Children School Students Walk Cars People Teaching Safety

When Americans send their children to school each day, they are understandably "concerned" (worried) about their children's safety. Schools and communities do many things to try to keep students safe.

In front of American schools, roads are painted with thick white "stripes" (lines). These are "school crossings" or "crosswalks" (areas where it is safe to walk across a street, where cars should stop for people). "Crossing guards" are people who have "flags" (a piece of colored fabric on a stick) and move their arms to ask the cars to stop when children are trying to cross the street. Sometimes older students in a school serve as crossing guards. In "school zones" (the areas around schools), cars are supposed to follow a special "speed limit" (maximum speed) when children are present, usually 20 miles per hour.

Some schools and universities have "student-run" (organized and managed by students) "police patrols," or groups of students who walk around the school or "campus" (an area with many university buildings) looking for problems and calling the police if they see anything "suspicious" (possibly connected with trouble).

With "school shootings" (instances where someone shoots other people at schools) at some American schools, people are "reacting" (doing something as a result of something else) by trying to make sure that guns do not come into the schools. Some schools have "metal detectors" (large machines that make a noise if metal passes through them) at school entrances.

Schools also limit "access" (the ability to come into a building) to the "school grounds" (the land owned by the school) to only students and teachers. Anyone else who wants to come to the school must "check in" (put one's name on a list) at the front office and ask for permission to walk through the school.