Comments/suggestions are welcome. I plan on hitting the SEND button tomorrow after I've had a chance to review it.
Dear ________________,
After the tragic events in Connecticut last week, I'm sure you've been flooded with "What are we doing about this?" questions and suggestions. Hopefully some of the suggestions you're receiving are grounded in fact and not just emotion.
It's been my opinion for some time that "Gun Free Zones" and "Gun Free Schools" are nothing more than feel-good words that have little connection to securing real safety. These words are little more than hollow marketing phrases intended to placate the masses, empty words that accomplish nothing, that leave our most precious, most vulnerable loved ones at increased risk from the kind of evil we saw in Newtown last Friday. Who obeys those signs? Will an evil killer be stopped by a plastic sign on your door? It's the height of hubris, and completely irresponsible for us to believe so.
When I was VP of our HOA a few years ago, our gated community was hit with a string of car and home break-ins'. I was amazed that residents reactions were "but we have gates.... how come the gates didn't stop this? We need to add cameras, that will be even better." People completely ignored the fact that the cars broken into were parked on the street instead of in garages, and the houses robbed were chosen because the thieves stole the garage door openers out of the cars parked in the street. Where is personal responsibility, reality-based security assessment and planning today?
As a parent of children in your district, I've stood by shaking my head at the false security provided by a locked door and buzzer system. Anyone who rings the bell gets buzzed in. What good is that kind of security? Let's admit today that it's no good at all in an active shooter situation. Even if you don't buzz them in, as we saw in CT an active shooter can come through the glass with a single shot.
Now that the shooter is in the building, what are we teaching students and faculty to do? Lock the doors. Hide under their desks. Huddle together in bunches making easy groups of targets. This plan is effective to some extent, certainly. But at some point having your intended victims bunched up in locked rooms just makes things easier for the evil-doers. It's time to move beyond feel good signs and cooperative-victim behaviors and start training our students and faculty that there may come a point where taking an active role in your own self defense becomes the better, more sensible, less deadly thing to do.
With this in mind I would encourage you to consider two fundamental changes to your security planning.
1. ALICE** (or similar) training. Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate. http://www.responseoptions.com/pages/home.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
We seem to be doing a fair job with A, L, I and E, but we do nothing about "Countering". We're teaching people to be passive, and that allows evil-doers time and opportunity. (** note: I have no affiliation with this organization)
and
2. It's time to follow the lead of Harrold ISD and allow (encourage and provide training) teachers and faculty to carry weapons on campus. Rather than throw her body in front of an active shooter, I believe Sandy Hook Principal Dawn Hochsprung and many of her students and faculty would be alive today if she had an effective weapon with which to fight her attacker. We certainly don't like the feelings invoked by the idea of guns in schools, but the fact is that a gun in the hands of properly trained volunteers would have saved lives in Sandy Hook. Every time I see a "No Guns" sign on the door of your schools I cringe. Who is that sign stopping? Certainly not the "bad guys". I encourage you to contact the leadership at Harrold (David Thweatt is the Superintendent there, david.thweatt@harroldisd.net ) and solicit their feedback. You and your board have the legal authority under Texas law to make this a reality. The ISD can make this happen if it chooses to do so. I'd be happy to help with fund raising for training if needed.
We all wish the world was a place where evil didn't exist, or at least a place where even the wort evils still respected the lives of children. Unfortunately, reality is quite different. Regardless of our political opinions on guns, we must own up to the fact that we cannot eliminate the kind of evil that would kill innocent children. We can never completely eliminate the threat of a determined, deranged killer. We must face this problem with our eyes open and plan our course based on those things that are within our grasp to control. We can't rely on more words or more legislation, or on a ridiculous wish that some signs posted on fragile glass doors will keep our children safe. I pray that myth was forever shattered by the senseless tragedy in Newtown.
Thanks very much for your time in reading this. Please feel free to share this message with others who may have an interest in this subject. I would welcome the opportunity to talk with you further, should you have any questions.
Best Regards,
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