Texas
Texas superintendent resigns after student finds his gun in school bathroom
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The superintendent of a small college district in West Central Texas resigned this week after mother and father realized that his gun was present in a toilet stall by a 3rd grade pupil, an incident that comes as Texas lawmakers and prime officers focus on college security within the aftermath of the Uvalde taking pictures and prioritize measures geared toward growing college safety, like arming extra educators.
Monty Jones, the principal of the college the place the third grader discovered the gun final month, instructed NBC Information that he and former Rising Star Unbiased College District Superintendent Robby Stuteville carried weapons on campus in response to highschool shootings. Jones and Stuteville didn’t reply to interview requests.
“For our youngsters’ safety, we want somebody who’s extra accountable with a gun,” Elizabeth Lee, who has two grandchildren within the district, instructed KTXS, a neighborhood information outlet.
Mother and father have been upset about how the district, about 124 miles southwest of Fort Value, dealt with the incident. After the third grader discovered the gun, a trainer despatched one other pupil to substantiate it was actual. And district leaders didn’t notify the group till final week.
“I used to be shocked as a result of it occurred early in January and we’re simply now discovering out about it,” Lee stated. “Mr. Stuteville is an efficient man. However that was irresponsible.”
The Rising Star college board will meet Thursday evening to debate Stuteville’s resignation and probably identify an performing superintendent.
It’s unclear whether or not Stuteville and Jones have been a part of the state’s college marshal program, which permits educators to hold weapons inside colleges after 80 hours of coaching, or its “guardian plan,” which lets native college boards designate district workers who can carry firearms and decide what sort of firearm coaching they have to get. The state retains the names of the marshals and the districts in this system confidential.
Lawmakers and state leaders have made college security a precedence concern this legislative session. Each the Texas Home and Senate have proposed setting apart $600 million from the state funds to “harden” colleges, or implement measures geared toward growing safety in class buildings. Lawmakers haven’t but stated how they’d like to make use of that cash, however a Senate committee has really helpful increasing the state’s psychological well being telemedicine system to all college districts and hiring extra psychological well being professionals.
However it’s unlikely that the eye on college security will result in stricter gun legal guidelines — as some Uvalde mother and father have been calling for — with the Republican-led Legislature working in the wrong way within the aftermath of a number of mass shootings in the previous couple of years.
“Something that’s thought of gun management is lifeless on arrival,” stated Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice College. “By way of college security, the main focus goes to be nearly completely on hardening the colleges when it comes to extra money for putting in trendy safety.”
After the Uvalde taking pictures, Gov. Greg Abbott instructed the Texas Training Company he wished to arm extra college workers beneath the college marshal program. The TEA didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Many college employees members don’t need to be armed. As of Wednesday, solely 71 college districts out of 1,200 within the state have been taking part within the college marshal program. Final yr, a Texas American Federation of Lecturers ballot of about 5,100 Ok-12 college workers, higher-ed workers, mother and father and group leaders discovered that the majority of them don’t assist arming academics and like limiting gun entry.
“Making an attempt to arm academics is dangerous and counterproductive,” stated Zeph Capo, president of the nationwide AFT, a academics union. “Lecturers can’t be anticipated to turn out to be extremely educated legislation enforcement officers and use weapons in a disaster with out endangering college students or themselves.”
In 2019, public well being professors Jagdish Khubchandani at New Mexico State College and James Worth on the College of Toledo took a have a look at college safety practices and their effectiveness. They discovered no proof that extra armed academics diminished gun violence in colleges.
One concern with arming college personnel is that it’s exhausting to observe whether or not correct protocols are being adopted, which might result in conditions much like the one at Rising Star ISD, stated Odis Johnson, the manager director of the Middle for Secure and Wholesome Colleges at John Hopkins College.
“I can’t say there’s a number of proof that tells us how efficient [keeping guns in school] has been when it comes to guaranteeing the security of the children who might have entry to those firearms,” he stated. “Persons are so fearful of college shootings that they make entry to those weapons extra probably for youths, and finally that’s not going to maintain children secure.”
Disclosure: Rice College and Texas AFT have been monetary supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan information group that’s funded partly by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Monetary supporters play no function within the Tribune’s journalism. Discover a full checklist of them right here.