From The Tennessean
Tennessee teacher gun law: Where Middle Tennessee districts stand (tennessean.com)
Franklin Special School District Director David Snowden emailed families and staff on Thursday to address the legislation, saying he and his team are awaiting the governor’s final decision.
“In the meantime, the school board and I do not see any scenario where this initiative would enhance our already robust safety and security measures,” part of his email read. “Additionally, we believe the risks associated with this legislation outweigh any perceived benefit for our schools.”
Lebanon Special School District Director Brian Hutto said in an email that the district has school resource officers in every school, along with a “healthy partnership” with local law enforcement.
“We also have an additional SRO and K9-Blaze, a dedicated DARE officer, and multiple layers of security measures,” Hutto said. “We will not be arming teachers as our needs are already covered in our buildings.”
Metro Nashville Public Schools spokesperson Sean Braisted said the district is not planning to change its existing policy on who can carry guns.
“We have a strong relationship with the Metro Nashville Police Department and agree that it is safest for only approved active-duty law enforcement officers to carry weapons on campus,” Braisted said in an email. “This has been our consistent practice at MNPS, and we have no intention of changing it.”
Murfreesboro City Schools Director Trey Duke sent an email to staff on Thursday morning that was later shared with parents. He assured staff and parents that safety is “always in the front of our minds” and explained the pending action on the bill by the governor.
“Our district is proud to have a team of highly skilled school resource officers in every school, a testament to our strong partnership with the Murfreesboro Police Department (MPD),” Duke wrote. “We want to reaffirm that it is not the intention of MCS leadership to permit faculty or staff to carry concealed handguns on school grounds. Our focus remains on providing a safe and secure environment for all students and staff through our efforts with the MPD and school safety team.”
Rutherford County Schools spokesperson James Evans said the district is still monitoring the legislation as it awaits transmission to the governor and his actions. He cited the bill’s requirement to create an agreement between the district and local law enforcement to set up a process for teachers and staff to legally carry guns in schools.
“At this time, we do not see the need for this initiative in our schools,” Evans wrote in an email Wednesday. “Rutherford County Schools already has an extensive school resource officer program, which includes at least one trained, armed deputy in all schools. We also have a robust safety program, which includes training for all employees and a number of other safety and security measures.
You may think both Parkland and Uvalde, but I am going a bit farther back when a learning center went in full support of opposing concealed carry on campus and celebrated when the measure failed.
“I’m sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly’s actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.”
Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker in January 2006 after a Campus Carry measure was defeated in the Virginia Assembly.
Seng-Hui-Cho proved Mr. Hincker’s statement was deadly wrong on January 16, 2007.
“common sense” is only a democrat talking point… decisions to “not allow” concealed carry on campus only makes morons feel safe…. Im glad I don’t have kids in school…. the dumbing down of America is complete..
East Tennessee school districts are also declining: https://www.wbir.com/article/news/education/east-tennessee-teacher-gun-bill/51-e9eca2f3-0efc-48b2-83ef-3ef6e031fc0a . Looks like it’s going to be an interesting school board election season in the upcoming year.
Nothing new here. Florida’s Guardian program has been ignored by school districts since it was passed. I trained for weeks and even bought a new gun in anticipation of being able to carry, then the school districts made sure that no one could carry in practice.
https://areaocho.com/guardian-program/
The Progressive Elite are quite invested in the “Dial 911 & Die” mentality. To trust those who you gave “care, custody and control” of your children with being the sheepdogs is unfathomable, especially those who take that responsibility seriously. As for administrators; they are classroom teachers who could not successfully foster learning.
The problem with these laws is that they give discretion to school districts. As fans of “pre-emption” know, you don’t ever give discretion over things like this to local politicians because they will abuse that discretion.
What the law should say instead is that teachers may carry subject to the normal concealed carry rules that apply to any resident, and school administrators are explicitly denied any authority to say otherwise. And for extra credit, add a clause making administrators and school board members personally liable for attempts to violate that pre-emption. (As I recall, NH did something like that when it denied local authority over concealed carry.)