How would you start a discussion re. arming teachers in your local schools?

[Roguelet]

What can a parent do to find out if there is any discussion of allowing trained teachers to carry in their community and, if there is not, what can be done to encourage that discussion to begin? Recent events make it seem like the time for this to happen is now. There is a school board in Southern Indiana currently discussing the idea, and local parents are probably in the right frame of mind to consider it here, especially since we are not far from Plainfield and Danville. The local Police Department sent an Officer to each of the County high schools yesterday when the Plainfield and Danville threats were active, but those are large buildings for just one person to cover, and they can't be there all day long, every single day.

So, does anyone know how this type of ball officially gets rolling? Should discussion begin on a low-key level from a parent to a Principal or the local Police Department, or is it better to bring in someone who has experience with these types of programs in other schools or other states to have a more formal discussion? Does anyone have experience with this or suggestions?

 

[Tactically Fat]

Bring it up at a school board meeting.

Ask the question: Has anyone given serious though to professional training in regards to arming certain teachers to better protect our children?

 

[yepthatsme]

Bring it up at a school board meeting.

^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^ But I wouldn't invoke a disscussion on it at the first meeting. I would see if the school board would allow a professional to attend a future meeting so that you could have a better informed disscussion. Hopefully, if they would allow that to happen, those that are adamantly against arming teachers wouldn't be able to take control of the meeting and stop the disscussion.

 

[eldirector]

Bring it up at a school board meeting.

Ask the question: Has anyone given serious though to professional training in regards to arming certain teachers to better protect our children?

Didn't Guy run classes for schools/teachers?

 

[SSGSAD]

Didn't Guy run classes for schools/teachers?

He offered training, I don't know, if anyone has taken him up on it yet .....

 

[chipbennett]

Bring it up at a school board meeting.

Ask the question: Has anyone given serious though to professional training in regards to arming certain teachers to better protect our children?

Don't lawyers have an adage, to the effect of: don't ask a question to which you don't already know the answer?

Make it a school board election issue, and elect board members who favor allowing teachers to carry in schools. Then, bring it up in a board meeting.

 

[eldirector]

Better yet, run for a board position yourself.

 

[lonehoosier]

Don't waste your time with the school board, I've been wasting mine time now for five years with them. Are time would be well better spent with getting the law changed and the removal of all gun free zone's.

 

[rausch51]

Do you know what the schools are currently doing in the event of a violent intruder? Many schools are adopting an alternative to the traditional lockdown. If they haven't changed that practice, you are a heck of a long way from arming teachers. Start at the top, contact the superintendent and simply ask your question. I actually like Tactically Fat's language. Depending on their answer, go from there. This is an uphill battle from the start.

 

[eldirector]

Doesn't have to be one or another. Continue to work on the State Legislature. Work on grass-roots support among the parents and teachers (many of which are ALSO parents). Earn the trust of the School Board and Superintendent, and be an active participant at board meets (on any topic). Run for an elected position yourself, and encourage like-minded people to join you.

The anti-s are ahead because they have no problem jumping in and doing the above. They ENJOY telling other folks what to do.

 

[IndyGunSafety]

Didn't Guy run classes for schools/teachers?

Not sure if Guy did, but we have, and are on our second school with a third in the works.

 

[Leadeye]

I think that's going to be a hard sell if the NEA weighs in.

 

[Coach]

If enough parents at a school want it to happen it will happen. The Union is not enough to stop it. The board ultimately has to do what the community wants it to do if the community is united. Call the Superintendent and then speak at the School Board.

 

[Coach]

Not sure if Guy did, but we have, and are on our second school with a third in the works.

You have two districts that have armed teachers during the school day?

 

[OutdoorDad]

I wouldn't start the conversation.

As a parent, concerned citizen or neighbor, you're going to have little impact or voice.

I'd start asking questions of my child's teachers about their contingency plans. And training they've received. And all the obvious questions that they don't have an answer to.

And then I'd encourage them to float those questions at their next teachers' work day. (not during the PTSA meeting)

Teachers are used to organizing and problem solving. With the obvious gaps in their and their students' safety, get the conversation started among the teachers. And back away.

Most of the educators I have met over the years do the job because they love children. They don't generally do it for the money. (as though there was money!!) Get them focused on the problem and they'll come to the only logical conclusion... regardless of politics. They know what sounds good and what works. And tend to incorporate what works...


Raise the question... let them start the conversation amongst themselves.

 

[ajeandy]

I can tell you right now that most teachers think that idea is ridiculous and would be terrified of the idea of "allowing" a gun in the school. I've talked to several teachers as well as a professor with a PHD in criminal justice. The MAJORITY of the sheeple think this way. Their reasoning....? They think there would more likely be a ND/AD than a shooter.

 

[Alamo]

I would not start at a school board meeting, even if you bring in an "expert." It is much easier for them to say "no," and as noted you are likely to have many of the "professional" education spring loaded to get the vapors about guns, and they are also already organized, ready to communicate and lobby to swat down ideas that they do not like.

Get yourself organized first, with some other like-minded parents, research how other schools have done this, what their experiences are, how they have overcome objections. See if you can quietly identify "friendlies" on the school staff. Then when your group is organized and educated, start working individual school board members, and approach those who are interested in running for school board (consider running one of your own group). Find a way to publicise your concerns in the paper and include the positive experiences of other schools when doing so.

In other words, prepare the battle space as much as possible before engaging in the public political process. There are very few significant ideas that are brought up "cold" before a school board or any other decision-making body that actually survive and get implemented. There is always background to these things, and you need to get some currrents in the local community flowing in your direction first.

In Texas, there are supposed to be about 70 school districts that have armed staff (not counting commissioned peace officers). I know of about 35 myself, and as far as I know they are all smaller, more rural, more conservative independent school districts. The big ISDs in the big cities have their own police forces or "school resource officers" and are staffed and run by, well, the kind of people who like high-tax big city arrangements. I expect that you will find the same dynamic in Indiana -- the schools most likely to go for armed (non-police) staff will be smaller and more rural in nature.


Good luck.