No.....The key to security is good access control (meaning it is realistic) practiced everyday combined with a emergency notification procedure. Unless the armed guard is Silver Star Navy Seal, he/she will be the first one shot. It is very disturbing when armed guards become the "logical" answer to a threat. And please, let's not use police officers either, unless the threat of a shooting is likely as opposed to probable.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

If that is what it takes to keep our children safe Yes we should have armed guards in our schools. locked doors do not work. I pick up my grand children from school and I do not feel like they are safe with the system they have in place now.

This is the most ridiculous solution possible. Wouldn't it be easier to divide up the country into those who want to live with guns and those who don't? Let the gun toting cowboy and military-wanna-bes live in one part of the country and those of us who would like to see all the guns in the world melted down or shot into space, live in the other part of the country. What's next? Arm every parent and every child with a gun? Are we moving forward or backward? So the second amendment says we have the right to bear arms -- does that mean nuclear warheads too? Maybe if all the money spent on guns in this country was spent on education, training and mental health treatment, maybe we would have more peace and less violence. I'm no therapist, but I do believe that the level of fear, anger or anxiety that prompts one to purchase a machine gun, may constitute mental illness. Isn't mental illness a combination of fear, anxiety, suspicion, and anger? We should really examine the mindset someone who feels they need a machine gun? Shouldn't every one who purchases this type of gun have to submit to a rigorous test for mental illness?

While we're at it, I guess we also add armed guards in our movie theatres, grocery stores, local churches and shopping centers.

I fear that i may agree with the last thing marylynn said. The rest of it is a deluded fantasy, but the background check has merit. Here's a bright idea, how about instead of hiring more guards, we just retrain or replace the one already workin there with the skills necessary to handle a firearm and maybe a training coarse to deal with hostile situations. Maybe this might be a better solution than splitting up the country into "cowboys" and fools.

So Domino what is your solution? As you have stated in the past you are a prior high school board member. What do you suggest we should do to protect out children in schools?

An armed guard in a school would have to have very intensive training, not just in the use of firearms, but how to handle any number of different situations and when and when NOT to draw their gun. Police officers go through very rigorous training in this regard, which is why an officer can go his whole career without drawing his gun once. You can't just hand people guns in schools and think that will solve the problem (as the NRA seems to think). Without proper training, the risk of something going wrong far outweighs the risk of a gunman entering the school (which, although it gets lots of press, is actually a very rare occurrence).

The second issue is; who pays for these highly trained armed guards??? With schools barely have funds for the required curriculum, where do the funds come from the pay the guards? Would parents be willing to give up a music or sports program in order to pay for the guards???

Must be a different domino!! So what then is your solution to protect kids in school ban all guns? It would be interesting to propose that and see what people think. If you do not agree with banning all guns give us a thought on what you think would work. I spoke to a former school board member who thought a rotating security force so you would never know where. Just one idea of many to come.

There should be cops from our own town Watching our schools. We are not in a high crime area where we need 10 cops driving up and down Schooleys Mountain all day giving out tickets. Put them in the schools where we can really use them.

No. What the U.S. needs is strict gun control laws, same as all the other industrialized countries where the gun violence problem is statistically very low.

I agree with having retired law enforcement manning the entrance way or having an off-duty policeman. Too much has happened to the children of this country and waiting for the debate between the NRA, and potential laws to be passed has cost us more lives. I have read the posts of others and I agree to an extent, but we need to act now. If it means having law enforcement present, then so be it. Face it, it is not a safe world anymore and there have been too many examples in the last 11 years to prove it. I would rather pay for the extra curricular activity and have the money go toward my child's safety. No one is going to agree on how to handle this and in the meantime, the safety of our children are at stake. I have worked within the school district as an Aide in the past and have taught religious education in my church. I would be devastated if our children were harmed in any way. It is time to act by utilizing the professionals who know how to handle these situations.

Domino I did just that at last Tuesdays BOE meeting! Thanks for suggesting!

It is truly a shame that people can no longer disipher between likely and probable. Almost every incident is probable but not likely. Be careful not to compare Newtown with a robbery, car accident, or pick pocket. Look at the nonsense in the "post 9-11" world with TSA, Dept of Homeland Security and rest of the anti-terrorism gov't initiatives that tried to make each person in the US think that they were the target. Citizens in fear will want the most security possible. Security vendors will want to sell the most security they can....and only true security professionals understand what is reasonable must also be sustainable (e.g how often would the school door open for a pizza delivery...or a guy in a brown uniform saying he has a package?? Or a parent pleading he has to give the nurse his child's allegy meds??). Feel good law or policy is a refuge for those that want to believe that most risk can be removed from any circumstance. Armed guards...operating under what directive?? Retired Police officers...retired defines effectiveness or ability??? Background checks (the kid had access to guns from his mother...who certainly would pass a background)??. Look at all the "solutions" and within 3 minutes of focused thinking and any teenager or nut case could come up with 10 ways to circumvent or neutralize the security protocols.

I agree with chuck. Unless we have seal team 6 the guard is the first to get shot, giving the gunman more firepower from the dead guards gun. What may work is tamper proof Locks with bullet proof glass at each door and window. And you need an appointment to get into the school.

Maybe we should just stop bussing kids to public buildings and let them learn through distance learning. It works on the college level. Kids and many adults for that matter practically live online anyway, why transport bodies, when learning is largely an activity of the intellect. They could still meet for sports after school. But that of course raises another question. One guard, and how many kids in each school -- in the buidlings -- on the sports fields? I hope that school guard has the powers of Superman, because otherwise he or she will just be dead meat.

Hookerman, With regard to social interaction, are you saying that people who telecommute have no social interaction? There would be plenty of opportunities for socializing online and face to face. Besides most of the kids socialize online now anyway. In addition, all kinds of extracurricular activities could be made available. But then you would have kids gathering in one place and yes -- we then run the risk of another mass shooting. A lunatic with a machine gun can show up anywhere -- which is why it is ridiculous to think that a lone guard in a school with hundreds of kids throughout a large building and on sports fields, could protect all of those kids and teachers. It's an insane idea. Machine guns should be banned and only used in the military, and even makes me sick. Having learned that we have over 200 million guns in this country makes me ill. Really makes me want to move to another country. I feel like this country is definitely going in the wrong direction. We're supposed to be more civilized, not less.

People usually don't telecommute five days a week, and they often have years of in-office work experience before taking up a telecommuting schedule. By social interaction, I don't mean getting together and having fun with their friends, I'm referring to social skills that are necessary to function in a professional environment. Knowing what to say, what not to say, how to say it, when to be serious, when to use humor, how to use humor correctly, understanding cultural differences... these are all skills that are very important, and necessary to function in a professional environment. Interacting online is a totally separate skill. Certain cues that are present in face-to-face communication, such as inflection, tone, facial expressions, that help us convey our meaning are not available in online communication. This is why I advise subordinates that online communication is best when it is very direct and literal, so that it may not be misconstrued. It is very important that kids learn both these skills in school.

As far as armed guards in schools, I agree with your that this is probably not the best and most efficient solution (and certainly not the most cost efficient). Security checks, lockdowns, and drills are probably better plans. However, there is no way we can ever guarantee our children's' safety 100 %, as much as we parents would like to.

No. Having full-time armed personnel would set a bad precedent for the district. I like the idea of occasional drop-ins from local PD's and cruisers on regular patrol near schools.

Their should be a law that any firearm should be locked up in a safe. In addition, I agree with MaryLynn. We should have mental checks on gun buyers. Armed guards may (but may not) work at the smaller schools. Like OFRS and flocktown/kossman. But at cuchinnela, the high school and the middle school, because of their size and amount of entry points, it would be a waste of tax payer dollars. We should look into other solutions. As a student with an evil/clever mind could take out the guard with a smuggled weapon, steal the guards gun, and shoot up the school.

Although all those opposed to armed guards at the schools have legitimate points, and all of them should be addressed, there still remains the immediate issue of keeping our children safe. It seems to me that guards at the schools is logical. Whether they are police or outside contractors should be left up to the police department to determine. They are better qualified than me to make that call. It seems to me that if the coward at Newtown had seen any resistance to entering the school, he probably wouldn't have done it.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/336457/clinton-who-proposed-cops-school-program-help-senate-democrats-draft-gun-control-legis
Interesting that President Clinton proposed a very similar program 1998 and I do nog recall anybody calling him nasty names

Yes. I have children in school and would definitely feel that they would be safer with an armed policeman (working or retired). Probably would decrease bad tendencies in some children too, knowing there is a policeman in the school.

If we invested in education and training as much as we invest in war and guns, we'd have a very different world. Can't we just try it? Haven't we spent this first half of civilization investing in that which supports physical violence? Isn't it about time we try a new approach?

DXJ
90% of the Township Committee meetings in Washington Township have only the Chief of Police present. He is there to respond to police issues and questions raised by committee members and the public. Yes he is armed, not sure whether he has a bullet proof vest on, but he is not there to protect the elected officials.

Mary Lynne how much should we invest in education ? And where would you spend the money? Do you really think we do not spend enough on education?

John Q: we do spend a good deal in this country on education. But what if the obscene amount of money we have spent on the last two wars and on the 200+ million guns in this country was spent on education and training around the world so that people who feel disenfranchised actually might have hope for a better future? Maybe then there would be less violence and less terrorism. People become terrorists and engage in violence when they have nothing left to lose and no hope of a better life or reality. That's what we need to work on.

Claire, I have traveled extensively and I love France, Italy and Switzerland. While they have problems, they don't have the off-the-chart murders by firearms that we have in this country. And your assertion that children would not learn social skills without physically attending school, is without basis. Are you saying people weren't socialized before the public school system? Besides, the workplace of the future will be largely online, across time zones. Children can still interact face to face via Skype and in the near future -- by holograhic telepresence technology.

Mary Lynn all those are important and should be discussed but really have little to do with education. We spend per capita more then most countries in the world. I know it is a tired story everybody hates to here but when the non married birth rate for women 20 to 30 years old is at 51 % I believe that is where our problem starts. No matter how much money we spend if the foundation of our children is not solid it will be wasted. Look around the country money had very little relation to performance