Is student fear at North Quincy High School reflective of a national epidemic?

A recent fire alarm mishap may provide insight into the current school climate.

By John Liu

Oct 16, 2018

QUINCY — On October 10, 2018, the fire alarm at North Quincy High School sounded six times within the school day. After the third alarm, Principal Robert Shaw reassured the school body that the Quincy Fire Department deemed it safe to remain in the building. But just after the first alarm, students began to half-jokingly murmur about a student prankster, or even an intruder, who was possibly pulling the fire alarm.

After the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., high school students have become increasingly vocal about the fear they feel while in school. But is their fear justified? A 2018 study at Northeastern University has claimed that schools are actually safer than they were in the 90s and that school shootings are not more common than they used to be.

Still, schools around the nation have been taking strides to increase security, implementing measures such as metal detectors and clear backpacks. North Quincy High now has a security guard posted full-time at the back entrance, and members of the faculty were recently equipped with radios for immediate communication. Additional security cameras are also being installed to monitor areas with high traffic. Even Principal Shaw has admitted that some of these changes were in direct response to the Parkland shooting.

To address student grievances about a supposed lack of security, Principal Shaw began to list all the measures that the school has and will put in place.

“I would hope they pass [their concerns] on somehow [to] deans, security, administration, so that we have a sense of what that means. Are there certain parts of the building [students] don’t feel like are safe? Are they worried about someone who doesn’t belong here getting in? … About our ability to respond to somebody once they have got in? … There’s probably more going on in terms of security than students can see or know.”

His comments brought up an interesting point about transparency: Why is the student body at North Quincy High seemingly so unaware of updates on security? Is the school administration at fault for having little information accessible to students? A large part of feeling safe in a school is being able to point to visual or systematic measures for security, and the only measures that students seem to be reminded of are fire and lockdown drills.

Sheila Calabro, a well-known member of the school’s security staff, commented, “I think it [is] important to start a conversation in the middle schools and a rapport with the kids in the middle schools so that they’ll reach out to us at the high school level when a lot of these problems start to come up. [But regardless,] we can’t let domestic terrorism scare us into not living our everyday lives.”

Similarly, Principal Shaw encourages students to take advantage of the resources available to them, such as himself, the deans, the security desk, and even members of student government. “At the end of the day, my hope is that anybody who’s got a worry or concern or question would just show up … and [I can] answer whatever is on their mind.” Information about school security may not be readily distributed throughout North Quincy High, but it’s there if you look in the right places.