Safety is a major concern for teachers and students. The fighting, bullying, harassment, etc can affect the environment around us and how we act. According to worldpopulationreview.com, Texas has 129 shootings this year and is one of the highest shootings worldwide. The environment needs to be safe enough for teachers to educate and for students to learn, so should we be concerned if our school is safe enough?

Bowie has multiple security measures, including security cameras, guards, metal detectors, etc. Corporal Steven Villalobos is a guard at Bowie High School who was a former member of the military actively patrols around the hallways and reports anything that seems unsafe.

“We maintain a peaceful environment, monitor hallways, and try to find anything unsafe,” said Villalobos.

He mentions that there was a drive-by shooting that occurred during the past years, during which he and his team had procedures to keep the school safe.

“There was a drive-by shooting nearby, and for any incidents we have procedures like lockdowns and checking security cameras,” said Villalobos.

Security is responsible for your safety, however everyone else at school must be helping to make the environment safe as well.

“Security does everything we can but everyone else must also report anything they see and do everything they can do as well,” said Villalobos.

As a student, we can be victims of dangerous situations just by roaming around in the hallways. In some moments, security isn’t always there at times when they are most needed. Junior Hailey Melendez, a student at Bowie High School, expresses her feelings and thoughts on school safety.

Being able to roam around in the hallways without consistent supervision can lead to dangerous consequences.

“I do feel unsafe at school because of all of the fights, gun threats, and drug problems around the school,” said Melendez.

The school’s security guard tries their best to keep our school safe, however in other areas around the school are when things are most likely to happen.

“No, we are still not secure and sometimes when people go outside for classes, they have to wait to get back inside,” said Melendez.

To avoid getting into such situations, Melendez expresses that she doesn’t stick around with groups who seem like they would do anything dangerous.

“I try not to stick in big groups and when I do, I usually walk away from them and also distance myself from people afterwards,” said Melendez.

Sergio Castillo is a U.S History teacher at Bowie, where classrooms are filled with students. As a teacher, Castillo keeps his students safe by making sure doors are locked during class, and keeping people who are not in his class outside.

“Make sure doors are locked and keep the people who aren’t in my class out,” said Castillo.

Safety should be a priority for teachers and students. Castillo says that as a teacher, they must ensure safety around our students.

“It’s part of our job to ensure safety,” said Castillo.

Security around the school do what they can to protect students and teachers. Officers and security are not the same, and both do different things.