Two schools in northern Iowa have plans to make teachers and staff in their school armed during the day. This idea came to mind as the rate of school shootings has increased significantly in recent years. 

The main grounds for this came from the massacre at Uvalde Elementary in Uvalde, Texas on May 22, 2022, where 21 children and staff were killed while law enforcement officers were outside the school on standby for over an hour. 

In the school system’s mind, having staff armed makes it safer for students in the case where law enforcement doesn’t come inside to help like they did at Uvalde.

The Spirit Lake School District and the Cherokee School District in northern Iowa created this policy, an action that got approval from their school boards. This would allow up to ten teachers and staff per school to be armed. The staff members that are chosen would be carefully and thoughtfully evaluated. Teaching armed staff members what to do in a dangerous situation and how to operate a firearm would be difficult and certainly not cheap.

Even though both school districts were ready to apply this policy, they had to drop it because neither school district was able to find insurance that would give them a complete policy if they had armed staff. The insurance providers they were currently with said they would drop them at the end of the school year if this policy was implemented.

While some may believe this policy is more helpful than harmful, many people aren’t taking into consideration what could happen as a result of having guns in the classroom. First of all, what if they get into the hands of the kids? If a teacher accidentally leaves the drawer with the gun unlocked and a kid uses it or takes it? Studies have shown that kids are more likely to get shot whether it be from an accident, suicide or homicide when the resources are available to them.

We also have to take into consideration the toxic environment schools have produced for teachers; there are numerous people who have quit teaching because of this. Many have also made podcasts discussing the toxic environment and its impact on them. What if the environment is too much, or their mental health isn’t in the right state and the teachers decide to use the firearm in school? Many law enforcement officers have also opposed this idea because it makes it harder for them to identify between the attackers and the teachers when trying to secure the school.

The amount of trust students have with teachers and staff will decrease with them being armed. Studies have shown that students will no longer look at schools in a more positive way which can cause students to be more reluctant to report issues to the schools; this would create a less safe environment for everyone. In addition to the lack of trust in teachers, it can make it more difficult for teachers to maintain a supportive and safe environment for the kids.

Steve Newell, the safety patrol officer here at West High, shared some of the safety precautions our district is taking to keep our students safe. “We have been adding and upgrading cameras in the school district, adding more campus security, giving key fobs to patrol officers so they can access schools easier, doing active shooter/evacuation drills for staff and students, requiring exterior doors to be locked, require people to check into the building, anti-bullying programs and having counselors keeping up on the mental health of students,” Newell said.

We also wanted to know his thoughts and opinions on this and if he could see our district having armed teachers during the day. “I definitely do not see our district arming school staff. It involves a lot of training and you have to be mentally prepared to take someone else’s life if need be,” he shares.

In a Google form asking about having armed teachers, I was surprised to see that among all of the students who responded, it was almost a 50/50 with the majority of students thinking teachers shouldn’t be armed during the school day. We asked the question: Do you think teachers and staff should be armed during the school day? If yes, why? If no, why not? An anonymous student wanted to give his opinion on this topic. His opinion, however, is on the controversial side, believing we should be arming teachers.

The student said “I personally believe having armed teachers would be a great idea in case of an armed individual on school grounds with the intent to cause harm. In a lot of school shootings, emergency response officers do not always show up in time to prevent most deaths.”

“There have even been cases where the dispatched officers do not have enough information and hesitate to engage with the threat, further endangering staff and students. I feel like having teachers armed and trained for a worst case scenario would be very beneficial,” shared the student.

This student did acknowledge that safety precautions would have to be implemented to ensure that there will be no misuse of their firearms. “There would have to be a lot of planning put into the implementation of armed teachers such as background checks and other such things but if you ask me, I would prefer to have armed teachers and not need them than need them and not have them,” he said.

Another student who asked to stay anonymous gave us this reason as to why we shouldn’t arm our teachers. This student began with a question, saying “why would we allow someone with firearms to enter a place that’s supposed to be a safe area for learning and education? Isn’t that the very thing we are trying to prevent? Who is going to be the one to tell a parent that their kid isn’t coming home because someone who was unqualified and untrained made a bad decision in the heat of the moment?”

The student went on to say “I believe that teachers should not have firearms since that would be defying the principles that schools strive to uphold, a safe environment for learning. Teachers shouldn’t have to make a choice they aren’t trained to make and be given firearms they weren’t prepared to have, plus what happens if a kid gets their hands on a firearm that had been left in a classroom?” 

“Why should we be introducing more possibilities for violence and more unknowns to an already complicated situation? So no, teachers should not be given firearms and shouldn’t have to make that choice,” the student shared.

Instead of using district resources to arm teachers, we should be focusing and investing more resources to prevent school violence. The U.S. Department of Education provides statistics on how schools prioritize law enforcement over basic school needs. These statistics include:

• 1.7 million students are in schools with police but no counselors
  • 3 million students are in schools with police but no nurses
  • 6 million students are in schools with police but no school psychologists
  • 10 million students are in schools with police but no social workers
  • 14 million students are in schools with police but no counselor, nurse, psychologist, or social
  worker

Every day, 1.7 million children go to a public school where they have police officers but no counselors. In addition to this, three out of the five largest school districts in the U.S. hire more security officers than counselors. Why are schools continuing to not fix the root of the problem, a problem that could be fixed by providing resources to students to help them feel and make their environment safer?