Letter to the editor: Police are needed in schools

Recently, there have been many school shootings, harming and killing adults and young children.

In February 2018, a boy decided to take his life in the bathroom of Jackson Memorial Middle School, the school I attended. Walking down the halls, there was a loud bang.

The principal ran down the hall, guiding us into the school nurse's bathroom, having no idea what was going on. We sat on the floor in the bathroom for hours, clueless.

After hours, my parents informed me there was an active shooter. This had been my first year at Jackson LocalSchools; I never imagined this would ever happen.

You see school shootings happening all over the news, and you never truly know what it feels like to be in that situation. You never know what you and the parents are feeling having to go through this. How much it impacts your day-to-day thoughts and worries about going to a place you thought would be your safe place.

My mom said she never expected it to happen, and no one will ever be able to know the feeling of getting the call there was an active gunman in the school her daughter had to attend, too.

Now, as I am a senior at Jackson High School, we have an officer that provides safety to our building; not only does he provide safety, he provides comfort for the staff and students. This officer has helped me through my senior year and has been someone by my side, to talk to whenever I needed him.

What no one realizes is that having an experienced officer in the building can not only help students with safety during school but can help give students someone to talk to dealing with the issues they have outside of school.

Macey Eberling, Jackson Township