He thinks many gun owners' failure to take full responsibility for keeping guns out of the hands of children is part of the problem. If children take guns to school, the owners of those guns must be prosecuted. Guns must be locked up so children can't get them, Poland insisted. Another part of the solution is to personalize large high schools, Poland recommended. One component of this complex problem is that most high schools are too large to create a personal environment.
School districts build large high schools or consolidate schools to create even larger schools.
Experts now say that small high schools, with about 600 students, are much better for students. I do not see it as a national priority as it should be. The solution in those large high schools is to personalize them by having wings or teams with groups of students who have the same teachers, Poland suggested. Schools should make it their goal to increase extra-curricular participation by 50 percent within the year, to improve the personalization of the school. The national associations for principals of elementary and secondary schools agree and have endorsed a zero-tolerance policy.