Last week the Saratoga Springs, New York school board debated whether to rearm fourteen school “monitors.” The high school still has an armed security guard. In October, by a five-to-four vote, the board decided to take away weapons from the monitors. An affirmative majority vote to arm school monitors is required by state and federal laws. A parents’ committee is pressing the board majority to reverse its decision. A representative of the Saratoga Parents for Safer Schools asked the board to “Help us protect our children and put an end to the senseless vulnerability that is being played out in the name of politics.”
Since the mass shootings in Parkland, Florida last February, there has been a push by frightened parents, rightwing politicians, and gun advocates, spurred on by President Trump, for more armed security guards in schools and even to arm teachers. They promise it will provide students with greater safety, but study after study shows that guns in school do not make them safer and make many other things worse. Schools rank amongst the less likely places where a child is likely to be killed. Statistically, schools are safer than homes and almost every possible other location in a community. Almost 50% of “multiple casualty homicides” occurred in residences compared to less than 1% in schools.
On Long, Island in New York, at least two school districts hired armed guard in a financial bonanza for security companies. Hauppauge school authorities estimate that extra armed guards cost the district about $300,000 for a full year. There were already twenty unarmed guards on duty in the district’s schools. The Miller Place district posted guards armed with handguns at each of its four schools. The guards, who are only required to have a high school diploma and a gun carry permit, are paid $30 per hour.
School security plans include high tech solutions that are enriching security companies at the expense of the education of children. The chief executive of IntraLogic Solutions Inc., on Long iIsland reported that his business doubled in size after Sandy Hook school shootings in 2012 and he expected it would climb again following Parkland. Security companies like IntraLogic Solutions market everything from relatively inexpensive special door locks to school lockdown systems that cost tens of thousands of dollars. In July at an industrial expo in Orlando, Florida one school security company exhibited a bulletproof SmartBoard on sale for $2,9000. Their marketing pitch was that students and teachers could hide behind the SmartBoard in the event of an armed intruder in their school.
Despite the push to arming security guards and investing in high-tech surveillance equipment, evidence show that these measures have limited positive impact. Between the 2005-2006 and 2015-2016 school years, the percentage of schools with armed security staff rose from 30% to 42%. However, a bipartisan Congressional research report issued in July 2018 concluded that it is unclear if armed school personnel or police in schools prevent school shootings. They could find only two incidents ever when an armed guard stopped an active school shooter. Meanwhile there have been shootings in schools with good security and with armed guards including at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The Washington Post examined school shootings between 1999 and 2018 and identified approximately 200 incidences of gun violence during and near schools. In that time period it was able to discover only one incident one incident when an armed security guard killed an active school shooter.
In 2016, one Utah middle school reported a shooting incident despite a sophisticated surveillance system, external doors that required an ID to open, and an armed police officer on site. A 14-year-old boy shot another student during a confrontation outside the building after school was over and students had been dismissed. According to a district spokesperson, “Even if we would have had metal detectors, it would not have mattered. If we would have had armed guards at the entrance of the school, it would not have mattered. If we would have required students to have see-through backpacks and bags, it would not have mattered.” When an angry or disturbed person had access to a gun, the precautions did not matter.
According to Dr. Ron Avi Astor of the University of Southern California, parents often want armed personnel stationed at schools because it makes them feel better. However, it often has the opposite effect on students and school staff. "We have a lot of research on increasing the number of armed people in schools. It shows that long-term it does not make the students or the teachers feel more secure,." However, "Over time, it makes students and teachers feel more like they are in a prison-like setting. The research also shows that more guns in schools contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline. There are more expulsions, more suspensions." The negative impact is especially sharp for students of color and from low-income families. Research findings suggest that the presence of armed guards in schools increases the likelihood that students will be arrested for low-level offenses like disorderly conduct.”
The only logical conclusion from these reports is to keep armed security guards out of schools. They don’t make schools safer, they divert badly need educational funds, and there is a good chance they make the climate in schools worse. This country needs restrictive gun control, not more guns.
Follow Alan Singer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReecesPieces8