Armed educators: Good or bad idea?
YAKIMA, Wash. -- Tobacco free, drug free and weapons free. You've likely seen those signs at some point around your kid's school but what if there was an exception to the last one about weapons?
It's an idea that's now being explored to better protect your children.
The top cops around the Yakima Valley say it's time to meet with educators about school security.
"We are looking again at how can we harden, how can we make it more difficult for bad guys to get into these buildings, into classrooms," said Yakima County Sheriff's Officer Lieutenant Brian Winter.
Officers say all ideas are on the table; one would train an unidentified school employee to carry a gun at school. People with a law enforcement or military background would be ideal candidates, police say.
It would be up to individual school districts to decide if that's right for them.
Washington State law bans guns at school, except for police or school security with the proper training.
Parents KIMA spoke with are divided.
"I think, why are we not arming our teachers? Give them certification to protect our children," said Jeanie Lopez.
"I don't agree with it. It's a safety matter that are kids couldn't get in, get access to the guns. So it'd be a bad idea," said Diane Figg.
Police say it's worth discussing.
They asked ESD 105 School Safety and Security Coordinator Randy Town to help bring all the key players within local school districts together for a sit down.
"Do you feel there's still potential risks of having educators armed inside schools?" KIMA asked.
"Oh sure, absolutely," said Town. "And these risks are, you've got one armed person and 25 high schools that are angry at you. You have to be ready to evaluate and be trained in an appropriate use of force."
"Do you think arming school educators with guns is sending a bad message to kids?" KIMA asked.
"I think that could go both ways." Town said.
Other ideas include placing armed officers at every school, especially schools located in rural areas, which takes money that isn't there.
"We have to look at liability when we do something and we have to look at the liability when we don't do something," Winter said.
Regardless, both educators and police I've spoken with say these issues must be addressed.
Officers stressed to KIMA that nothing has been decided.
Arming educators would require background checks, psychological testing and about a hundred hours of training.
It's an idea that's now being explored to better protect your children.
The top cops around the Yakima Valley say it's time to meet with educators about school security.
"We are looking again at how can we harden, how can we make it more difficult for bad guys to get into these buildings, into classrooms," said Yakima County Sheriff's Officer Lieutenant Brian Winter.
Officers say all ideas are on the table; one would train an unidentified school employee to carry a gun at school. People with a law enforcement or military background would be ideal candidates, police say.
It would be up to individual school districts to decide if that's right for them.
Washington State law bans guns at school, except for police or school security with the proper training.
Parents KIMA spoke with are divided.
"I think, why are we not arming our teachers? Give them certification to protect our children," said Jeanie Lopez.
"I don't agree with it. It's a safety matter that are kids couldn't get in, get access to the guns. So it'd be a bad idea," said Diane Figg.
Police say it's worth discussing.
They asked ESD 105 School Safety and Security Coordinator Randy Town to help bring all the key players within local school districts together for a sit down.
"Do you feel there's still potential risks of having educators armed inside schools?" KIMA asked.
"Oh sure, absolutely," said Town. "And these risks are, you've got one armed person and 25 high schools that are angry at you. You have to be ready to evaluate and be trained in an appropriate use of force."
"Do you think arming school educators with guns is sending a bad message to kids?" KIMA asked.
"I think that could go both ways." Town said.
Other ideas include placing armed officers at every school, especially schools located in rural areas, which takes money that isn't there.
"We have to look at liability when we do something and we have to look at the liability when we don't do something," Winter said.
Regardless, both educators and police I've spoken with say these issues must be addressed.
Officers stressed to KIMA that nothing has been decided.
Arming educators would require background checks, psychological testing and about a hundred hours of training.
Not only is it a good idea, it is the only idea that provides protection to all our children, other than pulling our kids out of public schools and homeschooling them, which is also a good idea.
Most of these problems with the kids are being created by the far right. They think it is their duty to terrorize minority families. Here in Yakima I know a guy who sold guns to the gang bangers and nothing much happened to him. The Nazi guards at the fed courthouse made it impossible to get info. The youth centers in Yakima run by strange "Christians" are illegal and half the kids will be molested. If we don't force these goody goodies to obey the law like anyone else our police budget and jail and mental health budgets will keep soaring. It seems Yakima could be subjected to an enormous lawsuit because of these shenanigans.
Exactly why do you think police are more responsible than teachers?
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Could it be the training they receive? And if so why not train teachers?
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When you take someoneâs right of self defense away: You are taking responsibility for their safety. And you are accountable for the outcome.
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When you put up a sign saying âno weapons are allowedâ; you are telling evil people they can do as they please and be met with little resistance.
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I am surprised some parents are not suing the school district for the direct result of their âno firearms policyâ.
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Even just one teacher or worker that had been trained and proved they where competent; could have saved many lives.
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Blaming âgunsâ is like blaming âautomobilesâ for traffic fatalities.
I could understand the reasoning if the cars or guns where defective.
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But banning automobiles or guns makes no sense to me at all.
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If a person wishes to murder the young and innocent; I would want something at least equal to the weapons they have.
And they usually have semi-auto weapons.
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Do you really believe all the criminals are going to suddenly obey the law; and turn all their illegal weapons over to the police?
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put a cop in every school and have them there to teach and protect,,and to pay for this, tax all weapons and charge yearly permit fees for any weapon. Its a good way to keep taps on who got what,,if they get caught  with one not registered, give a big find and take the guns and if there not lock up give a bigger find for that,,,this is some ways to protect kids from nuts with guns going to are schools, keep the guns out of their hands.