School Safety

Securing Education – Guns or Metal Detectors?

* Where would we be without teachers?  It’s like asking where we’d be without the sun.

The warmth we need to grow, the illumination we need to see new things and the undying pull to keep us on the right trajectory are things we expect both the sun and our teachers to provide for us.  The sun doesn’t have much choice, and at least theoretically we can count on it to continue to deliver until it inevitably burns itself out.

Teachers do have a choice, and when they burn out society loses a little warmth, a ray of light and a steadiness of direction.

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A Beautiful Sight – Hope in the Wake of Tragedy

It’s easy to complain … seems like I’ve been doing it nonstop since November ’16. Determined to write something positive today, I asked myself, “What is the most beautiful thing I have seen lately?”

The answer was there waiting for me before I could finish the question: those students in Florida. The way they marched to Tallahassee determined to make a difference. The way they tempered their anger and pain with their intellect and handled themselves in a manner we can all be proud of. The way they were filled with, and inspired hope; beautiful, human hope.

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Targeting Teachers; Should We Arm Educators?

“I want to tell you about my idea for assault rifle vending machines,” said Fester Trim, one of the candidates for City Council in Pawnee, Indiana.  Fester’s solution to car theft is that we should all mount shotguns on our dashboards that kill anyone that tries to steal our car.  Fester also believes that the way to end schoolhouse slaughters is to arm our teachers.  Thank Goodness Fester is just a character in a sitcom; a caricature of an NRA Gun Nut, and that his over-stated suggestions would never be made by real politicians in real life.

What?  The last suggestion isn’t from Fester?  It’s from whom?  Are you sure?

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Safety in Public Schools – NEA or NRA?

PORTLAND — If I were a kid or a teacher in America, as I have been in the past, I would not want to go to school tomorrow. If I found myself there anyway, I’m sure I would spend half the day looking over my shoulder to see if there was a kid with an assault rifle coming down the hallway.

It is beyond shameful that in this great country, loudly proclaiming “America First”, kids are last.  Our children are collateral damage along the path of payoffs, bribes, backroom deals and gentlemen’s agreements.  Of all the despicable things the current occupant of the White House is – and the list is long and varied – being a whore for the NRA is the worst.  Anyone with a shred of a human soul remaining and the power to affect change that is not in the pocket of the NRA would be compelled to do so.

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