BY: Shreeya Aranake and Andrew Ha
Arming teachers has not been a topic officially discussed in district offices, according to Principal Francis Rojas. The topic is not likely to be entertained by MUSD, Rojas continued. Rather than talking about arming teachers, schools will be focusing on funding student resource officers (SRO), having increased security on campuses, and training teachers who are on duty during breaks to handle a situation if it were to arise, according to Rojas.
Recent school shootings around the country prompted Superintendent Cheryl Jordan to hold a meeting with secondary school representatives and the Milpitas Police Department. The goal was to discuss safety strategies in the case of an active school shooter, according to Jordan. Sergeant Brian Hinkley and Officer Muok presented three strategies, called “run,” “hide,” and “defend,” Jordan said.
For the “run” strategy, students would run away from the school to a designated area if an active shooter were present, Jordan said. If students were within a building, they would use the “hide” strategy: the students would lock the doors and lay flat on the ground to hide from the shooter, Jordan explained. Furthermore, if the intruder were to come through the classroom door, then students should throw everything they have at the intruder; this is known as the “defend” method, according to Jordan.
“We talked about how we haven’t uniformly practiced the defend part. We haven’t uniformly practiced the run part and what we have practiced uniformly is the hide part, so we need to talk with all the leadership on how we keep up the run and defend part,” Jordan said. “In fact, I asked all principals to hold a drill every four to six weeks.”
Beyond the SRO and a greater frequency of drills, history teacher Michael Cummins said that the school must be as inclusive as possible, helping students express any issues they have through counseling. Cummins notes that the school has been improving the handling of student mental health because of the Counseling and Support Service for Youth (CASSY) counselors. Moreover, Cummins said that arming teachers with guns will not help protect the school.
“I don’t want to have teachers have access to weapons; I don’t think anyone on campus is qualified to hold a weapon that’s a teacher,” Cummins said. “Also, what if it goes off by mistake? What if in some sort of struggle it goes off unplanned? What if a student takes it to hurt another student? There’s just too many variables. We have no business with guns. We are here to instruct.”
Senior Isaac Clark reflected Cummins sentiment. Arming school teachers is not a good idea, Clark opined. There are classes in which teachers are not in constant control of their students; thus there are too many “what-ifs” that could lead to something going wrong, Clark added.
“I think it’s good that we have a Student Resource Officer on campus and that we practice intruder drills,” Clark said. “Personally, I hope that we’ll start taking drills more seriously from now on.”
“I think it’s good that we have a Student Resource Officer on campus and that we practice intruder drills,” Clark said. “Personally, I hope that we’ll start taking drills more seriously from now on.”
