“Please send the police now,” a child told operators during one of ten harrowing 911 calls placed by Uvalde, TX students within the 48 minutes in which as many as 19 officers were in the hallway but did not engage with the shooter. (Time.com). As law enforcement stood by, with parents yelling for action to be taken, some parents took action into their own hands by breaking windows and pulling their children out of the school. Families report that the two teachers killed died as they heroically tried to protect their student. While such law enforcement actions are not typical of departments elsewhere, and there are many examples of police officers who have died in their attempts to save children, it does pose a question as to what reasonable actions can a school district take to protect its students. In 2014 Missouri passed legislation to allow districts to select teachers and/or administrators to carry a concealed weapon or pepper spray as “school protection officers” if they pass a training program and meet additional requirements. Southern Boone Schools have had School Resource Officers (SROs) in the past, but costs and conflicting policies between organizations were often a concern.
See more in this weeks Boone County Journal
Facebook Comments