Homework Responses Wk 6

Hello Dr. Aguiar and Classmates,

            For this week's forum, we were asked to report our progress on the Capstone, specifically to identify the successes and pitfalls. For my research, I concentrated on the mixed method with a focus on comparing school active shooters. The Parkland shooting occurred in 2018, and most of the data I started with was collected from teachers, fist-responders, and students. I discovered that teachers had been researched primarily for their role as the front line detection of student mental health issues. The largest contributing factor for success in my research came from a Regis College study that scales social disorders in elementary school students. The scale is structured from 0-3, and teachers and responsible for monitoring social skills that may lead to aggressive behavior (Slavin, Schindler, & Chibnall, 2014). For example, In the United Kingdom, Teachers in London start the screening process in grammar school. Teachers provide reports to school administrators of every student's social attributes. I was able to find research conducted on a student within the United States and compare the trends.

           I continued my research with students in high school and how their progression is viewed over a period of six years. It was important to establish trends over a six-year period because of the growth of the human mind. Social skills like aggression can be linked to upbringing and allow for teachers to intervene (prevention) before student action becomes unpredictable. Constant monitoring of students is paramount for the early detection of social disorders. The conclusion showed that teachers and school administrators could mitigate the risk of a school shooting.

           One of the pitfalls I encountered was finding first-hand encounters (witness statements) of how a perpetrator committed an active shooting. What I found is first-hand reports of the Parkland shooter are still confidential. I was able to research transcripts from the recent court hearings of Nikolas Cruz, but most interviews were unsupportive to my thesis statement. In addition, peer-reviewed case studies stated that first-hand accounts were redacted to prevent "copycat" incidents. For example, in 1999, the Columbine shooting withheld first-hand accounts of the perpetrators' actions until law enforcement was able to counter-response to a school shooting. The tactics of the shooters were rare in the sense of law enforcement response, and I was unable to compare emergency response procedures.

           Two lessons learned from my research are that first-responder must maintain adequate communication between all emergency responders. In most active shooter incidents, the first element that fails when it pertains to response is communication. In every case study, I reviewed communication between law enforcement and school security professionals was inaccurate. This was seen in my Capstone research between the school resource advisor and law enforcement. Law enforcement received reports that the perpetrator was located in a particular wing of the school. Communication failed when it came to the description of the perpetrator. In the Parkland shooting, the perpetrator was described as wearing a student uniform. It was determined that school resource advisors described the shooter wearing clothing pursuant to a non-student uniform (Braun, 2019). 

           The next lesson learned was the amount of funding allotted for public schools to combat school shootings. In Parkland, the funds to mitigate risk from an active shooter were lower than average. This data conflicted with my research because school shootings like Sandy Hook had a more prominent budget. I was unable to use case studies from private schools because they have more funds to counter school shootings. If I were to conduct research again with the same topic, I would have focused on more teacher involvement rather than CPTED in schools.

-Bryan

Reference

Braun, E. (2019). Never Again: The Parkland Shooting and the Teen Activists Leading a Movement. Lerner Publications.

Slavin, S. J., Schindler, D. L., & Chibnall, J. T. (2014). Medical student mental health 3.0: improving student wellness through curricular changes. Academic Medicine, 89(4), 573.