Sad reality

It’s so easy, after the fact, to judge the actions of the local school boards, high school officials, and police as an over-reaction in the wake of the incident at Fort Frances High School on Dec. 6.
As it turned out, fortunately, the firearm a 16-year-old male was spotted with at Fort High was a replica, as initially suspected. Nonetheless, the high school—as well as nearby J.W. Walker and St. Francis schools—immediately were placed into a security lockdown, which lasted about an hour until police eventually located the teen off school premises.
He later charged with possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, two counts of assault with a weapon, and failure to comply with a court order.
Much ado about nothing? Apparently some thought so, given the mocking on Facebook by students directed at Fort High’s principal for her inability to tell the difference between a real firearm and a fake one.
But as the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. just over a week later so painfully showed, one simply cannot take the chance that an incident will turn out to be nothing.
Nor can we be complacent in thinking that somehow our community is immune from such a senseless act. Until last Friday, no doubt the residents of Newtown thought so. As did parents whose children attended Columbine High School outside Littleton, Colo., Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., l’Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, and a primary school in tiny, faraway Dunblane, Scotland.
It can happen here and, as such, we must be ever-vigilant. We can never completely protect ourselves from the actions of a madman, but every reasonable step must be taken for the sake of the safety of students and staff alike.
Clearly, judging by the response to the incident at Fort High, procedures are in place. However, that now needs to include drills in case an incident occurs over the lunch hour, as it did there earlier this month, when students are milling about the school rather than sitting in their classrooms.
It’s a sad reality but one truly never knows.