"The vast majority do not go into the education field to play the role of a police officer," says Kenneth Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services.
As Curt Guaglianone of Mount Adams School District puts it, 2022-23 was "energizing, inspiring and refreshing." But now it's time to take lessons learned from the first "normal" school year since the pandemic and push them forward.
Student mental health and teacher shortages are major roadblocks to academic recovery that schools cannot overcome without support—and long-term funding—from the nation's leaders, a budding coalition of Black and Latino superintendents told District Administration as they marched toward the U.S. Capitol.
District Administration senior writer Matt Zalaznick was there as the superintendents, who represented 21 states, beseeched leaders to provide more financial and political support for mental health services, teacher preparation and retention, and English learners.
According to a poll released earlier this month, parents value school resource officers more than anything. In contrast, few believe arming teachers is a viable option.
The ultimate goals of these often traumatic takeovers are, of course, to improve student achievement and achieve financial stability but, when it comes to the former, a growing body of research finds little evidence of success.
"It's just next to impossible to stop someone," George Grant, a leader with the Nashville Presbytery connected to The Covenant School, told AP News regarding intruders wielding high-powered assault rifles.
Early planning for both postsecondary and career pathways can not only save time and money in the long run, but can also give students ample opportunity to discover their interests and strengths.
Schools are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless hours of staff labor to process these requests from parents who are cracking down on discussions they deem inappropriate in a classroom environment.
