When I was a young teacher, just starting out, it was difficult to get a teaching job in the Kansas City area. My degree was Music Education/Music Therapy so the field was pretty limited. Eventually I got a job offer to teach music & p.e. at our neighborhood Catholic school. My pay was insurance benefits. I proved that I had good classroom management skills, though, and the following year was offered a position as a third grade classroom teacher. It was a difficult group of students, and my principal, Rose Wilson, was very supportive in mentoring me. I remember her telling me that I could teach another 30 years and not encounter such a challenging class of students. I believed her. She was close to retirement and had a solid reputation for motivating students to achieve to high standards.
Thirty years later I was standing in front of my colleagues at Santa Fe Trail Elementary School in the Independence Public School District. It was December 14, 2012, and the news had just broken about an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut where an unthinkable act of senseless mass murder had occurred. As the school counselor, teachers were looking to me to give them some assurance that this wasn’t normal. All I could do was cry. I am, to this day, unable to find that confidence.
I realize school shootings are not an everyday occurrence - even though there are those who would like you to believe that. We have schools all across the nation that may never experience this tragedy. But the threat we all live under now is that it could, and until we do something that will curb the ability of whatever evil force it is that compels a person to devise such a scheme, we will continue to have active shooter trainings and ads that try to convince us that body armour is appropriate school attire.
Some of my colleagues are sponsoring gun control legislation, and I have co-sponsored a number of those bills.
I've got a great idea. How about President Trump, members of the Senate and house and NRA leadership travel to Stoneman Douglas high school, crouch down and hide on the floor while someone fires an AR 15 in their direction and then see what their thoughts are on controlling or banning certain guns. Maybe that would get their attention.
ReplyDeleteOr you all could keep your assault rifles and we can just round up all the mentally ill and serial abusers and put them in concentration camps.
ReplyDeleteHow would you determine who those people are? Ever felt blue? Or maybe in need of anger management? Drank a little too much? Hey, I'd bet you qualify. Enjoy joy having all you civil rights destroyed.
Delete5:12, I have a better idea. How about they pull out their concealed weapons and blow the shooter away?
ReplyDeleteIf that coach had been armed, the shooter would be DEAD.
Dear Anon 9:01, perhaps you're correct. I want to apologize for sounding snarky in my post. I believe in the 2nd amendment but shouldn't we at least consider where we draw the line as to the type of guns civilians are able to own. I believe we should learn from our experiences and while my comment sounded sarcastic I sincerely believe that some of our leaders might rethink their position if they had to experience what these kids did on Valentines day. Could you perhaps share with me why someone needs an automatic or semi automatic gun to hunt or protect themselves with? Also, why do you think it is that civilians can't own machine guns? I'm being sincere. I'd like to understand. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThese are some of the stupidest comments in written form I have ever seen.
ReplyDeleteIt's called public discourse, you should try it sometime.
DeleteEric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 classmates and injured 21 others at Columbine in 1999 using a Tech-9 Assault weapon. The Tech-9 was specifically banned in the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban signed into law by Bill Clinton. How are we so sure an Assault Weapons Ban will work this time? Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and expecting different results? I don't know maybe we do need a ban, but we also need a lot more than that to address the problem of mass killings. Addressing Mental Health would be a start. It's everywhere, everyone suffers from it at some point, doesn't make you evil, it just means there's an epidemic and it needs to be addressed. There is no one clear cut answer to this problem, and it wont be resolved today or even tomorrow. But this attacking each side will only further entrench our views, and then nothing can be done, and we will have once again failed the victims.
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