Kentucky School District Votes Unanimously to Arm Teachers for School Safety

Kentucky’s Pike County School Board voted to work with the Pike County Sheriff’s Office to train and arm teachers for school safety.

The vote followed the January 23, 2018, shooting at Kentucky’s Marshall County High School and the more recent February 14 attack on Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Kentucky.com reports that vote at the school board meeting was “unanimous” in favor of armed teachers. The vote was held after hearing input from “teachers, parents and administrators.”

Pike County Schools Superintendent Reed Adkins commented on the move to arm teachers, saying, “You hope you’re making the right decision for kids, but I know right now something’s got to be done. We may be criticized, but at the end of the day I’ll take criticism to protect my students.”

Pike County High School English teacher Timothy Cline concurred with decision, saying, “This is not an action to force teachers to do something they’re uncomfortable with, or are unwilling to do. It’s a big decision, granted, but it’s one we need to make now.”

Kentucky Center for School Safety executive director Jon Akers spoke against arming teachers, saying “every educational group across the country” is against arming teachers.

Illinois Century School District had a similar experience after moving to arm teachers earlier in the week. Parents and school members supported the move but state level bureaucrats opposed it. Illinois Education Association (IEA) President Kathi Griffin said, “We need to stop repeating history and tackle the school shooting epidemic head on, but arming our teachers is not the answer. Our teachers and support staff members did not sign up to carry guns! They are not law enforcement. They became teachers and support staff because they wanted to help students learn and succeed.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.