Last week, an incident occurred at Southwood Middle School which resulted in the death of a 14-year-old student in Miami-Dade County.

This kind of thing rarely happens in a Miami-Dade public school. So much so that School Board member Solomon Stinson told “The Miami Herald” that he could not recall a single incident since he became a board member in 1960.

This calls into question the kind of security and the amount of security that Miami-Dade County has to protect its students.

At Southwood Middle School, they have a population of approximately 1,800 students and only nine security guards to cover them all. This means that one security guard is responsible for the safety of 200 students.

Here at Varela, we have several security methods to protect the students. There are security cameras located all over the halls to monitor every activity going on in school. Many wonder if this is invasion of privacy.

Assistant Principal Rafael Villalobos, who deals with discipline and school security, said that school security cameras are here to protect the students and staff from dangerous situations, which includes trespassers.

There may be a time when you look into the cameras and think that no one is watching, guess again.

There is always someone watching the footage whether it is the head of security or a designated security guard. The footage taped is accessible to parents if, and only if, it is a situation their son or daughter is involved in.

Administrators decided to allocate the cameras in places they felt students may be at all times like the hallways. This year, administrators are in the process of installing 17 more security cameras.

Many think that there may be a certain hallway that is known for its problems and administrators, but Villalobos confirms this is untrue.

Other precautions Varela has undertaken are the placement of a security monitor at the front gate checking cars for decals and determining the driver’s intentions. There is also a table in front of the main office dubbed “Check-point Charlie.” Here, visitors are required to sign a log book stating their destination.

Despite the precautions, the school may be handicapped in terms of security. There are 4,585 students currently enrolled in school, according to the registrar, and only 14 security guards, which translates to one security guard per 327 students.

Enrique Gonzalez, the head of security, said that each security guard has an assigned post, but they rotate every so often.

According to Villalobos, security guards have more rights in school than police officers when it comes to searching students. All they need to have is “reasonable suspicion,” as opposed to “probable cause” like the police in order to be able to detain or conduct a search. Even visitors to the school fall under this rule.

In the end, the question becomes that, even with all these precautions and measures, is the school really as safe as we’d want? Looking back to the incident in Southwood might be enough to raise doubt.