s the nation responds to the Dec. 14 school shooting in Newtown, Conn., the St. Louis Park school district is

reviewing its safety policy. Currently, the security policy is

divided into three categories, in-cluding safety drills, staff patrol and other policies, such as video monitoring and locking doors, ac-cording to Principal Rob Metz.

Metz said safety exercises are more extensive than students know.

“We had two safety practices

over the weekend, one at the high school and one at the junior high. These involved school staff, (the) police and fi re departments,” Metz said.

Metz said although the current safety policy is effective, it can be improved. This may involve enforc-ing a stricter policy about keeping doors locked.

“Some schools have doors that are magnetized, so they literally cannot be opened,” Metz said. “We have a problem with the door to McDonald’s, which is a security issue. Installing magnetized doors would be expensive, but it would

solve that problem. If we decided to make our policy even tighter, this would be the next step.”

District administrators are not the only people concerned about student protection. Freshman Char-lie Berg said he thinks the school security policy could be improved.

“I do think (school) is safe, but it could be safer. I think the student body needs to do more, like keep doors closed, but staff should have weekly announcements reminding students to be safe,” Berg said.

However, sophomore Winter Morgan said the Dec. 17 announce-ment by Metz on school safety made her feel nervous.

“I felt safe (before) because I trusted the adults at school, but af-ter Metz’s speech I felt less secure

because I felt like he was saying things we already knew,” Morgan said.

Security staff member Jody Pfl ipsen said she thinks the events in Connecticut will change how stu-dents behave in regard to safety.

“The big issue with students is propping open doors and letting people in. Hopefully this (shooting) opens their eyes to the dangers of that,” Pfl ipsen said.

Metz said he agrees school se-curity is a joint effort between stu-dents and staff.

“Students help a lot (with safe-ty). If they think there is a threat, or see someone suspicious, they tell us, and we check it out right away,” Metz said. “We all have to work together to make our school safe.”

enior Sami Rahamim has used his personal experience with a mass shooting to pro-

mote education nationwide.Rahamim’s father, Reuven Raha-

mim, along with fi ve other people, were shot and killed at Reuven’s business, Accent Signage, in Minne-apolis Sept. 27.

After the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in New-ton, Conn., Sami Rahamim trav-eled to New York Sunday to meet with Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a national press conference Monday advocating against fi rearms usage.

Rahamim said his close connec-tion with shootings infl uenced him to act on preventing gun violence.

“(A shooting) is something that no one should have to go through,” Rahamim said. “I’m not only pas-sionate about prevention but have experienced the violence fi rst hand.”

In addition to meeting with Bloomberg, Rahamim was also in-terviewed by Jason DeRusha on WCCO radio and TV, by Minnesota Public Radio and by KARE 11.

Rahamim’s trip to New York was facilitated by Protect Minnesota, a local organization dedicated to the education and reduction of guns.

Protect Minnesota member Heather Martens met Rahamim at a Dec. 14 rally in Martin Luther King Park in South Minneapolis. She said she helped send him to meet Bloom-berg. Martens said his interviews may prevent future shootings.

“I’m hoping people demand change,” Martens said. “The people he is meeting with are all survivors with similar stories and (they) are hoping they can bring about needed change.”

After returning to Minnesota, Rahamim said he plans to continue his efforts in the future. He hopes his experience can help others learn about gun violence prevention.

“I am looking to partner further with Protect Minnesota to improve safety in the state,” Rahamim said. “I hope people will realize how much of an epidemic (gun violence) is. You think this will never hap-pen to you in a million years, but a million years stacked up in Aurora, Minneapolis, Milwaukee and now Connecticut.”

ne new water bottle fi lling

station has been installed so far, and more are expected. The fi rst fi lling sta-tion was installed Dec. 4 in the B1 hallway, and was funded by the school as an initial trial run. More fi lling stations may be installed as the result of a Roots and Shoots fundrais-er, which ended Dec. 12., raising $578.

The student group’s goal in in-stalling the fi lling sta-tions was to reduce the waste generated by plastic bottles by encouraging students to bring reusable bottles from home. The stations monitor the estimated number of plastic bottles saved. As of Dec. 17, the fi ller saved 2,796 bottles.

everal seniors have signed

National Letters of Intent for the fall of 2013.

Both Riley Riordan and Lauren Miller will play so-cer, at the University of Northern Illinois and North Dakota State University, re-spectively. Kathryn Ostrom will swim for the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. Ryan Froom will play baseball for South Dakota State, and Parker Stennes will play baseball for Concordia Univer-sity in St. Paul. DJ Pollard will play basketball at North-ern State University in South Dakota.

Noah Betz-Richman | staff writer

Sami Rahamim | senior

Lani Abelson | copy editor