Reporter's Notebook: Mike McGuire

Sherburne-Earlville High School is vulnerable. So is every other school. In fact, we all are – and we always have been. We are all at the mercy of each other, and it is the ultimate test of our responsibility and civility. We could all inflict damage everywhere we went if we were inclined to. At the grocery store, at work, at a restaurant, at home, and at school. Laws and a mutual regard for human life are what generally keep us safe in these places, and we don’t have to constantly fear for our lives, despite the unspoken vulnerability.

As I walked through S-E , I was disturbed and ashamed of myself for exposing that vulnerability. I was disturbed because it was so easy to go from hall to hall, past room after room – past student after student – calculating the ease with which an individual(s) could cause untold damage. I was ashamed for even thinking that way, and for anybody that could consider and carry-out that kind of destruction.

I snuck into a school. I am not qualified to assess the level of security at a school, and when considering the unprecedented and random rash of school violence over the past ten years – I’m not certain anybody really is.

Unadilla Valley Central Schools Superintendent Rex Hurlburt said the need for heightened security measures is a sad commentary on today’s world, but is nevertheless a fact teachers, administrators and students have to deal with. “Schools were always a safe place,” said Hurlburt. “No one would ever have thought of doing something at a school because of the kids. That has certainly changed. That’s society today.”

“Society” gets overly and arbitrarily blamed for a lot of things, but in this case I don’t think the problem is overblown – I think some of the expectations are misplaced. Asking teachers, administrators and students to secure a school from the monsters outside is like expecting a police officer to teach 11th graders physics, while simultaneously trying to calm a hostage situation. It’s too easy to look at this problem as “It’s schools versus the rest of the world, and how will they handle it?” Especially when the threat will most likely be coming from within.