WESTTOWN – School shootings are still occurring.
With the beginning the new school year, community leaders, including students, teachers, legislators, law enforcement officers and first responders recently met for a roundtable discuss to address gun violence in schools.
The event was held at Westminster Presbyterian Church and was organized by CeaseFirePA.
“Parents are sending their kids back to school and they should be focused on what their kids should be learning instead of focused on whether they will come home safely,” said Adam Garber, CeaseFirePA Executive Director. “The shootings happen around our schools every single day.
“How do we keep our kids safe?”
Grant Maurer is CeaseFirePA’s Education Fund’s Southeast PA Organizer.
“Students should be free to learn, teachers should be free to teach, and schools should be safe places where there’s no fear of getting shot,” Maurer said. “Sadly, that’s not yet the reality for too many of Pennsylvania’s 1.7 million kids who have gone back to school.
“But it could be, if our lawmakers put in place life-saving policies to keep guns away from those who want to hurt others. This informative roundtable discussion showed that there are countless ways to keep kids safe at school.
“What we need are leaders who are willing to implement them.”
State Sen. Carolyn Comitta talked about a recent investment by the state.
This year’s Pennsylvania state budget includes $56.5 million in funding for community-based violence prevention and intervention programs (a $16.5 million increase) and $100 million for school safety and mental health programs (a $50 million increase).
In addition, in September, Governor Shapiro signed an Executive Order reestablishing the Pennsylvania Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
Even the youngest students are learning how to protect themselves.
“We are working to change the culture,” Comitta said. “It will go to support these little children and high school students dealing with the anxiety of an active shooter drill.”
State Rep. Chris Pielli supports the legislation.
“Having the opportunities to give the tools to law enforcement and to take those tools away from a troubled person is a common sense piece of legislation,” Pielli said.
Chester County Sheriff Kevin Dykes told the group that his office was currently working on active shooter plans.
“We should be able to respond to any event at the schools,” Dykes said. “It’s training first and foremost, we can never train enough.”
Dykes then said that staffing shortages are the “biggest challenge.”
Lieutenant Jason Tucker, Good Fellowship Ambulance, said that staffing is always an issue.
“You have to allocate the right resources at the right time,” Tucker said. “To ensure gun safety, we have to look at mental health.
“How do we support the youth?”
Talk turned to arming teachers.
“You are putting a tremendous amount of responsibility on the teachers — too many things can happen — it’s a really bad idea,” Pielli said.
Comitta said that many Americans believe that having more guns equals more safety.
“(Arming teachers) gives more opportunities for an accident to happen and for someone to get hurt,” Comitta said.
Rowan Mannon is a student activist from the Phoenixville Area and said that until recently the school doors were never locked.
“It’s terrifying,” he said about the present situation.
Jeffrey Singleton, teacher at Downingtown Area School District, said that it is disturbing to teach a first grader how to hide in a corner during a drill. Training videos also show students and teachers how to barricade a room and how to disarm a shooter with an AR-15.
Erika Dawkins, Interim Executive Director, Chester Community Coalition, said we need to be hyper- vigilant.
“I don’t know if there has been enough attention to support teachers,” she said.
Dawkins then said we have to think of gun safety as a public health issue.
Samantha Carroll, a student activist from West Chester Area School District, said she hears the news of another mass shooting, it makes her feel that the lives of teachers and students are expendable.
“It’s saddening to know that the biggest concern is how to protect yourself,” she said.
Dykes noted that there are more stolen guns on the streets than legally owned firearms.
The U.S. Suicide & Crisis Hotline number is 988.
