During a school security meeting a few years ago I was angry as fuck at the thought of having to leave any of my students outside of my classroom if there was an active shooter in the building. Just the thought of this left a few others and me in tears. Yes, I understood how opening the door could very well let the shooter in but the thought of having to make that kind of life or death decision was terrifying. Thankfully I never had to make that choice during my teaching career and can’t imagine the daily trauma and nightmares those who have faced this situation in real life endure.
Now there are some people who think it’s a fabulous idea to give teachers guns. It’ll be fine, the assholes think. But it’s stupid and quite a lot of people agree with me.
But not the Secretary of Education Betsy Devos. In an effort to buy guns and train teachers to thwart school shooters she’s looking to take money from a program intended to help students in some of the poorest school districts in the country. Erica Green, a reporter for the New York Times wrote, “The $1 billion student support program, part of the Every Student Succeeds Act, calls for school districts to use the money toward three goals: providing a well-rounded education, improving school conditions for learning and improving the use of technology for digital literacy.” One little loophole can make this a reality. This one decision will impact students who live in marginalized communities for the rest of their lives. They won’t have access to computers, new schools and teachers to teach them how to use technology.
Is it possible that arming teachers with guns will improve school conditions and deter school shootings? Will this make schools safer? It’s ridiculous and doesn’t make any sense.
Why this is a crazy idea
Teachers are trained to teach. They’ve spent four or more years learning how to teach students, prepare lessons and assess their work. They encourage, engage and sometimes entertain to teach their classes. They enter the profession because they want to mold young minds and create a positive change in the world. The last thing on a teachers mind is using a firearm at work.
The NEA agrees. Tim Walker wrote, “NEA members, however, are strongly opposed to arming teachers and other school personnel. Among all members, 82 percent say they would not carry a gun in school. Even among members who own guns, two thirds – 63 percent say they would not agree to be armed in schools.” This makes perfect sense when you consider most school shooters target their former teachers and classmates. Which means teachers would, in essence, be killing one of their students. That’s a really hard call and one I’m not sure teachers can make.
There really is a better solution
The day after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida a group of professors who study school violence started working on a solution to this deadly problem. After two weeks of nonstop emails, conference calls and Google docs they came up with an eight-point plan entitled, “Call for action to prevent gun violence in The United States of America. They believe this epidemic should be treated with a public health approach that consists of three levels of prevention:
1. Promote safety and well being for everyone.
2. Reduce the risks and promote adequate care for students who are experiencing emotional suffering.
3. Create intervention plans for students who have a history of violence.
What I love about this plan is how it mandates schools to look at their climate to determine if it’s a safe place for all to learn and work. If not, they get to fix the problem to ensure that everyone is in a mentally and physically safe place.
The second tier ensures there are enough counselors, psychiatrists, social workers, and psychologists on staff to deal with the student population. They also believe schools are responsible for ensuring students are successful academically, socially, emotionally and behaviorally. Students who are treated fairly and know the whole school community supports them are able to prosper unlike those who aren’t.
The third tier focuses on training and maintaining a partnership with local law officials and mental health providers. Being able to freely share information about anyone who may be a threat to the community is imperative to avoid school shootings in the future.
The call to action plan states, “Congress and the executive branch must remove barriers to gun violence research and institute a program of scientific research on gun violence that encompasses all levels of prevention. We contend that well-executed laws can reduce gun violence while protecting all Constitutional rights.” There was a surge of new laws after the Florida shooting but that momentum has unfortunately stopped. As concerned citizens who work in a school community, we get to vote to ensure change happens.
Prevention is extremely important because lives are at stake. If we do nothing this will be repeated over and over and over again when it doesn’t have to. We live in a country that has the knowledge and resources to stop it. The basic question is, will we?
I urge you to download and share the call to action plan with your school administrators because we must to do something to put an end to school shootings. Our students deserve to learn in a safe environment. You deserve to teach in one as well.
