Arizona plan would arm principals

[TheBlackAdder]

15. NJ: I had a similar discussion with my daughter's elementary school principal.

Unfortunately, the reality is as follows:

1) Towns do not have the $75K a year to provide for a police officer in each school, including salary, training, uniforms, equipment, pension, and coverage when they are out of the building. My town has 14 schools. The High Schools have officers, but not the elementary and middle schools.

2) If there is an event at an elementary school, the principal would be the probable early contact.

3) The principal, as first contact, will risk their life meeting the aggressor.

4) Arming all teachers is ludicrous.

5) Having a police officer in an elementary school is unsettling for small children.

6) Most schools do not have highly-secured entry points, similar to England.

7) In NJ, the governor severely cut school funding, promoting charter schools, as he was a private school outsourcing lobbyist before becoming governor and is a major stock holder in one outsourcing firm. But, he was able to find $1.2 Billion to give folks making above $400K tax breaks to coincide with the federal tax breaks they are getting. There will be limited school construction efforts in the foreseeable future to address security, most will come from towns and PTA fundraisers.



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I am against having any type of armed forces in an elementary school or middle school, but we must keep ourselves in reality. With limited funds, the ability to properly secure most schools, including private schools, is an unobtainable goal. The entry points need to be secured to prevent intrusion even under fire, but that will cost tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands per school to implement. In my town, police response is under 2 minutes, but in those 2 minutes, especially if entry is achieved, could be extremely costly. The aggressor could do as much damage as possible before locking themselves in a crowed classroom to complete the carnage.