Tag Archives: active shooters

education news

Horrifying sign of the times

There can be no mistaking what is happening in school districts across Texas.

The Texas Senate has approved a bill that requires school districts to implement “active shooter” policies, or else face being taken over by the state education agency.

The legislation is in response to the Uvalde school massacre a year ago in which students and educators were gunned down by a madman.

This is a shocking and horrifying sign of the times in Texas … and everywhere else that has become victimized by the spasm of gun violence.

The Texas Tribune reports: Senate Bill 11, filed by Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, would create a safety and security department within the Texas Education Agency and give it the authority to compel school districts to establish active-shooter protocols. Those that fail to meet the agency’s standards could be put under the state’s supervision.

Texas Senate passes bill to strengthen school active-shooter plans | The Texas Tribune

I happen to believe this is a reasonable approach to helping reduce the casualties inflicted by shooters. I didn’t think it would be possible to support such a move, but given the alternatives, it makes sense.

One of the alternatives is to arm teachers, give them the authority and ability to open fire on shooters. Bad idea! I continue to oppose the notion of asking teachers — individuals whose calling is to “educate” children — to take up arms and start firing weapons at individuals … hoping they don’t hit innocent victims in the melee.

With so many incidents erupting around the country, I welcome the Texas effort to force public school systems to enact policies aimed at dealing with this existential threat to the safety of our children and educators.

I suppose you can call this the 21st-century version of the “duck and cover” drills many of us once did while the nation was frightened about a possible nuclear attack.

This threat, though, is frighteningly real.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

‘Active shooter drills’? Really?

There once was an almost-quaint era in our schools.

Students conducted fire drills. Those of us who grew up during the Cold War went through drills where we would be instructed to duck under our desks in case the Soviet Union decided to launch nuclear missiles at us.

Today we are in a different time. Now our students are conducting “active shooter drills” in schools. Educators are instructing our children about what they do when someone unloads a firearm.

Welcome to 21st-century America? Good ever-lovin’ grief, man!

Today’s students are facing dangers I never recall giving an instant of thought back when I was a kid. Parkland, Fla., has joined a lengthening list of American communities that have been scarred by gun violence tragedy. Seventeen people died; more were injured. A former student is arrested and charged with premeditated murder and is being held without bail in jail.

I suppose you can say that our school systems mark the most graphic changes in our culture. We’re hearing now in the wake of the Parkland massacre about these active shooter drills. Oh, my!

Consider, too, how public school students are able now to attend their schools after giving birth to children. Schools have day care centers on campus for the babies who belong to students.

I remember quite vividly how it used to be. It was around 1966 at the high school I attended. A girl revealed she was pregnant; she was unmarried. Almost immediately, this girl disappeared from the face of the planet, moving somewhere far, far away … never to be seen or heard from again by her friends at the school we all attended.

It’s not that way these days. See what I mean?

So it is with active shooter drills in our schools.

They’re keeping track these days of on-campus shooting incidents throughout the United States. Here we are, a month and a half into 2018 and we’re on track to set some sort of unofficial record for these kinds of events. Some of them have produced no casualties. Others have been tragic, such as what occurred in Parkland, Fla.

The very idea that we have to teach our children about how to deal with active shooters sickens me to my core.