This is the post that I have avoided writing.
Parents: pull your sons and daughters from public schools and don’t send them back until there is REAL change in America’s gun laws.
One of my foremost reasons for home-schooling Baby Girl is school safety. My granddaughter will never die in a public school because she will never attend one.
I didn’t really want to say that before. I didn’t think I would need to. I didn’t want to wade into the politics of guns and schools for many reasons, not the least of which was that I am currently a public school employee. I have strong feelings about this topic which are not going to be popular with everyone. I have so much to say that I’m not sure I can get it all into one pithy little post. Having said all that, I’m soon to be retired, and it’s time for me to give this a try.
Here it is: As long as there are guns in America, no school will be safe. Ever.
To try to arm or schools, to make them into fortresses, is futile. Don’t think I haven’t thought about this, a lot. I have, in my head, a LIST of ways a madman could enter my school and wreck havoc, despite our locked doors and our relatively large security staff. I won’t list them here for obvious reasons, but let’s just say that even an old lady like me could make it over our exterior fence in a matter of seconds. (I would need pointed-toed shoes or maybe a step ladder). Once an intruder makes his way inside the fence, all those kids sitting outdoors, enjoying their lunch under the Florida sun, are in grotesque danger from anyone intent on doing harm. I could go on, but I won’t, because do we really want our children to spend their days inside a fortress? I heard this term today, “oasis within a fortress.” Good one. (I’m picturing a medievel castle complete with moat and alligators.)I also heard discussion about “single point of entry”, something we have had here in Broward for a while now. There is never just one single point of entry. Again, a person who wants to get into a school will find a way in.And what would happen if the gunman was already inside?
I’m listening to Texas authorities talk about mental health, and it infuriates me. It’s just an excuse to NOT talk about guns. Even if working on mental health is the answer, exactly what do they propose to do about it? Flash a magic wand and mumble a few words and make it go away? A person who is mentally ill does not get well immediately after being identified or even after diagnosis. You can’t do surgery on the brain and make them all better. It takes years. Let’s talk for just a minute about the MSD shooter whose name I won’t mention. We knew he was a sick boy. We threw him out of the middle school (it took awhile, but it happened) and sent him to an “alternative program.” To the best of my knowledge, he spent time at an alternative high school as well. We couldn’t “fix” him.
So, Govenor Abbott and others, tell me how a policy of “better mental health” is going to fix the problem anytime soon. How many more children will die while we try to make all of America mentally healthy? How are you going to accomplish this without infringing upon personal freedoms? What are you going to do, lock up all potential shooters? I don’t think so.
And now the authorities are talking about the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on school safety. Okay. In my school they put in new doorlocks, ones that lock automatically so teachers don’t have to remember to lock the doors. Good idea. They put in new heavy front doors and a buzzer system by which people are admitted into the building. There are still dozens of ways to get in and do harm. Any student could carry a gun in his own backpack as there are no metal detectors. Granted, we have a large security staff due to our close proximity to Douglass High School, but they can’t be everywhere. Yes, millions of dollars have been spent, but we are no safer. Every teacher knows that, and that’s why many of us are bailing out. Who will want to teach in the future?
And teachers have had training. We know that, in the case of an active shooter, doors should remain shut and locked (and barricaded if they can be). We know we should close our blinds so no one can see in. We know we should turn off the lights. We know we should put ourselves between a shooter and our students. We have had “stop the bleed” training. I wonder how I stop the bleed on twenty-five students at once. I wonder how I stop the bleed if I am the first one down, if I have shielded my students as is expected. Spending money on “hardening” schools and purchasing strategies is not the answer.
The answer is simple. The ONLY group of people who can make change in school safety is PARENTS. From my 27 years of experience in the classroom, I can tell you that teachers are the group with the least amount of power. We need your help, Parents.
Clearly, we can’t wait for Congress to legislate substantial change. Our government is broken, and I don’t see it being fixed anytime soon. Background checks, the only thing we might be able to agree on, are only a tiny fraction of the answer. Let’s remember that the Texas shooter passed THREE background checks.
Parents: pull your sons and daughters from public schools and don’t send them back until there is REAL change in America’s gun laws. I’m talking about banning semi-automatic rifles. I’m talking about limiting the amount of guns and ammo a person can own. I’m talking about red-flag laws and raising the age limit at which one can purchase a gun. I can understand owning a gun to protect your family, but then again, in our forty years of marriage my husband and I have never owned a gun, and we have lived in a variety of settings including an apartment in Tampa and out in the woods in Maine.
I am very serious about this. Withdraw your kids from schools both public and private. You can’t do this because you have to work? Form coalitions. Join a homeschool group. Homeschool at night after work if you must. Take your child to work with you. Demand your employer provide day care. Empty the public (and private) schools and DEMAND change. You don’t know how to homeschool? You can do it! Find a homeschool program on line. I guarantee your city or town or county has a homeschool group. If you can’t do anything else at all, read with your child and practice simple mathematics.
Don’t think for a minute that your child will have less happiness as they “miss out” on the public school experience. There are many paths to happiness and many paths to a college degree. One doesn’t need a high school diploma to go to college.
I have joked for many years that the only way to fix the schools is to “blow them up.” Let’s do something less violent, let’s empty them out. I think that might garner some attention.
Here are a couple of links to get you started. I am not endorsing any programs, but perhaps you’ll find something of interest here.
someone needs to say this louder 🙏
agreed!!!