It is not insignificant that the Arkansas Constitution mandates "the State shall ever maintain a general, suitable and efficient system of free public schools and shall adopt all suitable means to secure to the people the advantages and opportunities of education."
That would appear to place the responsibility for public schools squarely at the state Capitol. From a funding perspective, court rulings in recent decades have amplified that appearance, requiring state government to ensure a adequate and equitable system exists whether a student matriculates in Washington, Desha or any of the other 73 counties that make up Arkansas.
What’s the point?
Local control is critical in the decision-making by school district administrators about school safety.
But let's not get carried away. Arkansas at the beginning of the 20th century had thousands of school districts. The years since have seen various waves of consolidation, some voluntary and others forced. The last major round came in the administration of Gov. Mike Huckabee after a 2002 court ruling, but even today, Arkansas is home to 238 school districts in its 75 counties.
Local control still matters, even if it's not complete control. When it comes to the intense debate over school safety -- i.e., protecting students from gun-wielding assailants -- we're thankful that's the case.
One size fits all isn't an option in Arkansas because (1) the people of the state generally don't want it and (2) the challenges and resources available to school district leaders are starkly different in, for example, the Delta vs. the Boston Mountains of Northwest Arkansas.
The question of how to protect school children, faculty and staff from harm in our era of mass shootings deserves an intense level of discussion at all levels. A contribution to that came early this month when Gov. Asa Hutchinson's school safety commission, appointed in March, delivered 19 preliminary recommendations for safety practices. As one would expect in Arkansas, where the gun rights of the Second Amendment have strong support, the commission's recommendations steered clear of any gun-control measures.
"No school," Hutchinson said at a press conference, "should be without armed officers when staff or children are there."
But Hutchinson also said the burden for such measures, including cost, will fall to the individual districts and local law enforcement. Many districts work with local policing agencies to place so-called "school resource officers" within the halls of schools. Others, however, do not see that as a viable option because they can't afford it or they don't have local agencies they trust with the job, or both in some cases.
We appreciate that Hutchinson is devoting time and energy (and hopefully funding) to an expansion of mental health services, a tool the state and local schools must put to effective use. So many of these mass shootings are born of difficulties among young people in coping with life and the challenges that can seem monumental at those young ages. Counseling in too many instances, if it exists at all, has been insignificant. Schools need more mental health mechanisms and responses in place to intercept troubled students before they lash out.
School safety, however, very often boils down to this: How will guns factor into the equation?
In Bentonville this week, the school board voted to go beyond school resource officers -- local law enforcement officers assigned to schools -- at its two high schools to arm school district security officers who are not certified law enforcement. State law since 2015 has authorized districts to have armed staff members once those employees undergo 60 hours of training.
Some school districts have allowed some faculty or staff to fill that role. In Bentonville, wisely, the school district is limiting the addition of guns to its four security officers, two at each high school.
The move, according to Superintendent Debbie Jones, will provide an "extra layer of protection." The district will not arm teachers. Its also taken other steps to shore up security, such as requiring all high school students to wear district-issued identification badges and creating an anonymous tip line to create an avenue for people to report perceived dangers.
When it comes to authorized guns in schools, options 1, 2 and 3 in districts that can afford it should be placing those guns in the hands of trained professionals. The priority should be certified law enforcement. Such measures allow teachers and administrators to keep most of their focus on teaching and the inner workings of our local educational institutions. That's where their minds belong.
We don't want schools to become prison-like buildings, but districts also need to take seriously the physical changes to buildings that will allow students, teachers and staff to physically separate themselves from an assailant until help from local authorities arrive.
Naturally, Bentonville's decision will make some people uncomfortable, but what about any of this will make anyone comfortable? We're in a time in which we have to worry about someone shooting up students while they're in school. No solution to that is going to be comfortable.
Commentary on 07/21/2018