Rebecca Field is a teacher of art history in Richmond, Virginia. She wrote a powerful letter that got the attention of CNN and went viral.
She wrote:
Dear every elected official,
Nowhere in my contract does it state that if the need arises, I have to shield students from gunfire with my own body. If it did, I wouldn’t have signed it. I love my job. I love my students. I am also a mother with 2 amazing daughters…. I imagine that if someone was trying to kill my students, that I would try to save them with all my being. I probably would jump on top of a child to save her life. And yes, I might be one of those heroic teachers that the media writes tributes to after their death. But I am furious that I would have to make this sacrifice. I am incensed that my own children would lose their mother because I chose to be a teacher…
I did not sign up to be ripped apart by a spray of bullets that came from a semi-automatic rifle. At the end of my teaching contract, it says that I will perform “other duties to be assigned”. I do not interpret these words “as bleeding to death on the floor of my classroom”. The anger that courses through my body after a school shooting in this country is accompanied by pure panic. I am terrified of my own children dying in school, first and foremost, but I am also terrified that the responsibility that sits on my shoulders as a teacher is far greater than I can rationally accept. On Back to School Night, I look out at the gazes of the parents in front of me as we silently make a pact. “I am giving you the most precious part of me with the knowledge that you will shield my child’s body with your own when the need arises.” They say this with their eyes. I agree to this responsibility and make a silent unbreakable oath before them. As I am telling them about the 20,000 years of global art history that I will be teaching their child, I am also agreeing to die. When I am in the parent’s place at my daughter’s school, I am asking the same of her teacher. This teacher may end up being the only thing blocking a bullet aimed for my daughter’s head.
I am furious. How dare you force me to choose between my own children and those that I teach. How dare you allow powerful adults who love guns to be more important than a generation of children growing up in fear….
Instead of making dead teachers into saints, make them safer when they are still alive. Make it possible for schools to have smaller class sizes so that we can get to know our students and look out for the ones who need help. Hire more counselors and school nurses and social workers and psychologists so that many people are caring for each child. HELP us prevent this. Take away guns from people who will murder us. Stop taking money from the NRA and proving how soulless you are. Keep us safe so I can do my job. How dare you put me into constant danger so that you can be reelected. How dare you make me choose between saving children or making my own children motherless. How dare you make me into a hero when I just want to teach.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Arming teachers is the stupidest thing our Orange IDIOT has come up with.
…………………
The NRA’s dystopian view of freedom – Chicago Tribune
…What kind of firepower, what show of defense, would credibly deter shooters? And what transformation does this risk inflicting on our schools? If we outfit teachers with concealed handguns, will the NRA say after the next shooting that school officials must match the firepower of would-be killers? Are we morally required to stock schools with AR-15s?
After the Sandy Hook school shooting, NRA minion Louie Gohmert said he wished the principal “had an M-4 [semiautomatic rifle] in her office” so she could have stopped the shooter in his tracks. Is this soon to become part of the common visit to the principal’s office — gazing up at the semiautomatic rifle mounted on the wall, over the desk?
Of course, as many have noted, arming teachers is no solution to mass shootings. They will hardly make such situations better — they will probably make them worse by compounding the damage and bloodshed. Even trained police officers have a hard time using their weapons precisely, much less effectively, in chaotic situations.
So perhaps LaPierre’s solution is to deliver school shootouts, where students must cower in the crossfire between criminals and teachers. If so, enterprising companies — often in the defense industry, accustomed to outfitting our soldiers for foreign campaigns — are ready with products designed to protect students from said shootouts. These include bulletproof backpacks for the kids and bulletproof whiteboards and clipboards for teachers. Or bulletproof blankets that students can pull over themselves — even bulletproof armor that can be pulled off the walls and ceilings. These are school expenses I am sure the NRA would happily endorse…
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-nra-guns-freedom-dead-kids-20180223-story.html#share=email~story
He is STUPID.
And here’s one from another teacher.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/23/opinions/teacher-im-supposed-to-transform-from-an-economics-teacher-into-a-gun-expert-tillman/index.html
Posted at Oped News https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Teacher-I-Signed-Up-to-Te-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Death_Diane-Ravitch_Guns_Guns-In-Schools-180224-465.html#comment691191
with my comment
I begin by asking a simple question– who will want to teach if their life can be snuffed out by a lunatic with a gun?
After spending a fortune to get a college education, and, after mastering the intricacies of motivating a human child to do the work that learning skills involves, and after mastering the knowledge base for their discipline, and after creating lessons that will facilitate learning, and learning about each kid who sits in front of them for ten months (often children who expect to be entertained, and can barely tear themselves from their screens) — and after buying all the supplies and materials needed to promote real learning in schools–where top-management NOT ONLY does not support teachers but actively works to hurt real professionals so they can send them out the door before they are vested in pensions and benefits — NOW, the job would require them to protect the kids!
IN my classrooms where we read the Constitution –we knew that the preamble, was crystal clear– that the government was there to promote the COMMON GOOD, AND were required to protect the people, and for this the military and police would do the job!
Suddenly a cultural shift occurred, and voices sold fear that the government is the enemy from which we need to arm ourselves BECAUSE they MIGHT come for our freedoms– this, even as this Gun argument endangers the 4 TH AMENDMENT, and even as the loonies come for our lives”in stores, in offices, at parades and entertainment venues, and , yes, in our schools.
Now, they are using military weapons that pulvarize organs.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/what-i-saw-treating-the-victims-from-parkland-should-change-the-debate-on-guns/553937/
Don’t miss that link when you listen to the corrupted mentalities that equate assault rifles with ‘freedom, security and their “RIGHTS” with no concern of the rights of children or ordinary people.
Trump Tweet: “If a potential ‘sicko shooter’ knows that a school has a large number of very weapons talented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will NEVER attack that school. Cowards won’t go there…problem solved.”
Why are guns banned from the White House and Congress and airplanes etc if the way to stay safe is to have lots of guns?
Guns are not banned from the White House. The White House is crawling with Secret Service agents, and sharpshooters, etc. All of them are armed with deadly weapons. Congress has a plethora of security guards. (I live in Metro WashDC, and I have seen them.)
Armed “sky marshals” fly on all domestic and international flights. My wife is a real estate professional, and she has located housing for a number of sky marshals.
A firearm is a tool. It is only as good or bad, as the individual on the trigger. I am glad that the locations you mention, are protected by people with deadly weapons.
Charles,
You are comparing security professionals to teachers, most of whom are women, some of whom are in their early 20s, who have never touched a gun. Contrary to stupid Trump’s assertion, the teaching force is not packed with professional marksmen and snipers.
Also, I have visited the White House and Congressuonal offices many times, as an administration official during Bush 1. I always went through a metal detector. If I had a gun, I would have been arrested on the spot.
Don’t make shit up, Charles. You deflect, you bob and weave. I have never met a teacher who wants to carry a gun, much less an AR 15, into their classroom.
I had to leave my prepaid cheap cell phone on a bench since it wasn’t allowed inside the Congressional chamber. Guess my cell phone presented a ‘clear and present danger’. Wonder why guns and cell phones aren’t allowed by visitors since more guns would make everyone safer.
I have said many times, that the very idea of passing out loaded firearms to schoolteachers is the looniest idea, since “looney tunes”. I am 1000% opposed to the very concept. This idea must be sent to the trash heap. No guns for teachers, no way!
BUT- I do support the idea of having trained, armed security personnel in schools, and in the areas adjacent to schools. Both uniform and plain clothes. Not only will this deter shooters, it will help deter other crimes like drug dealing and bullying.
Amateurs should not be issued deadly weapons. Almost everyone on the left and the right, are unalterably opposed to having school teachers packing heat. Absurd beyond belief.
At the Florida school, there were armed guards. Maybe four. None came into the building to defend the students and teachers. Maybe they knew their handguns were no match for an AR15. Next idea.
I am hesitant about “trial by media”. The law enforcement officers who are under investigation for not running in to the shooting, need to be accorded due process.
It is not entirely a question of firepower. In a closed, soft environment, with a large number of civilians present, a handgun is sometimes preferable to a rifle (when going up against a shooter with a rifle). Here at the Pentagon, the security guards prepare for all types of attacks, and for every one with a rifle, there are ten with handguns.
Maybe in some school situations, armed guards with rifles is preferable. I don’t know.
I do know, that passing out pistols to school teachers, is NOT the solution.
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
One mother and teacher says, “How dare you make me into a hero when I just want to teach.”
Here is a splendid account by the journalism teacher of her gut wrenching first day back in her classroom after the shooting.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-teacher-at-marjory-stoneman-douglas-returns-to-school?mbid=nl_180224_Daily&CNDID=49818324&spMailingID=13001379&spUserID=MTk1NjkzMjAyNzAwS0&spJobID=1342210413&spReportId=MTM0MjIxMDQxMwS2
Every dollar we spend arming teachers or fortifying schools is a dollar diverted from having an education system that doesn’t produce mass murderers in the first place.
In over ten years teaching in the inner city, I have taught kids who made threats to the school, themselves or others. I’ve taught kids that fetishize guns and violence. I’ve taught kids that have been institutionalized, incarcerated, you name it. What becomes glaringly obvious is that these kids are crying for help because something is wrong long before they decide to act.
I saw Cruz lost his parents before he went over the edge. I have seen students who lost parents and been deeply affected – luckily we have an assault weapons ban in NY but the students act out in a million other ways.
We are already supposed to be helping these kids and preventing them from self-radicalizing. We have administrators, deans, security personnel but we don’t have enough counselors, clinicians and social services staff.
These are positions that are underfunded already, and particularly in inner city schools. Their job is to ensure kids are well and the work they do to prevent violence is the same work they do to increase learning. Teachers have been saying forever the key to improving education is holistic, if they ever stop to listen.
I have seen firsthand students with violent ideation get help. I have been part of teams working to identify and prevent problems for years. We need much more social-emotional support staff, particularly the home-based type where red flags mean kids can have their actual needs met.
If there is anger or discord inside a kid, whether they are potential school shooters or just throwing paper balls, it has to be addressed either way.
I appreciate your work and dedication. Nevertheless, I must feel that this is not a “zero-sum” situation. True, there are a finite number of dollars available for educational spending. But, our nation can afford to have both safe schools, and still have adequate resources for education. We need not turn our schools into prisons, with barbed wire, and sharpshooters on towers.
We spend on fire alarms and sprinklers and smoke detectors. Spending on physical security, is sad but necessary.
Charles,
Since Congress refuses to control guns, Congress should pay for school security. Money should not be taken away from teachers or the arts or physical education or any other school program to “harden” the school.
You may have hit on part of the solution. Since the federal congress is under oath, to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, (including the 2d amendment), the congress is not going to take any measures which infringe on the people’s right to keep and bear arms. (or at least they should not do so).
This being the case, the federal congress could allocate funds to schools, to assist in beefing up security, and training personnel in emergency situations (including, but not limited to shootings, earthquakes, natural disasters, chemical spills, etc). Safety training and equipment is “convertible” for many different uses.
The Department of Homeland Security could partner with law enforcement and school authorities, to assist in security appraisals, and advising on personnel training, etc.
The FBI could assist school guidance counselors in identifying possible indicators that could assist in identifying students, who might be pre-disposed to violence.
There are many ways to protect our nation’s school children, and keep within the Constitution.
Bravo!
Charles,
As Max Boot recently, the Framers did not write the 2nd Amendment as eirher a Suicide pact, or, as I added, a license for mass murder of children.
Quotes from the Orange IDIOT: …“These teachers love their students, and these teachers are talented with weaponry and with guns,”… “a teacher would have shot the hell out of him before he knew what happened.” Obviously the Orange Hair Monster doesn’t know many public school teachers.
He wants to pay us ‘a SMALL bonus to carry a concealed weapon and get training to use weapons”. He is beyond sickening.
……………..
Trump Condemns Florida Officer Who Didn’t Act; Sticks by Plan to Arm Teachers..NYT
“When it came time to get in there and do something, he didn’t have the courage, or something happened, but he certainly did a poor job,” President Trump said of the officer in Parkland.
He spoke on his way to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md., where he continued to promote his proposal — embraced by the National Rifle Association — to allow some teachers and other educators to carry concealed firearms in schools. He said on Thursday that such teachers should be paid a small bonus, and that he would devote federal resources to training them to use weapons to protect students.
“These teachers love their students, and these teachers are talented with weaponry and with guns,” Mr. Trump said Friday during a fiery speech to the conservative gathering, where he said that Democrats wanted to revoke Second Amendment rights.
“I’d rather have somebody that loves their students and wants to protect their students than somebody standing outside that doesn’t know anybody, and doesn’t know the students, and frankly, for whatever reason, decided not to go in even though he heard lots of shots being fired inside,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Mr. Peterson. He said the officer “was not a credit to law enforcement.”
Speaking of the gunman in Parkland, Mr. Trump added that if his idea had been in place, “a teacher would have shot the hell out of him before he knew what happened.”
It was the third time in three days that Mr. Trump, who has vowed to take swift action after the latest school shooting, has championed the idea of transforming schools into fortified zones where educators would secretly be carrying weapons to guard against attacks.
Mr. Trump is under pressure to embrace stiffer gun restrictions, including a ban on assault weapons and limits on high-capacity ammunition, despite vehement N.R.A. opposition. The president has instead seized on the idea of loosening gun laws to protect schools.
“Why do we protect our airports and our banks, our government buildings, but not our schools?” Mr. Trump said. “It’s time to make our schools a much harder target for attackers.”…
I read that some schools in Chicago don’t have enough money to buy toilet paper…’very inexpensive deterrent’. He has no idea of how strapped some schools are. Makes me wonder what Fox is broadcasting since that is his source of ‘news’.
…….
Trump Tweet: “Armed Educators (and trusted people who work within a school) love our students and will protect them. Very smart people. Must be firearms adept & have annual training. Should get yearly bonus. Shootings will not happen again – a big & very inexpensive deterrent. Up to States.”
After teaching for 15 years, living through all kinds of situations I never thought things would ever end up like what we have now.
Parents in every school district have to picket, scream, and flood the emails of the school districts, representatives, and agencies to create laws and deterrents to stop this insanity.
Whatever it takes- do it.
In CA the state closed mental health facilities about 20 years ago. Since then the crime rate and shootings have increased. Mentally ill people need to be taken care of whether in school or wandering the streets.
Veterans are encamped along Wilshire Blvd. by the Veterans Hospital.
Right in front of the Veterans facility? And many of these people desperately need mental health help. But no one’s paying attention. Will these folks hurt others? Who knows? They’ve been traumatized and live without any necessary medical attention.
Lots of talk and no action by any politicians to fix this problem.
The homeless situation is out of control in CA, but CA is spending endless billions on the train to nowhere in Central CA.
So many homeless are mentally ill and capable of hurting others.
Will they arrive at a school campus?
I’m so tired of irresponsible legislators inaction. It’s sickening.
Unless people wake up and vote for legislators who will make a difference then the madness will continue.
Vote locally for local control for those persons who will do whatever it takes to protect your children locally.
And enforce and create laws locally, statewide and federally to arrest, detain those who want to harm others, and place in mental facilities those who have no ability to determine right from wrong.
If you see something say something is a great phrase
but without merit
unless you act upon it.
Teachers don’t need guns.
The answer:
Don’t let the mentally ill get a gun!
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
Why I teach
Eddie Hejka
Sent from my iPhone
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Thank you, Rebecca, for your letter. I feel the same.