Harrold Teachers Back To The Wild West?
Written by Deborah J Thomas
Filed under: Administrators, High School, K-6, News, People Involved, School Grade Level, School Safety Issues, Security
When the topic of the most dangerous school areas comes up, which cities come to mind first? I could name a couple but I don’t think Texas schools are one of them. Perhaps I am just not that informed regarding the situation over there but it seems that school authorities in a school district in Texas thinks that it is but appropriate for their teachers to carry guns to work.
The Harrold Independent School District, a small rural area, looked over a proposal to allow their teachers to have guns in school recently and the board unanimously approved the proposal. Harrold is located about 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth and has a population of about 110 students.
So why are they allowing teachers to carry guns to school? According to David Thweatt, the district superintendent, the issue is a matter of safety. He said:
“We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we had to answer is, ‘What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do? It’s just common sense.”
If or when Harrold teachers actually start carrying guns to work, this will be a first in the United States. It used to be that the U.S. Congress had a ban on guns in schools all over the country. The Supreme Court, however, overruled the ban and gave the state and local communities the right to implement their own rules.
Not all school teachers are automatically given permission to carry guns to school, however. If a teacher wishes to do so, he has to have a concealed gun permit from the state and he has to undergo crisis training as well.
So, my thoughts on this? To be honest, I am a bit ambivalent. On the one hand, it would indeed prove to be useful if a teacher has a weapon in case of a security breach. On the other hand, having a weapon might lead to other complexities such as a student getting hold of it, a teacher losing his temper, and so on.
I think I shall lean towards NOT having guns in schools – unless you are a safety officer. Somehow, it just sounds so wrong when teachers have to carry guns to school. Maybe the happy medium would be to have one or two designated school safety officers to handle things in case of a crisis. If the school cannot afford additional safety officers, then maybe they can pick out one or two teachers to double as such?
How about you, what do you think of teachers carrying guns to school? Is it warranted?
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Absolutely! Teachers who are qualified to carry and want to should carry. I hope this spreads to other school districts.
Teachers have enough to take care of without worrying, “Does that student know I have a gun?” or “Did someone get my gun?” Teachers are trained to teach, not to be police officers. There is a reason why police do all the intensive training that they do…because they might have to shoot someone! A gun safety and crisis management course is not going to teach someone how to shoot a student or rescue their classroom from a perpetrator. The school district should have a fully-trained security guard, undercover or not and take responsibility. It is a teacher’s job to teach, building security should be provided by administration. I’ve got kids in school and I have substitute taught as well as worked as an aid in schools— I believe that teachers packing a gun is way for the district to shift more responsibility on the teachers and off their own backs. One teacher gets overpowered by someone(s) who is bigger and stronger and the gun is already in the school. It just seems like a bad idea.