My representative in Congress, U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, has proposed a bill to deal with school shootings that focuses on “hardening” our schools. I write this letter with more than 30 years of experience as an educator.
I was a fifth-grade teacher during the horrific Columbine shooting in 1999. When innocent children were gunned down at Sandy Hook, I was a superintendent. I was mentoring future principals when violence visited a high school in Parkland, Fla., and supervising student teachers when the nightmare at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde happened recently.
Following the Columbine tragedy, schools responded by radically changing their safety protocols. Today if you attempt to visit schools, you will find the doors locked. You will need to “buzz” a receptionist, look into a camera and state your purpose for visiting.
Most schools now have bulletproof glass on the ground level and automatic locks on classroom doors. Lockdown drills are practiced regularly with students hiding in a corner out of sight. Each time I had to walk down hallways as a superintendent after announcing, “Lockdown! Lockdown! Lockdown!” I had a lump in my throat. It was always astonishing how quickly a school district turned from a vibrant place of learning to what appeared to be a ghost town.
Those drills often brought to mind my own experience as a student during the1960s when children were trained to dive under their desks and cover their heads to survive a possible nuclear attack. Those duck-and-cover drills were just as naïve as the speculation today that a school resource officer can stop a person in full body armor with a high-capacity assault weapon from slaughtering innocent people.
Those drills gave me nightmares as a child. No doubt today’s children have sleepless nights as well.
So instead of proposing legislation to “harden” schools that already are, wouldn’t it be wise to instead pass sensible gun safety regulations? Consider Fox News’s recent poll: 88% favor background checks; 82% favor age 21 to purchase an assault weapon; 81% favor red flag laws; and 63% favor a ban on assault weapons.
I encourage Stefanik to meet with educators to ask what would really help to reduce gun violence and also to publicly debate her opponent for the mid-term elections so her constituents can clearly assess whom they want to cast their vote for this November.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
(5) comments
it never ceases to amaze me that the same people who thought it was traumatizing to kids' childhood experience to have them wear masks in school as part of the fight against the worst pandemic in 100 years think it's aok to have them go through all these active shooter drills and "hardening" measures.
House GOP leadership expressed frustration over Stefanik's endorsement because they were not consulted and are now associated with unflattering stories, including reports about Paladino's past praise of Hitler and past racist remarks, @NBCNews learned. NBC News
Great letter. But, that tweet shows that Elise Stefanik doesn’t even care what her partners in GOP leadership think. She’s Trump’s favorite. She does fundraisers with him regularly. She probably has a better chance of being Speaker than McCarthy and is almost certainly angling to be VEEP, if not the top of the ticket.
Frightened or massacred schoolchildren are not going to stand in the way of her ambition.
It's just a common sense solution
It's doing what a representative's constituents want.
It's for the children.
It's backing the blue.
All lives matter.
Great letter. I, too, was a teacher and witness how active shooter drills can frighten young children. As to Stefanik meeting with educators, don't hold your breath. She is less interested in the thoughts of her constituents than in the rise of her career in the GOP. Even if 100% supported more sensible gun laws, she would not advocate for them in Congress against the positions of her colleagues.
Great letter citing huge support by the public for restrictions and sensible gun laws to protect our children... missing is the influence of the NRA...follow the money.. ..
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.