School Defense- Coming Out of the
Shadows to Protect Our Children
By Rob Morse. Aug 8, 2023
Article Source
I was wrong. I assumed that school boards were cowards if they didn't have a publicly announced plan to physically defend their students. I found out that many school boards recognized the need to protect the students and staff, but they were afraid they would lose the political fight to do so. Many of those boards adopted an attitude of "Don't ask and don't tell." That may be the case where you live. Recently in Texas, the legislature made that subterfuge unnecessary. I know that Texas is big, but the problem of school defense is even bigger. One failed school district can hurt all of us in many ways. There are unresolved issues we face as we protect our kids at school.
Bad things happen to good people. It is frightening to admit that evil men and women want to hurt our children. We live in a broken world where celebrity seeking narcissists feel ignored. They are willing to kill our kids to become headline news. That problem isn't going away until we radically change the ethics of journalism. That won't happen any time soon, and there are many things we can do in the meantime to protect our children.
Ignoring violence makes the problem worse. Protecting our children at school reveals our fears. Many people abhor violence even if that violence is used to protect innocent lives. Some of our neighbors can excuse that police officers are armed, but they don't want to know that their neighbors are armed as well. I've heard them say, "Guns don't belong here." Mass-murderers exploit that sentiment and frequently attack churches, schools, and theaters where the victims are disarmed.
This problem is real, and I know someone who was harassed out of her teaching positions because she was a firearms instructor. Putting firearms out of sight so they are out of mind only works so far. It leaves our children in danger if adults can't talk about defending them. It helps the school staff to know that some of their colleagues are part of a safety team of armed defenders. Both are more effective when safety and medical teams work together.
We know how to defend our children. As I mentioned, the Texas legislature recently passed two important laws on school safety. First, they said that each school campus must have a comprehensive plan for a wide range of threats. Second, they said that each campus needs armed security. That can be a model for other states.
It is a good start to put even a bad plan in writing. These campus safety plans can be evaluated and compared after they are made public. Unfortunately, there is a tendency for administrators to do what is easiest for them rather than what is best for the students and staff. One common problem is that the legally mandated requirements become the benchmark. Administrators stop as soon as the requirements are met.
Laws are often decades behind the current threats. A few years ago, we thought it was enough to simply lock the classroom door when class was in session. Attackers changed their plans to strike when the students were outside the classroom. The new law in Texas requires that an armed defender is on campus during regular hours, but fully 45-percent of attacks at schools happened outside of regular school hours. Most happen outside the classroom.
Doing the legally required minimum isn't enough. Schools don't really operate on a 9-to-3 schedule. Some children come to elementary school early to receive breakfast. Some children stay late as schools provide after school supervision for children of working parents. Many sports, music, and arts programs take place before and after school. Rather than close school early, we want to protect our children from door to door.
We want our children returned in the same good condition they started the day.
Fortunately, that is easier than it sounds.
Our common sense works pretty well. It makes sense that most parents want their children protected at school. School staff are surprisingly eager to defend "their kids." What isn't widely known is that a school can arm about 60 volunteer school staff members for the cost of a single police officer on campus. At best, our children are protected by both uniformed School Resource Officers and armed school staff. We want both because uniformed police officers are never required to defend our children at school.
We don't need every adult armed on campus. As you might expect, it isn't a majority of teachers who volunteer to go armed, but it is several times the fraction of people who legally carry a firearm in public. That matches your intuition because teachers care about their students. To prove that point, most school staff are willing to learn emergency trauma care. (In some states it is required for school staff to have taken a "Stop the Bleed" class.) Some creative school administrators hired the men and women who volunteer at school to become "security guards under contract." That costs a dollar a year.
There are always political problems along the way. School officials can't read your mind. If you stay silent, then it doesn't matter that you want your children protected at school. It only matters what the people who show up at the school board meetings want. This is one of the beautiful times where speaking up can save lives.
Go to the board meetings and learn how things work. You can do that, but write an email if you missed the meeting. It is easier for the school board to be brave when they know you're supporting them. Loan them the courage they need to defend our children.
We do all kinds of things to protect our family every day. Asking the school board to protect our children should be one of them. Do you know when and where your local school board meets? Put the date on the calendar so you don't forget.
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