Caddo school officials are cool to sheriff's call to arm teachers

Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator is imploring parish school board members to allow certain faculty members to take their guns to school.

In an e-mail Thursday to Caddo Parish School Board members, Prator made his case for arming staff members.

"Our schools currently brag of being 'firearm free' zones, literally an invitation for armed evildoers," the sheriff said in the letter. "Most of our schools have one armed 'guard,' but there are times when that person is distracted or unavailable.

"I am recommending that certain faculty members be allowed to possess weapons on campuses. These persons would have exhaustive background and psychological vetting. Once accepted, they would undergo extensive training and further determinations of suitability."

The program, Prator stressed, would be voluntary and a select few would be allowed to carry a concealed weapon and serve as a last line of defense. Prator compared his proposal to laws in Texas that allow teachers to be armed.

"Let's try something different," Prator said. "These same students will leave school and go to the supermarket and the mall and the movie theater and people there have concealed carry permits. ...What is harm with taking a teacher and that you allow them to assist law enforcement in case something happens?"

Prator's suggestion matches one put forth Thursday by President Donald Trump. In response to Prator, the school board president, district superintendent and a representative for teachers and school employees offered what amounted to a respectful "not likely."

Current Caddo policy prohibits personnel from carrying weapons with the exception of law enforcement officers, said Mary Nash-Wood, spokesperson for Caddo Schools. State law. Carrying a firearm on school property is illegal according to state law, but that law excludes school officials and employees.

All of Caddo's high schools, middle schools and alternative schools and half of its elementary schools have officers, Roy Murry, the district's director of security, said last week.

More:'Caddo sheriff's suggestion to arm teachers is absurd'

Prator said his proposal is not that everyone in schools carry guns. Those with law enforcement, military backgrounds or those with experience handling a weapon under stressful situations should be considered first, he said, and the Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office and its Regional Training Academy could assist with training and screening individuals.

Steve Riall, school board president, expressed concerns about arming teachers even with the training. The best bet, he said, is staffing all schools with trained law enforcement. But he acknowledged there could be potential budget issues.

"Law enforcement people have chosen their vocation and prepared for it," he said. "They know how to deal with things like that. When you go to schools, those people are trained as educators. That's what they are trained to do. I don't know if they would really want to be willing to do that.

"This is something that has come up and slapped us right in the face, and we're having to deal with now because we see the possibility that something like this might happen."

Still, Riall said, "It's something I think we basically need to look at."

Riall said he understands where Prator is coming from, and he noted that he hadn't discussed Prator's suggestion with other board members.

A process for introducing Prator's proposal is unclear. Riall said it would probably end up in the board's Building Grounds and Security Committee for discussion before advancing to the board.

"This is new," Riall said. "I don't know what we are going to do."

Caddo Superintendent Lamar Goree said educators should not be expected to provide armed protection of their students.

"With the multitude of obligations they must meet each school year, we cannot also ask of them to take on the responsibility of school security," Goree said in a statement. "Knowing this commitment and the sacrifices taken by our highly trained men and women in uniform reinforces our belief that law enforcement officers should be the only individuals on school campuses carrying a weapon. 

Goree added that the district is willing to work with local law enforcement.

"Caddo is prepared to work with local enforcement agencies, including the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Shreveport Police Department, to place additional trained law enforcement officers on our campuses," he said.

Jackie Lansdale, president of Red River United, a union for teachers and school employees, said teachers should not carry guns in school.

"In the world of education, we look for that marginalized student," Lansdale said. "We look for signs and red flags. ...If he wants to bring his deputies out there and to be every school, I'd be okay with that."

Many school shootings, she said, are done by young, marginalized white males who glorify violence, have access to firearms and may have a mental defect, she said.

The proposal comes just over a week after a Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that killed 17. The debate on gun control has been a national discussion in the wake of the Florida shooting. 

"Everybody talks after each shooting, and nothing ever gets done," Prator said. "We can't wait on Washington or Congress to solve a local problem when we have the resources to take action ourselves."