The tragedy in Newton, CT has created a national and state gun control debate with emotions often running high on all sides. It is a very complex issue with many branches of concern: gun ownership and background checks, access to ammunition, availability of mental health services (and lack thereof), and constitutional issues, to name just a few.
One question that repeatedly arises is whether school personnel should carry guns on school campuses. Let me start by saying I am firmly opposed to arming teachers, or any school staff for that matter. I have always believed that schools should be violence-free zones that support the primary mission of LEARNING. In instances where police officers are employed to protect our children, guns carried by those individuals align with their duty and training. But, after a 30-year career in public education, I cannot fathom that the act of teachers “packing” will make children feel safer, their parents feel safer, staff feel safer, or create any sense of an overall “safe” school community.
Our challenge is to act together to foster an environment in which children and staff feel safe and nurtured, and where the prevention of violence in the first place is equal to the goal of learning.
How do we get there? What will it take? We should always be looking ahead toward improvement, whether in our jobs, in our neighborhoods and towns, and of course, in our schools. How can we make our schools both safer and better prepared for emergencies?
NASP (National Association for School Psychologists) has been instrumental in proposing policy and practice recommendations to most effectively address school safety. One recommendation is to increase the availability of mental health services in schools across the country.
President Obama’s task force has suggested placing additional school psychologists, social workers, and resource officers in schools to address the increasing need for mental health services for students and staff. As a counselor and school psychologist, and one who personally knows the value of these services, I believe this should be of the highest priority. There are always too few mental health providers employed in schools to meet the increasingly complex needs of far too many students and families.
Other NASP recommendations include: creating safe and supportive schools that promote learning, psychological health, and student success; considering both the physical and psychological health of students (when children feel unsafe, their ability to learn and concentrate suffers); improving screening and threat assessment procedures to identify and help individuals at risk for causing harm to themselves and others; establishing and training school crisis and safety teams; reducing the stigma around mental health; addressing as a society children’s exposure to violence on TV, in video games, and in homes and neighborhoods, especially in vulnerable populations; and finally, current policies and legislation related to access to firearms by those who have the potential to cause harm to themselves or others must be addressed.
This is a monumental and multifaceted challenge to consider, and yet a necessary one. Tell me what you think about these proposals and how they will affect you or your children. Could you add to the above list of recommendations? Please leave a response. I would love to hear from you!