Arm teachers? Police chief says yes
Suggestion to be discussed, but school board leader says other steps likely to be taken first
The local police chief says he favors teachers carrying guns in schools — provided they are properly licensed and trained — and the Saugerties Board of Education president expects trustees to address the subject when dealing with the broader issue of school safety.
But board President Robert Thomann also said arming teachers is “very theoretical” and, at this point, “a quick response in reaction to the situation in Florida,” where 17 people were killed in a school shooting on Feb. 14.
“We have certain things in place for student safety, and I think the conversation is going to be, for the next few years, what to do to improve school safety,” said Thomann, a retired North Rockland school district administrator. “Probably everything’s on the table, but there’s no firm decision on anything right now . ...
“I think there a lot of security situations we could put in place prior to taking that step,” he said of arming teachers.
Thomann also said any movement toward arming teachers would require talks with their union.
A union representative was not immediately available for comment Monday, but Thomann said he’s heard objections from teachers.
“I’ve heard from teachers in the district that they don’t want to be armed, that’s not what they got into the profession for,” he
said. He added, though, that “just like airport security changing after 9/11, I think school security is going to change. But I think a lot of dialogue needs to take place as to how it’s going to change.”
Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Singara suggested arming teachers in comments he made last week at a meeting of school district students, parents and staff. He said he was speaking on his own behalf, not as a representative of the town.
In a subsequent phone interview, Sinagra acknowledged his comments divided
people in room, but he said: “I firmly believe that the answer to a lot of the issues with gun violence in schools is that if we have teachers who have permits to carry, who are willing to carry, who have gone through a psychological exam, who have attended active-shooter training ... and who also participate with firearms qualifications with the police department, then I’m in favor of teachers carrying guns.”
“When we saw that we were having planes that were being hijacked, we armed our pilots,” Sinagra
said. “To me, the most economical and common-sense solution is to have more than one armed person in the school ... to engage an active shooter. A lot of schools don’t have the opportunity to have a school resource officer or police officer at their school at all, so in those situations, it would be great.”
Saugerties High School does have an armed school resource officer.
High school Principal Thomas Averill said Monday that arming teachers would create complications rather than resolve problems.
“Bringing more guns into the school on a daily basis leaves more possibility of something happening, even an interaction between a student and a teacher,” he said. “It brings that possibility of a student grabbing for a gun.”
Also, Averill said, the presence of armed teachers in an active-shooter situation could add confusion and danger to an already-chaotic scene.
“If there was an active shooter, what happens when that teacher goes after the shooter with ... police who come in who don’t know who they are?” he said. “Are they putting themself not only in the shooter’s way but in harm’s way, with the police thinking that they may be a shooter as well?”
Thomann said state laws would have to change before teachers could bring firearms into classrooms.
“In order to arm teachers, you’d have to change state [Education Department] regulations,” he said. “... So it’s one thing to throw that out there as a possible solution, but it’s probably a level above the school district.”