Scared of school: 45% favor arming teachers
I try to imagine Miss Lawson, my kindergarten teacher, packing heat. Mrs. Roston? Miss Bletsch? Of course, in my day, schools didn't have security officers. We had vice principals.
Forty-five percent of Americans support arming teachers as a school safety strategy, according to a new poll by PDK, an educators' group, reports Libby Stanford in Education Week.
I'm surprised it's so high. I guess the reason is Uvalde: Police came, but didn't act until it was too late.
Eighty percent “strongly/somewhat support” armed police in schools, metal detectors, and mental health screenings of students.
Educators aren't eager to bear arms: 75 percent of teachers oppose arming teachers in a July American Federation of Teachers survey.
As schools reopen, parents who were worried about Covid-19 now seem more worried about a crazed gunman. I wonder how many kids won't show up at school because parents see school as unsafe.
As expected, the Centers for Disease control has issued new Covid-19 guidelines:
Schools need not keep students six feet apart or quarantine those exposed to the virus.
"Many Americans dispensed with practices such as social distancing, quarantine and mask-wearing long ago," notes Emily Anthes in the New York Times.