia shooting was questioned by police in 2023 about claimed threats to shoot up a school. He was 13 years old at the time.
“At that time, there was no probable cause for arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state, or federal levels,” the FBI said.