While I have my own opinions on what should be done about school shootings, I have been trying to open my ears and eyes to those who are protecting, teaching and guiding our students… you know, the ones who are in charge of those precious lives when an awful situation arises.
Recently,
I posted the comments from the School Resource Officer Association
… and today, I’ll give you the position of one North Dakota School Superintendent.
It’s thoughtful. And, worth sharing.
—>
Dear
Parents/Guardians,I can’t stay
silent on this issue any longer. I do the best I can to steer clear of using my
position to voice concerns about politics or policy. In this case, I feel it’s
part of my position to say something.School
shootings are a real issue. What frustrates me the most right now is how the
conversations are being handled. There are so many people (talking heads in the
media, posts on social media, and the list goes on) that are approaching school
shootings and gun violence as an either/or issue. It’s being pitched as a war
on guns or it’s all about mental health. Seriously? This is where we’re drawing
the line? We need to get real folks. School shootings is NOT an either/or. It’s
both. Action has to happen. This is a HUGE issue. You don’t solve big issues by
focusing on one side of a problem. To me, it’s easy to say there are two sides
of this. Both need to be addressed.Should guns
be regulated in a different fashion? To me, that answer is yes. We have a
problem, right? Guns are getting into hands of people that are doing terrible
things. That’s a problem. Here’s where this topic usually takes a turn that to
me, isn’t helpful. We start talking about where the problem originated and
who’s to blame. It’s bad parenting, the breakdown of the American family,
social media, the mass media over covers bad things and gives the spotlight to
bad people, movies, video games….Yep. All that is accurate, and each do play a
role here. But so what? It’s a terrible thing that we are where we
are…absolutely terrible. But guess what? WE ARE HERE. Does the blame really
matter right now? This is crisis time, my friends. We can sort out the laundry
list of things wrong with the country and family values at a different time.
And we should. Right now we need to focus on a solution. There’s about a
thousand things floating in the media. Many of them have credibility (having
armed retirees on school sites, mental health screenings, availability). I have
concerns with some of the longevity of some of the suggestions, but let’s sit
down and dig into those. Maybe they’ll work! I’m not saying we ban guns. I’ve
lived in North Dakota my whole life. I grew up around guns. Go hunting, go
target shooting. That’s fine. There’s a fact here- people who shouldn’t have
access to very dangerous fire arms are getting them. The latest list of school
shooters have all been legal gun owners up to the point of their actions.
Warning signs? YESThis may be
starting to sound like anti-gun rhetoric. Let me be clear, it’s not. My opinion
on the mental health side of this is probably more critical. We are dealing
with a system that is fundamentally flawed, if not broken. So, let’s talk about
mental health. The systems and supports that are in place on a federal and
state level are not getting it done. They are underfunded and therefore
understaffed. There’s a big-time imbalance with supply and demand. From my
experience it’s very difficult to get into many of the facilities in Red River
Valley. When you are finally seen by someone the billing and insurance
procedures make it nearly impossible to bring a valuable and lasting change.
There were warnings from many of these recent incidents that there was a mental
illness, or at least that something was not right. People around them were
uneasy…but what happened? Nothing. Watch listed by the FBI or some other
heightened awareness…but they still had/got a gun. We don’t have any laws that
give a school administrator, a family member, really anyone the authority to
remove guns from someone that we’re on alert for. We are limited on opportunities
and support systems. The supports that we have are attempting to help and take
on projects and cases that they were never designed for. I’ve heard people
being critical of Social Services and other similar agencies. This is not their
thing. Everyone I’ve ever worked with and reached out to has done their best to
offer what they can and support as best they know how. The honest truth here is
that we’re asking questions and for services that these groups were not
designed for and then are frustrated when we don’t get a desired result. That’s
not an agency issue, that’s an overall systems problem. Our system was not
designed to handle anywhere close to the number of cases we are currently
identifying. This takes massive change and effort to resolve.After 9/11
we acted. The towers went down and the Patriot Act was passed into law. That
wasn’t perfect legislation, I acknowledge that. But we did something. We have
longer lines at airports and the process is a hassle. That’s fair… I, for one,
am ok with that. There is a direct correlation to safety and liberty. Any time
we take actions to enhance public safety there is some level of individual
liberty infringed upon. You don’t have the liberty to drive as fast as you want
in your car. We have first amendment freedom of speech rights, but those aren’t
limitless either. You can’t legally incite a public panic. There’s more
specific laws about slander and libel. All these regulate a “right”. This isn’t
different.I understand
that regulations, laws, and rules are broken all the time. People still do
drugs! We don’t sell cocaine at the local market either. I’m not saying guns
and drugs are on the same playing field. I am suggesting that we can take some
logical steps here to regulate availability, who gets what, and ensure the
stability of people carrying. We won’t ever completely fix this issue through
regulations. I agree. People break rules and laws all the time and have for ages.
Can we tweak a few things and regulate things a little better? I think so.This is
real! I will be the first one to say I’m fine waiting a few days for a
background check or whatever procedure is necessary to obtain a firearm. I’m
willing to give that up if my stability is questioned by a family member or
some person of authority. I would welcome additionalmental
health supports into our schools. I’m willing to take just about any step
necessary to help me feel like my little girl is a little safer as she grows
up, I’m good with that trade.So what are
we willing to trade?Sincerely,
Mr. Larson, Supt.
Mr. Chris Larson is the Milnor, North Dakota Public School Superintendent, the original post of this letter can be seen
here
.
