Dr. James Tranthem on School Security

Armed Sentinels In Every Homestead School - Not Teachers In the last few months, more than 1100 bills have been introduced, at the state level, in reference to gun control laws. While most federal and state laws deal with the sale and distribution of guns and who can and cannot legally buy or sell them, much attention has been given to school security which sparked a national debate. No gun control law could have prevented the action that took the lives of 20 children and 6 teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Conn. in December. We will never know if an armed officer, a school sentinel, could have saved even one life, but one life would have been worth the investment in enhanced school safety. Most cities and school districts do not reject the concept of armed officers in schools, but claim that the funds are not available to add more security to the already stretch budgets in their jurisdictions. South Dakota has passed a law to arm teachers, which will go into effect on July 1st, 2013. However in a recent poll by CBS, 56% of the respondents said that they would be uncomfortable with armed teachers. This begs the question then, "how do we deter anyone from bringing a weapon into a school?" For years Miami-Dade Public Schools has used School Police in high schools, resource officers and security monitors in middle schools and unarmed security monitors in most elementary schools (not a deterrent for an armed intruder.) At no additional cost to the school system and no new taxes...part-time and certified armed officers ( retired or reserve officers - returning combat veterans (35,000 from Afghanistan) for example working in half-day shifts for the same dollars as unarmed security monitors could fill that void in all elementary schools. With a unanimous vote, The Homestead Education Committee has asked the Homestead City Council for an ordinance to require any new school or satellite in the City to provide a certified armed school sentinel while the children are in attendance, 180 days a year. And, for the new school year beginning July 1st, 2013 all schools in the City should be required to provide this same enhanced safety precaution. Our children's safety is too important to wait for federal, state or county officials to decide on adequate protection... Homestead should act now and set the example.