In a Miami Herald article on April 3, 2018, students complained about being required to carry clear backpacks.

Dear Student Leaders of MSD High School, YOU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS.

You wanted change and when the change happened, then you didn’t like the change that occurred. You are forgetting that there are more parts to making your school safe then just fixing gun laws. Fixing gun laws is a start. Continue to fight for changes in gun laws.

You forget that the school has an obligation to do their very best from their end to protect you. They must make whatever changes that they believe that will improve the safety of YOUR school.

While clear backpacks and metal detectors may be a new thing to you, they have been used many urban and suburban schools for years. I can remember as far back as 1994 when I was doing “metal detector duty” before school. We managed to get 1800+ students through the door in 30-40 minutes. The more the students cooperated, then the better the process went.

In the beginning, you mock the process by bringing a backpack full of tampons to school.  This might be mildly humorous but it is time to move past the jokes and work within the system.

Remember this is a two-part problem, the school part and the government part. Neither is going to be fixed overnight and neither will be the perfect solution.

David R. Taylor                                                                                                                                    30-year Teacher, Coach, and Principal