Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is undermining a school board’s decision to keep its students and faculty safe.
Earlier this month, the Lee County Virginia School Board unanimously approved a measure to train and arm teachers in all of the county’s schools. While it would have liked to hire student resource officers instead, it simply did not have the funds to pay those additional salaries.
With safety as a priority but with their financial backs against the wall, the decision was ultimately made for them.
“Somebody comes into a school with a gun, what do you do to stop it? Money can’t stop it, talking to them isn’t gonna stop it. This is the only option,” said Mike Kidwell, the chairman of the school board, in an interview with WJHL.
Yet, state leadership doesn’t see it that way. Virginia Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian Moran balked at the policy.
“There’s a question to whether or not the law is appropriate,” he said this week. “The Attorney General’s office is looking into that. As a matter of policy, we are encouraging schools to use school resource officers.”
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Gov. Northam, a Democrat, agreed, echoing Moran’s remarks about the attorney general investigating to see whether arming teachers comports with state law.
Before voting on the measure Kidwell said the members sought legal advice to make sure everything was aboveboard.
“Several attorneys told us to take this route, it’s the conservator of the peace route, the law does not say anything about a conservator of the peace working in a school,” said Kidwell.
A conservator of the peace is a citizen who is delegated to act as a “law-enforcement officer” under certain circumstances. By giving that designation to certain teachers, along with extensive training, there should be no legal objections.
What’s more is that this approach appears to have the support of the community.
“I feel much safer knowing that my coworkers in the county would have an opportunity to protect our kids,” said Nick Johnson, a Lee County school teacher and parent.
Training for the teachers may begin as soon as October, noted Kidwell.
Virginia has appropriated $1.3 million for SRO programs. Problem is that money has to be spread throughout the entire state. The Lee County School Board applied to receive some of that money but say it won’t be enough to fund even one SRO.
Maybe the Good Ol’POS Governor will give up His Armed Security for the Sake of the Children!!!! No?? Sorry kids, make sure you have those Pretty Bulletproof Backpacks…. Or maybe the School can Hang Up some bigger NO GUN ZONE Signs… Those seem to work!!!!
Teachers being armed is irrelevant , what is relevant is that the thought of teachers being armed will deter the bad guys from attempting a shooting to begin with. Take a thug, put him in front of 2 doors, tell them , behind door #1 is an unarmed woman and $1000, behind door #2 is a woman with a 1911. he has 50/50 chance he’s going to die or make $1000. What do you think they would do????
next scenario, same doors same $, but now both are armed and ready. how many people would enter anyway ? I say none!
Extend this to America in general, disarm everyone and watch how many thugs are now more daring and bust down your door.
simple as that , if you disagree with this logic , may you be the first door they come in!
May I suggest we take all the security from these government installations and put them at our schools , I’d rather protect our future then these piece of shit politicians.
i thought we already had nice folks whats supposed to look out for our young folks aint they called the police?
Your reading comprehension skills leave a lot to be desired, along with your feigned illiteracy.
Those of you that are promoting armed teachers in the school, do you have kids there? Grandkids? I don’t have a problem with it except I know few teachers I’d trust with a firearm around them. Hell, I’m on the “range” several times a month and see so called “trained” persons I’d not want discharging a firearm in a stressful situation around children, or any innocents for that matter. The problem is “training”. If a good standard for training is established, then I might bend a little, however, I knew most of my two sons teachers, some of my 11 grandkids teachers, and I’m having a hard time thinking of a one that would “carry” or train to carry to school. You going to fire them? “Best lick this calf over again”.
What’s the downside of having an armed defense force in our schools? Are the teachers or staff going to instigate a mass shooting?
True to form, Virginia. Good luck, kids.
Maybe the protection of Virginia’s governor by armed personnel is what should be questioned. I for one value the lives of a multitude of young children a lot more then one adult who had the right, responsibility and ability to protect himself but is to much of a coward to do so.
This is gold. You are so correct. Our children deserve more protection than some politician. Especially given that politicians, through their collective words and actions, have proven that they are the most dishonorable, self-serving, narcissists in our population. Side note: Journalists are now in the same boat as they have now aligned themselves with leftist politicians in some perverted symbiotic relationship.
It’s every man’s duty and responsibility to provide his own security and the security of his family. It’s been that way from the beginning of man. When you try, by force/law/policy, to change this fact of biological and social anthropology, you will cause great harm to the society and population you are trying to ‘subjugate’. We will be nobody’s subject.
Well said Damon.
So this governor is ok with a shooter coming on campus without someone there they can stop them. Basically he is saying that he doesn’t trust the teachers with our kids safety. Innthis day and age, our political leaders should be giving everyone the freedom to protect themselves and our kids. I believe all we have to do is state the facts. How many shooting incidents have happened with someone that had a concealed carry permit? It’s not even measurable. Those that have carry permits take it very seriously and the ones that I know train way more than most police officers. But then people like this governor care little about the facts and simply rely on emotion. Why do we continue to allow these nimrods into office.
Well said, Bob. The unsaid essence is that our culture does not value children from conception to high school…only when they become David Hoggs are they acceptable to the leftist elites. WE don’t allow them into office…they lie their way to the ballot box or there are a preponderance of pantywaist voters in the US today…which I do not believe. Even my daughter, who prefers bows to pistols took the time to get trained on self-defense and carries, especially after she and I were accosted three times by loafers outside a Home Depot.
Our media is not about informing and hasn’t been for 70 years…they’ve had an agenda the entire time and it’s more evident than when whining Jim Acosta attempts to cajole Press Secretary Sanders into validating his presence at the WH…when it’s obvious he’s been emasculated. The Communist News Network specializes in misinformation, which feeds this morass of philosophical claptrap.
There is only one way the left can achieve its goals. Lies.
I believe democrat leadership *want* shooting tragedies to happen: Each one provides propaganda fodder they can use to increase the effectiveness of their cries to disarm the public, which allows them to heard the people closer to having a society that cannot rebel against an ever growing and strengthening government.
Democrat fascists trying to override the will of the local people….what else is new?
Nice, now the criminals will have their pick of schools as shooting galleries with little to no resistance at all. Good job Ralph Northam, when there is a shooting at a school in Virginia, the blood will be on your hands
Some politicians spend all their time playing politics, others look for solutions to problems.