Baldwin parents reject federal school gun proposal

The idea of using federal funds to arm teachers with guns is not only ludicrous, but also frightening, Baldwin Board of Education President Annie Doresca said. “It’s definitely scary, considering the times we’re living in right now,” she noted.

Many Baldwin parents and teachers agree with her. “I would pull my kids out of school immediately,” Kim Hill said. “What happens when the crazy kid steals the gun from the teacher? Or the teacher feels threatened and pulls the gun on a student?”

Lori Brady, a teacher, said she would not want to be responsible for a gun in her classroom, adding, “And trust me, I would do anything in my power to protect the children in my class.”

Several media outlets, citing people familiar with the matter, reported last week that U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was considering whether to allow states to use federal funding to purchase guns for teachers. The money would come from Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants, intended for academic and enrichment programs in low-performing schools. The program does not explicitly prohibit buying weapons with the money.

An Education Department spokeswoman said the agency is “constantly considering and evaluating policy issues,” and does not issue opinions on “hypothetical scenarios.”

DeVos reportedly began considering the proposal after receiving requests to do so from education officials in Texas and Oklahoma. If the plan were to be approved, it would be the first time that the agency funded gun purchases for educators.

After the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Congress passed the Students, Teachers and Officers Preventing School Violence Act of 2018, which authorized $50 million in grants to strengthen school security, but prohibited the purchase of guns.

New York state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia and Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa, in a joint statement on Aug. 23, called the idea of arming teachers “misguided and dangerous.”

“While nothing is more important than the safety and security of our children, the way to ensure their safety is to focus on social-emotional development and well-being and promoting a positive school climate,” the two said. “New York is focused on promoting a relationship of trust, cultural responsiveness, and respect between schools and families; ensuring that schools are safe havens for students and their teachers, where they are free to learn and teach, to laugh and continually grow together.”

Elected officials on both sides of the aisle criticized the proposal. State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, a Democrat from Long Beach, called on Elia to ban New York school districts from using federal funds to buy guns. “We owe it to our children and teachers to keep our schools safe, and supply them with adequate resources to ensure they receive the best education possible,” Kaminsky said in a statement. “DeVos’s asinine proposal to use our tax dollars to arm teachers accomplishes none of these objectives.”

Assemblyman Brian Curran, a Republican from Lynbrook, said he disagreed with such a plan. “I have long been a proponent of placing trained resource officers inside schools if a school district chooses to do so,” Curran wrote in an email. “Teachers have enough to worry about in performing their daily tasks as teachers.”

Dr. Shari Camhi, the Baldwin School District superintendent, did not address the possibility of arming teachers in an email to the Herald, saying only that the “safety of our students and faculty is always our top priority. The Baldwin Union Free School District has recently taken additional steps to add to our security plan, providing the resources that we feel best fit our community and the needs of our students and faculty.”

Baldwin resident Rich Damm said he would rather see the money go to metal detectors and “trained, in-shape, armed security personnel instead.” Andie Vera said that giving teachers guns is “one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard.”

President Trump has called for teachers to be armed, and in February he suggested giving bonuses to those who carry guns.