I can easily explain it to you. I'm an ex-teacher and had to deal with the problem. There are many dedicated teachers who end up in school administrations and really have the interests of educating kids in their hearts. There are, unfortunately, many more D.Eds (doctors of education) who are so impressed by themselves that they work overtime at attempting to control anyone and everyone who is remotely under their control at every opportunity. They are unfettered by anything but school politics. Here is a great recent example (and one of the reasons that I choose not to carry on my bike rides).rp_photo wrote:I can never understand how an employer can feel the need to second-guess state law and bear the moral responsibility of denying employees the ability to defend themselves to and from work.
Wouldn't it be a lot easier for them to take the "Starbucks" approach?
Our Town has dedicated bike trails. One of those trails crosses a school bus loop around an elementary school. When I follow that trail, I'm on the bus loop portion for less than 30 seconds. If I'm unfortunate in the timing of my ride, teachers can use the bus loop to line up their classes and completely block it. On one such occasion, I elected to follow the bus loop in the opposite direction to a nearby street rather than to ride up to the assembled kids. About halfway to the street, the principal stopped me and asked me what I was doing. I told him that I had been on the bike trail but that it was blocked by kids and I was riding away from them and toward the street.
He went into a tirade about how he could not have "strange guys" riding around because a bunch of mothers would call him to complain. He acknowledged that the bike trail linked with the bus loop and how that had been an advantage but now it wasn't and he could no longer permit its use. I believe that the Town has a different view on the matter. Without any further input from me, he then launched of into how I was exercising all wrong and that by riding my bike where I was, I wasn't getting maximum benefit and that I should be doing interval training and not riding on the trail at all, that I was making a serious health mistake and that I had better rethink my approach. This all happened in less than 1 minute. Keep in mind that the Town maintains the bike path with the link to the bus loop and there are no signs that say that it cannot be used during the school day. I was obviously perspiring significantly but none of that made any difference to him. In 30 seconds, he knew what was best for me, even though I've been riding my bike for cardio for 7 years. When I taught, we called these guys control freaks. I'm sorry to report that nothing seems to have changed since I left education.
With an administrator like this, I firmly believe that the Texas laws and even school policy would not matter. They are above all of that. They can and will find a way to work their will so if detection of a gun occurs, you are at their mercy. That said, however, the likelihood of detection is probably far greater at a high school than at junior high, middle school or elementary. It may depend on the environment of the school and how many problems they have that seem to spill over from the surrounding community.