A school shooting resulting in the death of students is an unspeakable tragedy. Though the reasons such tragedies occur – and the strategies to prevent them – can be debated, the horror of such an attack goes without saying.

However, with all the talk of keeping guns out of schools, gun-free zones, increasing security, the possibility of arming teachers, and other potential ways to prevent school shootings, is it possible officials in the Nashua School District are exposing students to another form of danger?

Reports are that just within the last few months, two students walking near Elm Street Middle School have been hit by cars. Though neither child sustained life-threatening injuries, there is no way to say a future incident would not be fatal.

John Rork, whose daughter was walking with the girl involved in one of the incidents, told our reporter his primary concern is the safety of his children coming home from school.

“When I was younger, I also had to walk to school,” Rork said. “There’s so many pitfalls that could happen. You’re putting a population of young people at risk for injury.”

Catherine Ryan, whose daughter witnessed another incident, is also fearful. Ryan said she and her daughter were talking about how dangerous it is just a few hundred feet away from the school, crossing with no crossing guards.

“For the past 10 years, all of my kids have seen a few kids hit and they still don’t add crossing guards,” Ryan told our reporter.

However, according to Nashua School District Chief Operating Officer Daniel Donovan, the problem is not that the school doesn’t want to hire crossing guards – they simply can’t find anyone willing to work one to three hours per day.

“We just don’t have applicants for the position,” Donovan said.

From our perspective, there are multiple possible solutions to this predicament. Perhaps, the school could make the jobs more attractive with better wages and benefits. A second idea could be to offer the position to full-time employees as some sort of supplemental work. Another solution may be to send high school students to serve as crossing guards in exchange for some type of community service credit.

Regardless of how the school addresses this situation, we believe officials should act to ensure the safety of children arriving at or leaving Elm Street Middle School.