The Republican Party of the great state of Tennessee has finally caused me to change my mind. If there actually is a rather warm place somewhere in the recesses of eternity where the Prince of Darkness resides next to a lake of fire, I’d probably tell him to go find a winter coat or turn Sisyphus’s hill into a ski slope. Winter is coming.
For close to twenty years, I’ve taught or served in public education. Most of my years have been spent in the classroom teaching novels, short stories, poetry, and expository writing to 8th and 9th grade students. For every single one of those years, my co-workers consisted of educators, administrators, and paraprofessional classroom teachers….and one, fully trained law enforcement officer provided by the Madison County Sheriff’s Department.
The issue of school safety has peaked in Tennessee over the last month with tragedy at the Covenant School in Nashville being the tipping point for legislative dysfunction in Nashville. With the GOP in Tennessee seemingly refusing to discuss any bills that would reinstate Red Flag Laws and keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of people who aren’t mentally or emotionally stable enough to possess those weapons, there’s absolutely zero chance for any type of gun reform taking place in the near future in Tennessee. Because of the supermajority that is held by Tennessee Republicans, people who are mentally and emotionally distressed will continue to be able to purchase, own, and carry military grade semi-automatic weapons. Regardless of how much sense that makes, that is our reality in Tennessee.
So, knowing the limited parameters we have to protect children and teachers in schools, I’ve come around on my view of School Resource Officers.
During my time in education, I have worked with some SRO’s who were outstanding people and ended up being good friends of mine. Tammy Robertson, Larry Flowers, and Joseph Shephard were excellent SRO’s who developed relationships with students, helped build bridges into the community, and kept our school safe by being a consistent presence inside and outside of the building. I’ve also worked with some that weren’t so great.
I’ve seen students handcuffed for talking back to an officer, arrested for fighting, and even slammed forcefully to the ground. In another district where I worked, I saw a student get tased while lying on the floor. Any of these experiences and images would be enough to cause lengthy trauma for the students directly involved in the conflict and for the students who witness it. While I would never condone fighting or any blatant disrespect to authority, I will always push back on the necessity of handcuffing or tasing children unless they present a legitimate threat to multiple people in the building.
In 2019, I wrote a column in The Jackson Sun about a video that went viral. In the video, an SRO is seen slamming a girl to the ground after he had maced her. The video was jarring. I argued that the amount of force and the type of force wasn’t justified. Hardly anyone agreed with my take.
Since that day, I’ve had my reservations about having police officers in schools. Tensions between certain communities in cities and law enforcement have grown with each passing year. A distrust festers and ends up breeding contempt between civilians and what they perceive as a militant authority. Stereotypes begin to be formed on both sides and communication breaks down. I have often wondered if having an SRO in schools is necessary. Until now.
Three weeks ago, I attended the funeral of one of the children who died as a result of the shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville. I was and still am close friends of the family. I watched as the fallout of that shooting played out on the stage of social media and in the Tennessee State Legislature. Political narratives formed as quickly as an afternoon storm in July, but it felt like the actual victims and families who were affected by the shooting were being left behind.
In the end, there was no common-sense gun reform; the Tennessee GOP would have none of that. It made me appreciate our School Resource Officers more than I ever have.
For as much as I disagree with the TN GOP, I can completely get behind their mantra of “protecting the children.” However, I’d like to protect children from semi-automatic weapons, not costumes and make-up.
We all have to play the cards we’re dealt, and the cards our lawmakers have dealt to Tennesseans is a deck loaded with AR-15’s, money for SRO’s at every school, and some physical makeovers to schools to ensure they are as safe as possible. That’s what we’ve got. I’ve checked my sleeves, and there ain’t an ace up there.
So, let’s focus on our Kings and Queens – our trained law enforcement officers who are now some of the most important people in school buildings. If that statement doesn’t strike you as a sad commentary on our culture in Tennessee, nothing will.
If this is truly where we are – red flag laws be damned – my proposal is this:
- A trained officer (or two) in every school building in the state of Tennessee (public and private). Those officers will be paid by the state of Tennessee and not local bodies of government or local school districts.
- Three safety/security checks per year of each school by local health departments in their county. Children dying of gun violence is now a public health issue, so we need to treat it like one. We have fire marshals walk through our buildings twice a year to make sure everything is conducive to escaping a fire. Now, we need to apply that same accountability to school shooting situations.
- Police patrol/THP Patrol/Deputy Patrol in a one mile vicinity of each school at all times during the school day.
And, that’s just a start.
If that sounds like too much, then maybe we’re not addressing the root causes of what’s wrong. Hint – it’s guns and mental health. Yes. It can actually be both.
I have had my personal opinions about the system of policing in America, and those opinions haven’t changed. I also can recognize, however, the importance of law enforcement and their skillset to provide protection to a community or a school. And for that I am extremely grateful.
Until the GOP in Tennessee finds their backbone, this is the game we have to play. But it’s not cops and robbers with toy guns; it’s life and death with military grade weapons in the hands of emotionally and mentally distressed people. So, with that being said, I want to say a big thank you to law enforcement in schools for being willing to be there for our teachers and students when our legislators aren’t. We do very much appreciate you.
