In September, area residents discovered that the Tamaqua School Board adopted a revised Policy 705 “Standard Operating Procedures for Persons Authorized to Use Weapons.” In their revision, the board appears to reach beyond the scope of its authority under the Public School Code to permit the arming of teachers and staff.

Over 50 concerned residents and teachers attended the October school board meeting. At that meeting, the board could not name a single school safety authority they had consulted, nor could they provide an explanation of how the policy was drafted. Instead, they offered a series of hypothetical school shooter scenarios in which armed teachers were featured as heroes.

After over a month of research on school safety, our newly formed group, Tamaqua Citizens for Safe Schools, was unable to find any reputable school safety expert who recommends arming teachers, administrators or staff. In fact, numerous sources — links to which are included on our Facebook page — specifically caution against that measure.

Our research did reveal a number of cost-effective steps the district could take to improve school safety, none of which had been considered by the board. At the board’s invitation, we presented these alternatives at a town hall-style meeting on Nov. 7, including the use of technology to detect active shooters and reduce police response time; preventive programs to help identify mental health issues and students at risk; safety assessments of school buildings; and a cost analysis of hiring armed school resource officers. We also offered letters from survivors of the Sandy Hook shooting, as well as a letter from Dr. Peter Langman, a top expert on school shooters, and expert opinion from CeaseFirePA and Orange Wave advocates, all denouncing the policy.

At this meeting, we finally had a hint of the origin of the board’s policy. The board brought in two men from the Buckeye Firearms Association headquartered in Ohio. The BFA representatives, seated at the head table with the board members, attempted to capitalize on fear. We were invited to “choose two tables” of people at the meeting who “would be dead” within minutes of a school shooting, and cited what we later learned were questionable statistics. One presenter mentioned the “dead babies” of Sandy Hook and stopped speaking momentarily as he appeared to be overcome with emotion. Don’t be fooled. BFA, apparently the board’s sole consultant for Policy 705, is not an authority on evidence-based school safety or violence prevention, but a vendor of firearm training with a political agenda.

BFA consists of the Buckeye Firearms Foundation, a traditional 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity; the Buckeye Firearms Association, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit social welfare organization; and notably, Buckeye Firearms Association PAC, a political action committee. The purpose of a PAC is to raise and spend money to elect and defeat political candidates, and BFA’s stated purpose is to promote and expand Second Amendment rights. BFA appears to be a political advocacy group first and foremost, and their foundation received the 2013 Top Recruiter Award from the NRA.

Legitimate violence prevention research and statistics do not support arming educators, a measure also opposed by law enforcement and educator associations. Further, the board has provided no documentation about insurance coverage and liability, despite exposing residents, teachers and students to physical and legal risk. Indeed, the first lawsuit has already been filed. The School Board Policy Manual Section 009 states, “As representatives of the district, the board shall consider the wishes of district residents.” We continue to call for the immediate rescission of Policy 705. School safety should not be compromised by anyone’s political agenda.

On behalf of Tamaqua Citizens for Safe Schools,

Aimee Dotson,

Cheryl Tennant Humes,

Megan McGeehan,

Jennifer Paisley,

Tracy Perry,

Liz Pinkey,

Karen Tharp