DAYTON — Should America’s teachers be armed in the classroom?
That was the questioned raised and debated after the showing of the documentary, “G is for Gun: The Arming of Teachers in America,” presented Thursday night at CET/ThinkTV, the Public Television Station located in downtown Dayton.The documentary was filmed by Julie Akeret and Kate Way.
The focus of the film was Sidney City Schools, which has had an armed first responder team in each of its buildings for five years. The action was in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in which 26 people — 20 children and six adults — were killed by an active shooter in 2012.
Sidney Superintendent John Scheu was one of the panel members. He was joined by Thomas Falk, University of Dayton, Education; Adam Arnold, Sinclair Community College, Criminal Justice; and David Romick, Dayton Education Association president. The moderator was Jim Wiener, CET.ThinkTV chief program officer.
“It took three years to produce it,” said Weiner. “Documentaries are the mainstays of PBS. Some are controversial.”
And that controversy, he said, can lead to civil discussions about the subject.
Former Sidney High School Principal John Geuy and current teachers Wade New, Linda Carpenter, Amy Baldauf, Lori Hedberg, Scheu, Shelby County Sheriff John Lenhart and Sidney Police Chief Will Balling were featured in the documentary.
Voices supporting the arming of teachers and those opposed were represented in the documentary.
“This wasn’t just your typical documentary about guns which said guns are good or guns are bad,” said Weiner. “They looked at the specific sides of the issue. They looked at schools who are doing it and at one that’s been doing it longer than most.”
Weiner asked Scheu how he thinks the program has gone since it was established in the district and whether it’s a success.
“It’s difficult to measure whether it’s successful because we haven’t had to use it,” said Scheu. “We have trained staff to help put an active shooter out in a quicker time. We have tweaked it slightly over the last five years since the program started.”
Falk was questioned bout a new Federal Commission on School Safety which calls for states to provide firearm training for teachers.
“I don’t see the value in the president and legislature lobbying for this,” said Falk. “This should be a local school board decision. There’s a trust issue involved.”
And the district’s parents must trust that their school board is doing all it can to protect the students, he said.
In response to a question on how many teachers are armed in Sidney, Scheu said the first responder teams are composed of 20 to 25 teachers.
“That’s 10 percent of our staff,” said Scheu. “They are all volunteers. We don’t make a teacher go through the training.”
The legal ramifications of having an armed response team was addressed by Arnold.
“There are two sides to this,” said Arnold. “One is civil law and the other is the criminal law aspect.
“On the legal side, the issue is if a school armed teacher accidentally shoots a student. What are the ramifications. Can a district sustain a lawsuit?”
Or if the district does have an armed response team, what happens if a child still gets killed, he asked.
“The parent can ask, ‘Why didn’t you protect my child,’” said Arnold.
On the criminal side, said Arnold, if a teacher accidentally shoots a child, they could be charged with negligent homicide.
Speaking on behalf of Dayton teachers, Romick said the district is as divided on the subject as the documentary is.
“Seventy-four percent of people are opposed nationwide to having guns in schools,” said Romick. “Dayton City Schools is about the same percentage. In 2013, after Sandy Hook, the Ohio Education Association passed a resolution that teachers shouldn’t fulfill a dual role of teacher and armed responder.”
Questions that have arisen in school districts considering arming their teachers include: will teachers get a stipend for the work?; safety issues dealing with criminal and civil repercussions; and what liability is the teacher taking on for being a first responder?
Teachers in Sidney City Schools receive all the training they need to be a first reponder free, said Scheu. The school district purchased the guns and the safes in which the guns are stored. Each teacher is also provided a bullet-proof vest which has a patch on it showing they are a member of the first responder team.
Jim Irvin, of Buckeye Firearms, said by the end of July, his organization will have trained 1 million school staff members. He said after the recent school shooting in Florida, they have been swamped with requests for the training.
“Sidney was different,” said Irvin. “They were ahead of us in the training. They were working with Sheriff Lenhart before our first class was held. This (arming teachers) is the future of districts. You need to have a good relationship with the local law enforcement and the schools.”
Audience members called for more counselors and mental health training be available.
“All the dollars that are being spend to purchase guns and training, I’d like to see those kinds of dollars spend in mental health and counselors to help the students,” said Romick.
Scheu was asked to explain how the first responder team works in Sidney Schools.
“All the training is free,” said Scheu. “The costs are all associated with the school’s liability insurance.
“There’s training after school,” he continued. “The sheriff provides all the training. There’s advanced training they go through. There are two qualifications a year — in the spring and in the fall. There are monthly tactical training programs. This is all free for the teachers.”
The teachers, said Scheu, know they are the first line of defense if there’s an active shooter situation at the school.
“When the police arrive, they know to put their gun down and retreat,” said Scheu. “The teachers are there to put out the treat as soon as possible. In an active shooter situation, every 17 seconds a student is killed or wounded.”
Retired teacher David Eggert asked if there was any examination or screening requirements for teachers who want to be part of a response team.
“There are no guidelines from the state or federal government on this,” said Scheu. “To be a teacher, you have to pass a background and FBI check. Our security officer and principals interview the teachers who are interested.
“We know we have to have something in place to protect our kids,” said Scheu.
When asked about the training for the teachers and fact that they are putting their lives on the line.
“That’s what the monthly training is for. The individuals feel passionate about educating our kids. They feel it’s their duty and responsibility to protect our kids,” said Scheu. “We are not randomly strapping guns to our waists. Certainly, accidents can happen. But you explain to me how else we can protect our kids.”
Since Sandy Hook, said Scheu, there have been 200 school shootings.
Scheu was asked if schools were putting teachers in harm’s way.
“Most of the school shootings are not done with an assault riffle,” said Scheu. “Having six or seven different people trained to put down an active shooter can make a difference.”
Security — such as locked doors, having to be buzzed into the school, having security glass, and armed resources officers — are measures that have been taken at schools.
“Sandy Hook had state of the art perimeter security,” said Scheu. “Every door was locked. The shooter show his way in. Or a shooter could walk in with the student body.
“In Sidney, we have locked doors during the day. The front door has a buzzer. If an active shooter wants to get into a building, they will,” said Scheu.
Irvin said a teacher armed with a handgun can make a difference during an active shooter incident.
“The odds are in the school staff’s favor,” said Irvin. “They have to understand an active shooter and you need to train your school staff. That’s why schools are going on. Nothing else has been proven to help if the other issues failed.”
Falk told the audience that two scenes from the documentary “gripped me with horror.”
One, he said is where the teacher said arming teachers is what today’s society has come to.
“There was the teacher armed and with a gas mask,” said Falk. “Then it (documentary) turned to Sandy Hook. The violence has increased dramatically in my lifetime and I was born in 1982.”
There is zero tolerance for violence, and security cameras all over the schools. Police officers with dogs come into the school.
“Violence in the schools dropped,” said Falk. “But now we’re seeing incidents of horrific events increasing. Arming teachers may defuse the situation but it also could lead the student to see it” as a form of control that they don’t like.
One audience member, who is a teacher and has a conceal carry license, said she backs Scheu and the Sidney School District. She said the conceal carry license program was the hardest training she has every gone through.
Sidney City Schools teacher Linda Carpenter, who is featured in the documentary, told the audience she’s not opposed to teachers being armed, but that scenario is not for her.
“Mr. Scheu is never going to let me carry a gun,” said Carpenter. “I choose not to do it. We have drills in our building. We know to put barriers at our doors. We talk to the kids monthly on what to do.
“We know there is training (for response team). We know there’s out there but they’re not in our faces about it,” said Carpenter. “We have done the best we could do to make it safe for our students to be there (school).
Scheu said in an ideal world there would be more mental health counseling available, less bullying and everyone would be nice to each other.
“But that’s not going to stop an active shooter from getting into a school and causing carnage to our students and teachers.”
After the question and answer session, Wray said she was pleased with the discussion generated by the documentary.
“There are bigger issues that we need to talk about such as funding. Society needs to know where to put its resources. We wanted this (documentary) to be a discussion starter. It’s opening up dialogue (among people).”
Wray said she has submitted the documentary to PBS World so it could be aired on all PBS stations. She hasn’t received word if it has been accepted.
“I thought Kate did a great job,” said Carpenter. “I formed a relationship with her when she was filming. I like that she showed two sides to the story.”
One tidbit of information that was revealed during the evening was that schools do not have to notify parents that there are armed teachers in the school.
“I think that is wrong that parents don’t know teachers are armed,” said Carpenter.
The audience viewing the documentary was composed of invited guests.
The documentary will be shown on ThinkTV 16/WPTD on March 22, at 9 p.m. with an encore presentation on Sunday, March 25, at 2:30 p.m.
For more information about the documentary, visit gisforgunthefilm.com.
