It seems many parents, grandparents and teachers have rightly been bending the ears of our local leaders since the spate of high profile school shootings made news, recently after Valentine’s Day when 17 students and adults were killed in Parkland, Fla., by a 19-year-old former student at Marjory Douglas High School.
Six to eight school resource officers are among the public safety investments proposed in the 2019 Hamilton County budget, Mayor Jim Coppinger said.
Staff file photo by C.B. Schmelter / SSI Guardian Certified Executive Instructor and El Paso County (Colo.) Sheriff’s Office Chief Todd Evans speaks last month during a School Safety and Security Analysis Meeting at the Westin in Chattanooga, Tenn.“This is something we hear from the public is a need, and we’re going to do that,” Coppinger said.
Only 29 of Hamilton County’s 71 public schools now have resource officers. Coppinger said the schools intend to hire more officers for middle and high schools, and the county will kick in $350,000 to $400,000 to pay for vehicles and equipment.
That’s probably not enough, but it’s a far more reasonable – and safer – plan than asking teachers or, worse, volunteers, to carry guns to stand guard in our schools. Of course, guards in the schools are stopgap measures, not a cure, for this safety problem. As a nation, we eventually must deal with the country’s lax gun culture and our failure to address the needs of the mentally ill.