The article says that the Department of Education is looking for a programthat makes no mention of prohibiting weapons purchases. Buying weapons under such a program might be illegal, nevertheless, because Congress did not *authorize* such purchases.
Although the Executive is often granted some power to "reprogram" funds, reprogramming for an unauthorized purpose surely presents serious legal problems — especially since it's a transparent attempt to evade a recently enacted statement of the will of Congress.
1
Why stop at arming teachers? The feds should require pistol and rifle training as part of the school curriculum and let the kids go to a shooting range built in side the school grounds by federal education funds. That way if a shooter enters the school the kids can head down to the armory and get as many weapons as possible. Maybe the NRA could provide some advice on how to improve the program. Let's do this right.
4
I didn’t realize so many schools were threatened by grizzlies
2
Absolutely horrifying. Every day I wonder if this administration can possibly sink any lower, and every day it finds some way to manage to do so. DeVos was unqualified for this job right from the beginning, and she shows zero signs of having improved on that.
7
Is this a headline from The Onion?
9
I would have liked Erica Green to have surveyed senators and representatives from both parties as their take on using federal monies to arm teachers in public schools. Does this have to be approved by Congress? Or, can Sec of Ed just allow this to happen?
1
Once again, Betsy DeVos demonstrates why the current resident should have interviewed 325.7 others before considering *her* for Secretary of Education.
There is no way on God's green earth that a teacher who concentrates on working with her/his students can simultaneously be prepared to win a gunfight at the OK Corral. In movies, sure; but in real life, the country would be bereft of one teacher and who knows how many students.
From top on down, personnel in this maladministration seem to suffer breaks with reality...
...while we simply suffer.
5
My older sister, who is a high school teacher in a rural town in Wisconsin told me, "Well, as long as the .357 Colt Python or the Walther PPK doesn't clash with my pearls, I guess I'm okay with Secretary DeVos' decision". My sister was being extremely sarcastic in her remark to me. Her and I believe this woman is nuts and then some.
6
How are the police supposed to diffrentiate between the armed teacher and the armed shooter? Professional meet and greet? Ask?
7
CORRECTION:
Once again, Betsy DeVos demonstrates why the current resident should have interviewed 325.7 million others before considering *her* for Secretary of Education.
There is no way on God's green earth that a teacher who concentrates on working with her/his students can simultaneously be prepared to win a gunfight at the OK Corral. In movies, sure; but in real life, the country would be bereft of one teacher and who knows how many students.
From top on down, personnel in this maladministration seem to suffer breaks with reality...
...while we simply suffer.
NYT PicksReader Picks
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos needs to arrange for substantal pay raises for all public school teachers.
Public school teachers need the pay raises: they do not need guns; guns cannot pay for cost of living increases in health care insurance and for increases in the cost of medicines.
Guns cannot covers the thousands of dollars public school teachers pay yearly to buy school supplies for their students and their classroom-yes, folks public school teachers must pay for the school supplies they use in their classrooms, and they supplybhe pens, pencils and note paper.
A 40 percent across the board pay raise would be justified for public school teachers because public school teachers serve as the protector, parent, coach and mentor to their students; public school teachers are charged by the state legislatures to properly instruct all public school students so that they graduate on time.
So, Ms.DeVos, a public school teacher is in a special/critical profession that only a few people are qualified to perform beyond the 3-5 year trial period; basically, if a new public school can last the 3-5 year break in period. Typically, a new teacher rarely last beyond the 3 year break in period; the job is just that tough; and, commensurate pay should follow!
That's right. Let's spend some more money not directly helping students.
4
How about poison gas and nukes? Nothing but the best for our schools!
3
We can secure our Federal and State office building and facilities, and Air Ports, but we seem to have a problem securing our schools. Maybe we have our priorities all out of order.
2
This madness. There is no other way to describe such a thoughtless and un-necessary move. Students will be in more danger not less.
We need trained and vetted professionals to protect our children in schools, not wannabe heroes living out their fantasy.
Fifty million a year would go a long way toward books, grants for better teachers, college scholarships, rebuilding schools, adding libraries and improving general teaching and learning facilities.
Ms. DeVos is without common sense, good judgment and any real understanding of the problems and needs of modern schools and the children who attend those schools.
When the Secretary of Education thinks more about how to arm teachers than how to improve and expand education then the problem lies with that secretary.
PS, I am sometimes target shooter. It requires lots of training, practice, awareness of safety and excellent judgement skills. Teachers would be totally unprepared for a well armed shooter bent on destruction. Let's leave protection to trained, experienced and skilled police. Not teachers. Provide more escape routes from class rooms to the outside. Screen students, teachers and be aware of the conversations on social net-works. And limit guns of all types to those who are over the age of 21. AR type rifles should be only for those over 25 who can demonstrate a real need for such high power weapons. We need better rules and regulation. Not more guns.
3
The very thought of more guns in school at tax-payers expense is just insane. NO Guns in and around schools is the answer and more affordable. The school property taxes are way too high as is, elderly people can't afford to keep their homes.
More guns in schools would be more profit for the gun industry and of course the NRA.
Would the industry be willing to fund school protection financed with a special tax on guns? School taxes must pay the teachers, school buses, school supplies, and maintain the properties and on and on.
It is only fair to expect the NRA, the gun industry and gun owners to pay for any additional costs. After all, it is all about profits, the public is not responsible for the expenses. In addition, gun owners should be required to carry liability insurance also. Guns are tools, made to kill and do harm to people and property, they are not harmless toys.
How can schools improve mental health counseling. My kids' high schools has over 1,000 students with five counselors.
1
As of late May 2018 more Americans have been killed this year in school shootings than in the Armed forces.
Congress gutted CDC research; reason is the casualty of Russian funded NRA influence.
Since a 1990 law preventing local districts from enacting their own solutions our kids have become "fish in a barrel".
Caving to hysterical moral outrage while the carnage is ongoing is not an option.
Buying guns with money earmarked for digital education
conveys how far down the rabbit hole we've fallen.
We have to start somewhere.
13
Anything to funnel money to the military industrial complex. Eisenhower is turning in his grave.
2
Betsy devos and her family are heavily invested in the gun industry.
the entire point here is to divert tax dollars from schools into her own pocket.
its not even complicated.
these people dont care about schools, or education, or the lives of the kids that will be ended or ruined by incompetent, angry, or simply forgetful teachers with guns in schools. their kids dont go to those schools.
9
In Parkland they had a 30 year Police Veteran that did not enter the school and we are going to expect underpaid teachers to go in the line of fire? It's not only dumb it's dangerous. Potential shooters would already have guns at the school, they don't need to bring their own anymore. How about this, a student walks into the classroom right behind the teacher, knocks him out and takes his gun, now he can start shooting. Or how about this, a student confronts his teacher, the teacher pulls out his/her weapon and kills the student and claim their life felt threatened. There is so many bad scenarios here. This is not the answer.
2
Absolutely not. Spend money on education, in the myriad of needs that there are, not on guns. This is insane.
2
Has anyone seen the Showtime series, "Who is America"?
There are members of Congress and leaders of gun rights groups who believe that toddlers should have guns.
I kid you not.
1
This is a bad idea! Teachers don't need guns. Arming teachers means additional training to make them capable of handling an increased threat situation that I am sure is also not going to be freely donated. So arming unprepared teachers who've had little to no training in what to do is someone goes nuts in the school shooting people creates a situation with more bullets flying around hitting even more kids and other teachers.
I'd rather the govt supply money to put safe rooms in each classroom or each area of the school for the teachers and children to go into in case of an active shooter situation. Something like this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZRm3S0oGUU
And Betsy's brother Erik Prince, wants the US to hire mercenary armies to fight the wars in Syria/Iraq and Afghanistan. What a high minded family.
2
Is this thing on???
Ok!
1. We do NOT need weapons in or near any facility that contains children! Are you confused?
2.Thats just increasing the... all ready staggering.... number of possible tragic situations. NO!
3.Do not expose my son and my grandchildren to more chances to lose their precious and valueable lives. ISNT THERE ALREADY TOO MANY ?
4. Lets try applying a more logical approach. Put that very large amount of money.... in to the schools. Increase the creative arts, the music, the classes that give kids a chance to truly express themselves in a patient, respectful, honest place. So many local schools have taken away the classes that show people its ok to be unique and different. These kind of classes teach acceptance of others and the things that make them unique. Do not teach fear. Do not teach hate. Teach them its ok to be different and to do and like things that are different than others. Somewhere in the history of humans .... we lost the ability to truly accept people for who they are. Now everyone dislikes everyone else for everything. (Yes there are things that are truly unacceptable and should not be allowed.) Teach children to understand that, just because 1 person of a race or faith or income class or sexual orientation or non-faith or anyone else, wrongs you or does something unacceptable, that its ok to not like the person. And that they can choose to stay away from the person instead of casting hate on an entire group or category of people .
1
Of all the ludicrous policies introduced, this one cuts me the deepest. Whenever I see this notion raise its HIDEOUS head, I involuntarily groan aloud.
The thing that troubles me the most about this, is that somehow, someway, school shootings went from a conversation about how to make it harder to get guns to, and a possible dent in the gun lobby, to advocating for MORE GUNS BEING SOLD into the schools themselves. The NRA is alive and well...
2
At the beginning of each school year, each family is issued a list of supplies a family is asked to bring to the classroom because the B of Ed is not able to provide for the classroom, i.e., toilet tissue, tissues, paper towels, wet wipes, and a host of other stuff that I cannot remember at this time. I know it is a lot for most families to afford, especially in addition to the supplies that the classroom teacher asks for. Most of us who come from a generation that this was not demanded of us, nor could we probably have afforded to buy this stuff.
This aside, and with the times a-changing, I suppose we all have to make certain sacrifices, but there is one sacrifice most of us are not willing to make, that is, arming our children who are teachers. What is the Trump administration, Betsy DeVos, and of course, the NRA thinking? Oh, yes, NRA support!
Betsy, put the money to better use. We seriously need counseling for our kids to prevent drug abuse, we desperately need mental health counselors, we need to counsel our kids not to drop out out school, we need to provide our children with a well-rounded education with music, art, technology. All of this takes money, money that could go to a better cause rather to arm teachers that do not want to be armed.
In that respect, well then look into safety measures that will work. Securing entrances, more important, gun safety measures in general in conjunction with the NRA, age limitations, and mental health screenings.
There needs to be a law enacted where if an individual was born with a titanium plated gold spoon in their mouth, they can't work in any government position. period.
1
Perhaps as part of her program to arm educational personal and militarize schools Mrs DeVos can get her brother (the mercenary for hire / security consultant to middle east monarchies and other tyrannies) Eric Prince to come in and provide training? After all for the Michigan based conservative families they come from there is no government service that they cannot corrupt and find profit in. Sad
3
Maybe she should hire Blackwater to defend schools. I bet she gets a family discount.
1
Do those who would arm teachers actually read what they write or listen to what they say?
Why just arm teachers? Let's give the janitorial staff guns. The hair netted cafeteria ladies too. And bus drivers. School crossing guards as well, they're our true first line of defense, they could cut down mass murderers in the parking lots.
And while we're at it, let's make AK-47 training mandatory for getting a teaching degree. Work it into the curriculum and offer courses to develop teaching skills. And shooting skills.
Then we could all enjoy the spectacle of graduates picking up their diplomas and newly issued AK-47s and march off to the strains of The Beatles "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" or Al Dexter's "Pistol Packing Mama" instead of "Pomp and Circumstance."
Has America lost its mind?
Yes, yes it has, because right now the Secretary of Education, Betsy "Ditzy" DeVos, seeks Federal funds to re-imburse states for arming, training and, I would presume, burying those teachers who are poor shots.
The answer, whether the NRA or any other right wing nut group agrees or not, is NOT to arm more people. But to make it harder and harder, if not impossible, for ANY sane or insane person to possess or buy an K-47. Or any other assault weapon.
As a USMC veteran, I have never heard an intelligent reason why any individual NEEDS an assault weapon. Or needs an arsenal of them in their basement. Or attic.
End un-registered gun sales and the end of mass shootings will quickly follow.
3
Can't wait for a teacher to get smoked by a cop because they've got a gun in their hands and were misidentified by LE.
Oh sure...guns are always better than paper, pencils, computers, and books.
Erik Prince head of Blackwater the private mercenary troops is her brother. This family along w Cheney’s Halliburton are STILL making billions from our many unending wars.
Next step is to have brother Erik obtain federal contracts to place armed security guards patrolling in every school.
Prince’s black body armored ghouls vs an active shooter ALSO in black body armor. How in heaven’s name will the local law enforcement officers (LEOs)know the difference?
Or maybe we can replace ALL LEOs with private mercenaries. Now we can have M-RAPs (latest tanks) rolling through every town, on every school campus from K through universities with “soldiers” protecting our children?
Just remember that it was Blackwater mercenaries who shot up civilians in plain sight of OUR military troops and embedded photojournalists in Iraq.
Eisenhower’s nightmare of a military-industrial complex will have come to fruition.
Hey y’all 95 million registered voters who were too lazy to vote in 2016? Elections have consequences and we have become an autocracy.
We have Trump and Zinke blaming TREES for wildfires in CA. Trump doesn’t understand that rivers flow to the ocean...he thinks that “tree huggers” are keeping water from residents.
Up is down, down is up and our country is lost.
So you all who didn’t think that Secretary Hillary Clinton didn’t have the charisma of Trump or even her husband and therefore you pouted and didn’t vote.
Thanks a LOT!
2
To any who would arm teachers, do you read what you write or listen to what you say?
Arm teachers? Why stop there. Let's give the janitorial staff guns. The hair netted cafeteria ladies too. And the bus drivers. School crossing guards as well, they're our true first line of defense, they could cut down mass murderers in the parking lots.
And while we're at it, let's make AK-47 training mandatory for getting a teaching degree. Work it into the curriculum and offer courses to develop teaching skills. And shooting skills.
Then we could all enjoy the spectacle of graduates picking up their diplomas and newly issued AK-47s and march off to the strains of The Beatles "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" or Al Dexter's "Pistol Packing Mama" instead of "Pomp and Circumstance."
Has America lost its mind?
Yes, yes it has, because right now the Secretary of Education, Betsy "Ditzy" DeVos, seeks Federal funds to re-imburse states for arming, training and, I would presume, burying those teachers who are poor shots.
The answer, whether the NRA or any other right wing nut group agrees or not, is NOT to arm more people. But to make it harder and harder, if not impossible, for ANY sane or insane person to possess or buy an K-47. Or any other assault weapon.
As a USMC veteran, I have never heard an intelligent reason why any individual NEEDS an assault weapon. Or needs an arsenal of them in their basement. Or attic.
End un-registered gun sales and the end of mass shootings will quickly follow.
2
Sure! Scores of children screaming, running helter skelter while two adults try to shoot each other surrounded by chaos. What could go wrong?
1
an additional letter
in this article's headline will turn it into:
"Education Secretary Considers Using
Federal Funds to [H]Arm Schools"
This woman must be a certifiable idiot. That she has been put in a position of influence over our public education system is a travesty.
She's going to use the Student Support and Academic Enrichment program to fund guns in schools?! I wonder if she has ever actually stepped foot inside an inner city public school? Those block grants are meant to outfit schools with computers, guidance counselors, music and art programs...etc. To make curriculum more well rounded and give students a better start. Money that she's now proposing be directed toward arming and training staff?! As if that will somehow round out the curriculum?
How she can possibly think arming staff will end in anything but tragedy is incomprehensible to me. The outcome seems so entirely predictable and inevitable.
It makes me wonder if our Education Secretary is personally invested in a firearms training program. I can't imagine what else could possibly motivate her to redirect funds meant to improve education for something so clearly outside the intention of the law.
My 28 year old Daughter is a Teacher in a inner city school, Her devotion is to Children with special needs, Not carring a Gun. The list of reasons this Idea is just plain Stupid is endless.
Betsy DeVos is just a Rich brainless person.
1
I suffer from lack of words for such a monumentally stupid idea.
1
Let's just cut to the chase and outlaws schools. No schools - no need for guns . No schools no future crushing student loan debt. Hell- the GOP just wants an uneducated ill-informed populous anyway so just get rid of schools-what a simple solution .
Surprised Betsy DeVos didn't think of it .
2
As a retired special education teacher and a teacher that has worked in a school that had a school shooting, I feel this is the worst idea ever. Our district has large classrooms, sometimes not enough help in the classrooms, and teachers are always asking for donations because there isn't enough money to go around. If more money is to be handed out, then make it for the good of the students and access to more programs, supplies, and staff.
1
Actually, just a few years back both the Department of Education and the USPS had listings in federal procurement publications for substantially modified, short barreled 12Ga shotguns.
1
Let me guess:
Her brother Eric Prince, the mercenary soldier, will be happy to supply them and of course, make a fortune!
4
Has anyone in the federal government heard of Occam’s razor? The simplest and least costly
solution to protect school children and all citizens from mass killings is to repeal the second Amendment. It is a relic of a bygone era where the central government lacked the means to protect its citizens from both internal and foreign threats; maintain lawful order in communities and; hunting game for food was necessary while the interior regions waited for Stop & Shop to expand to their neighborhoods.
4
And, gee, Ms DeVos, who will supply these guns? Your arm-dealer brother?
11
Betsy DeVos is crazy...
Why is she in charge of education?
12
Steven Gabaeff MD,
Read Jane Mayers' "Dark Money."
The DeVos and Prince families (Prince is DeVos' maiden neme) are in the same league as the Kochs when it comes to wealth.
This country has become a plutocracy.
2
Another feather on DeVos's dunce cap!
13
School safety is certainly a concern but it is difficult to take DeVos's suggestion seriously. Are children at home more or less likely of gun injury or death - compared to being at school - if guns are present in their home? Surely solid data exists to answer this question. But maybe data doesn't matter so much anymore, and we are free to believe what we want to believe.
2
Insanity. Sheer insanity.
10
I remember when republicans hated elitists like John Kerry water surfing. Betsy DeVos sails around in a 40ft yacht. Hypocrites.
6
Unbelievable stupidity. Funds to be used to make schools better and help students, instead to be used to buy useless guns, which will help no one -except the arms manufacturers - and actually make things worse due to lack of education funds. So much for the Republicans "concerns" about education.
The really sad thing is that DeVos is so stupid that she does not even know she is stupid.
Trumpers, this is a Trumper at work. How do you like using tax dollars to prop up gun manufacturers at the expense of educating people?
5
And the toddlers, you want to teach the toddlers how to shoot too.
2
A real major reason for getting rid of Trump is getting rid of this woman. she is literally destroying our educational system.
I hope we can save at least some of i t.
5
Is today April 1st? Is this a joke?
4
Worse head of the Education department of all time.
13
Betsy DeVos is like gangrene she just keeps getting rotten.
Oh boy, heads up Holland, Michigan - Dutchmen with government funded education department weapons.
Let me know when there's a grenade launcher in the Dean's Office in Battle Creek.
3
The Republicans will do everything they can to serve their puppet master the NRA
5
The greed and incompetence and moronic pro-violence mindset (remember that her brother is the leader if a private mercenary army that murders indiscriminately) of this harridan...she belongs in prison for corruption.
7
I imagine the DeVos family Thanksgiving is rather difficult, chewing on a turkey with 100 bullets in it.....
Betsy Devos is just one more reason why Trump needs to be removed from office ASAP.
5
Her brother Erik Prince would also no doubt support the purchase and distribution of Personal Uzis to all schoolchildren, both to boost Israel's economy, and Make America Kill Again.
1
Is there no one in trump’s administration who is not a psycho or criminal or both?
19
This woman DeVos is a disgrace to the office of department of Education ,and along with trump needs to removed for the sake of the United States Of America .
2
All of these stats are for the United States:
Since sandy hook, the average number of schoolchildren who die of gunshot wounds IN SCHOOLS in the united states is 23 per year.
The average number of CHILDREN who die of cancer in the united states is almost 1900 per year.
And as for people of all ages, it's around 600,000 per year.
If 1% of the money spent on writing about school shootings was spent instead on cancer research, a helluva lot more lives would be saved. In fact, forget cancer. if NOTHING was written about school shootings, probably half as many kids would be shot in schools, as it would no longer be the "IN" thing to do.
But hey, we gotta sell them newspapers.
And what's the average number of schoolkids killed per year in a civilized country?
1
Ms. De Vos may be demented, but her proposal should be evaluated in light of the fact that there have been school security guards for decades and the percentage of those who are armed is on the rise, from 33% to 41%. The ship has long since sailed on the question of guns in.schools.
Now answer me why the reporter did not mention this critical contextual fact. I’m guessing that excluding necessary context adds to the shock value of the story.
That's funny. I'm guess that right-wingers would rather find something to sneer at than deal with the actual story, which is DeVos' wacko proposal.
Betsy DeVos is the logical extension of Scalia's "Originalism", a snake-oil scam that proclaims that the "original intent of the Founding Fathers" is anything that a right-wing evangeligal says it is.
Of course, Scalia, a Roman Catholic who believed that Satan was a real, live man who was walking around, was definitely NOT applying that to the Evangelicals. He only meant "Catholics"!
He wasn't thinking "Betsy" when he created his faux-philosophy.
Was Scalia thinking of using Federal Dept. of Education funds to buy guns when he was off on his free, all expenses paid, gift from an admirer, his final "freebie trip" to the most exclusive hunting lodge in Texas where he died? (And let it be pointed out that that "freebie hunting trip" was given to Scalia because of his "Originalism" decision on the Second Amendment, where he proclaimed that that "militia" in the Second did NOT apply to State National Guards.... it applied to Joe Blow, the guy down the street, or the one speeding by in a car, ha, ha: that HE, an individual, had the right to as many weapons and type of weapons as he wanted, no holds barred, just as the Founding Father's wanted.)
We will never know what his final thoughts were on that final day, but, yes, deliberating the "Constitutionality Of Using Federal Money to Buy Guns By Evangelicals" would have been worthy.
Of course, Betsy will want to drain every cent out of that budget.
Educating the poor is simply NOT on her agenda.
Buying guns?
Scalia would love it.
2
This idea and Ms. DeVos are both off the rails. What's needed is policy to eliminate school shootings and whatever it is that causes them and not guns in schools regardless of who has them, villains or teachers. I cannot fathom what the root cause is for this phenomenon and, it seems, neither can the so-called experts but arming teachers is certainly not the way to go. Unfortunately, in the current Secretary of Education, the U.S. does not have a person who knows what the devil she's doing and apparently doesn't really care about the welfare of children and teachers in public schools.
2
You gotta be kidding.........
At least the students can learn how to field strip a
handgun or rifle.....
2
MAGA??? We are devolving into the wikd west more and more every day! Please get out and vote in November to bring some sense back to Washington.
1
Gun manufacturers are dancing in the street!
2
Just another example of how lazy the Trumpers are. DeVos is too lazy to go to Congress and ask for EXTRA funds for the money she wants to use to prop up gun manufacturers. In reality she is afraid of having an honest conversation and giving an honest justification for this (because there is none). So instead she has her minions look for existing funds that can be diverted.
Lets be honest -DeVos is quite happy to divert EDUCATION funds to instead be used to prop up gun manufacturers. In other words, she has zero concern about actual education and a lot of concern about keeping gun manufacturers in business (said manufacturers are hurting financially and Trumpers want to bail them out).
This is type of corruption that Trumpers voted for. Blame them.
4
I just can't believe how distorted and corrupt Betsy de Vos is. To use funds for enrichment to buys guns. I am guessing if we turn over some rocks her ties to those who will be "enriched" will become clear.
3
Betsey-- Please board any one of your many yachts, and sail far, far away. No need to hurry back. I don't what planet you live on, but your planet seems to be inhabited by rich people who look out for other rich people--at the expense of poor people. This latest idea--buying guns for schools--is so far out of touch with reality, that I wonder how you manage to navigate your way through the day without a paid nurse and companion making sure you don't pick up and eat carpet dust....
3
And what, Ms. DeVos, will you say when the first out-of-control student grabs his teacher's gun? And the second?
3
It is back to school time in America. Ads for bullet proof backpacks fill the television screens. Now this proposal from the Education Department. We are a truly sick society, hopelessly divided, and being picked apart by the oligarchs in charge.
2
I hope the guns for school teachers come with a civics lesson. This is a disgraceful use of public education funds.
1
Guns in academics? What kind of an uncivilized, violent society do I live in? When will this be over?
4
We have school shootings, lets arm Teachers. We have shootings in restaurants, we better arm all the waitresses. We had a mass shooting in a church in Texas, we better arm all the Preachers.
I guess we better just arm everyone. That is exactly what the NRA and their corporate sponsors want, more gun sales, more profits for the Gun Manufacturers.
2
@Ronny - A gun for every man, woman and child.
Issue a gun to every newborn.
1
Federal funds should be used for books, field trips and
transportation. Not killing machines.
5
If this insanity comes to pass, for the purpose of fund raising, we can hold gun shows in our schools instead of cake sales.
These people need to go. Now. The Republican Party generally and the Trump administration in particular are well beyond malign neglect and deep into evil territory.
2
My fourth grade teacher "Marie" was a terror wielding a ruler or a wooden pointer.
I can't imagine how terrifying the late "Marie" would have seemed to our 4th grade class were she wielding a Glock 9MM
4
Start getting the lawyers organized to sue and fight against De Vos' ungrounded and fundamentally dangerous ideas about guns in schools. What planet does she come from? Not this one. Pay attention to the teachers. They are saying, hey, I'm 5'2", 110 lbs and what do I do and you do when a 200 lb teenager overpowers me, takes the school-provided gun and shoots others and likely the teacher? Or, hey, oops kids, I left my gun in my unlocked car today, I'll be right back. What???
Get out of the the bubble, De Vos. Visit the poor schools. Find a way to get them teaching materials, pay teachers more. Federal money for guns. No, no, no. Schools as war zones...Moronic.
3
Not with my tax dollars.
5
Sure, because we live in an insane asylum. The GOP is a criminal enterprise seemingly dedicated to getting our children shot.
This has got to stop.
2
Books? Teachers? No, sorry, but we have guns!
5
What will happen the day after one of her newly armed teachers shoots up his or her school, and the people see what she's done with their tax money??!!!! Is "this" the price we'll have to pay for her plutocratic self-gratification??!!!!
2
Does the DeVos family own gun manufacturers, too, or merely have large investments in them?
3
Every day I am more convinced that the entire Trump administration is nuts, starting of course with him. What are they smoking to come up with these ridiculous ideas?
3
This is just nuts! I have been a student. I have been a teacher at both high school and university levels. And this is just NUTS!
3
How irresponsible!! Does she too now work for the NRA? Or maybe she just owns a lot of stock in Remington or one of the other gun companies… this is indeed a new low in our government. Out with these saboteurs of democracy!
2
Of all the harebrained ideas this pathetic excuse of a human being has come up with this one really takes the cake (so far). Funny how Federal funds can be found to provide teachers with guns but not the tools to actually do their job - which is to EDUCATE.
5
a vacuous Amway millionaire whose foundation seeks to undo child labor laws and wants to arm teachers is our education secretary, an energy industry lobbyist is our EPA chief, we have a criminal in the white house and his supporters are just happy that hey get to stick it to liberals.
2
Un-freaking-believable! Trump and the Republican Party need to be thrown out of office. No one should ever vote for a Republican again.
5
The comments have covered the risks of this insane idea. I have only thing to add.
Betsy DeVos is truly stupid.
7
This is nuts.
2
Do they also consider this as an innovation to reduce class size in urban districts? Innovative indeed, even if perhaps fatal both politically and for children.
1
Never let anyone tell you that Republicans are for small government. They love big, expensive, wasteful government-enacted solutions for their problems. It's only when it comes to liberal priorities that Republicans support small government.
It's hard for me to come up with something I'd want my tax dollars spent on less than guns for schools. Gun manufacturers and the gun lobby caused this problem, let them fix it out of their own pockets.
Or better yet, let's enact strict gun control measures that make school shootings impossible.
3
"Education Secretary Considers Using Federal Funds to Arm Schools"
If that is accurate, then she must also be thinking of hiring security guards for schools from Blackwater, the private security contractor head by Erik Prince, her brother, who contributed a princely sum to Mr. Trump's election fund.
5
@Eddie B.
And, whom trump is considering handing over the country of Afghanistan for Prince Eric to privatize and run how he wishes.
I'm curious: What is it that that family has on trump that he is so willing to hand over bizillions to?
An entire country for one man to control?
Clean this swamp!!!
2
The proper response to the proliferation of firearms is not to build walls around our institutions and arm those inside under the guise of protecting the inhabitants.
Of course: the arming of teachers, deploying "resource officers," fortifying entry points and conducting drills may deter armed armed intruders and reduce casualties. Faced with such a defense, won't those intent on causing mass harm simply move on to a more vulnerable location such as a move theater, mall, place of worship?
As other commentators have noted, we need an array of common-sense gun laws to reduce the number of deaths and injuries by firearms, whether they be from mass shootings, one-on-one violence, or suicides.
My experience with teachers as I grew up would suggest that there is a higher percentage of unhinged individuals among them than there is in the general population. Arming them with guns would seem like an unwise strategy.
1
Well, since neither the NRA, the President, and Congress have taken much action to make society safer and reduce the threat of school shootings, I understand why some school districts, teachers, and parents would support a measure to arm teachers and school staff.
A better answer is to reduce the number of firearms. It is a math problem: fewer guns = fewer gun deaths.
It works in Australia, and Australians value their individual freedom even more than Americans.
Our 2nd Amendment as it's currently interpreted, preserves the rights of individuals to own a gun, it does not give weapons a right to exist. God did not create AR-15's - men did.
If we have the courage, we can ban the manufacture of some weapons and ban the sale of some to civilians. In other words, we can, as a society and as a free people, decide what weapons can be made & sold in the United States.
Remember that in Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, & Newtown, the killers were all under 21 years old, & were students or former students of the schools, themselves.
They killed people they knew. They were kids with easy access to weapons that have no practical use in a country where we value our right to congregate freely, to be left alone, to come and go where we please, to worship or not, and to speak our minds without fear of violence.
1
As a gun owner I know that it takes a lot of practice in times of no stress to use a fire arm safely. This is insane.
I hope the teachers/parents/students rally to denounce this insanity.
Pay the teachers what they deserve - make the schools a place children and the teachers want to be. Rethink the idea of high school and the anomaly of its hormonal environment.
Think outside of the box instead of putting our children in a box with armed teachers. Crazy. Absolutely crazy.
70
In Boston, we had a female speaker who was an ex-marine with service in Iraq/Afghanistan, and she said the last thing a teacher needs is to be armed. She has the skills, and she made a choice.
She is for life, and for students, and wants to teach. She is appalled. Even with her training, she says arms in the classroom are exactly wrong.
Shameful. Betsy DeVos, would you like to be in a roomful of kids with guns? Probably not. Your self-righteous preening and posturing is not knowledge.
You have no business using your millions to distort education in my country. You are the exact opposite of a patriot!
5
I have been an educator at both secondary and university levels for 33 years. What I don't see addressed, either here or in the wider conversation about gun control/2nd Amendment rights, is the culture of violence (in our entertainment, in our behaviors, against the more-than-human world, etc.) so prevalent in American society. Schools could be a place where ways of thinking could be examined and behaviors understood and perhaps changed.
However, critical reflection on serious issues has no place in our current educational system; the emphasis is creating STEM-savvy employees and raising standardized test scores.
The article states that the statute includes funding for the purposes of: "providing a well-rounded education, improving school conditions for learning and improving the use of technology for digital literacy." It is clear from this language that the intention was not to allow the federal funds to be used to buy guns. Research has shown that more guns result in more gun-related violence. Furthermore, violence and guns do not support learning, also shown by research; children in refugee camps and war-zones often experience trauma that impedes their learning and ability to achieve developmental milestones. As usual, with this policy proposal, Betsy DeVos shows her contempt for public education, human rights, and true safety and security for the children of this nation. Her tenure in this position continues to waste time and resources. The only beneficiaries of such a policy would be gun manufacturers.
8
The day that this becomes a reality is the day that I begin homeschooling my children. More guns are not the answer and I will not subject my children to such misguided public policy.
8
This proposition clearly shows DeVos's lack of knowledge about school practices.
How in the world will a teacher lead a classroom in a lockdown that includes hiding children, locking and barricading doors with desks and backpacks, closing windows and shades, quieting children, taking roll, communicating with police, etc while at the same time they are chasing a shooter across the campus Rambo-style?
Just wondering.
4
Words cannot express my disappointment at the ludicrous, disordered, dangerous, and simplistic thinking of the administration's choice to guard the educational environment of our children and grandchildren: Use third grade teachers to gun-down armed intruders and pay for these teachers' guns with money that could be used to pay for better education. Brilliant!!
2
I really wonder how much the NRA backed her on this? Very profitable for the gun industry, which the NRA appears to represent.
5
My Father was a teacher, as was his older sister and her daughter and granddaughter. I am an attorney. Why would anyone think that the educated, gentle souls that teach our children should be gunslingers, anymore than the attorneys, representing clients in a courtroom, should pinch hit for the packing bailiff. Oh, I forgot about the need for teachers to shoot grizzly bear.
Btw, my father who served stateside at Ft. Monroe during WW2 never handled a gun after the war. Try funding for security guards that won’t hide like Parkland.
My father served stateside because of a severe vision impairment, not bone spurs. He could type and had a college degree. Procurement.
7
Funding gun purchases with Federal Tax dollars is insane. Those dollars should go towards improvements in the education system, and teacher development. De Vos is Secretary of Education not Homeland Security. She should work on on improving the system not destroying it as is her plan.
5
The fact that any sane person thinks this is a workable plan is shocking. Guess what - the government knows exactly how to keep guns out of public buildings without arming employees. Every Federal Courthouse in the Country, all of which are open to the public, and are busy all day with trials, new citizen swearing ins, etc., ensure there are no shootings or attacks (in Michigan cell phones are kept out as well as any weapon). State Courts do the same. Shocker - guns are not distributed to the Judges and law clerks to protect their courtrooms. Rather, the government pays to have the professionals - security guards, Federal Marshalls, County Sheriffs, etc. at every entrance. Everyone walks through metal detectors. Wands are used. ID is asked for. That's it. It works. People get used to it. The same could be done at schools. Set up metal detectors and security personnel at every school entrance, staffing the positions for the entire school day. I have no idea if this is more or less costly than buying guns for and training teachers but we are past the cost issue, it appears, given the stakes. And this would actually work, and allow teachers to teach.
1
I have a masters degree in Technology in Education and live in rural Idaho; the school district here was absolutely thrilled when I applied.
I’d also never take a job teaching at a school that thought arming teachers was a good idea and ended up turning down a job that paid 70,000$ starting salary. (which given low cost of living in Idaho would look like six figures else where)
I’d rather make MUCH less money elsewhere, and sadly probably in a total different field, and not worry about getting shot thanks!
5
As she brought up during her confirmation hearing, there is a great fear that grizzly bears will be invading our schools requiring arming the staff and perhaps the students. In fact, grizzlies would never suspect 5 year olds to be carrying guns, so they won’t be on guard to protect themselves from the littlest ones. However the democrats will probably be providing these bears with firearms so teachers and students would be advised to carry automatic weapons. Since bears don’t have pockets, they will need to carry their guns in holsters which will make them easy to identify.
Makes as much sense as anything else going on these days.
2
Was Cuomo right? Could we ever have been a great country if we're now considering buying guns "to improve school conditions?"
2
Why do we continue to manage around the problem at hand in this country? WHY?? Access to guns is the issue we have here -- not the fact that teachers in our schools aren't armed. Arming our teachers -- or having security screening points in our schools, and entertainment venues, and courthouses, and and and and -- goes away if we get a handle on the ridiculously easy access people in the US have to guns! Arming everyone isn't a deterrent -- it's an invitation for more killing and more tragedy.
1
Teachers don't even have the money for basic school supplies and in many cases, must pay for them themselves. But guns, that's another story: yes, by all means, the state should pay for and provide them to teachers!
42
I am a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and the Israel Defense Forces. I know a thing or 2 about weapons training. You cannot quickly and adequately train a teacher, who does not already have weapons training from their service in a combat force, to be allowed to shoot it out with a school gunman. I shudder to think of the consequences.
2
What could possibly go wrong? Have we really reached a point where teachers could be tasked with shooting their students?
Public’s all across America are under funded. How can guns become a priority with a failing under funded public school system.
So it would be ok to federally fund the purchase of guns, which might be used to kill people, but it is illegal to use federal funds to help women receive abortions. Am I getting that right?
2
Everyone knows that many public school teachers already have to spend hundreds of dollars out of their own pockets for basic schools supplies. On top of that will they now have to buy their own bullets?
It still amazes that so many people in the US consider gun ownership and walking around with concealed weapons as the apex of civilization. A large portion of the nation’s legislators actually consider arming teachers as a solution to gun violence. Those same legislators would not even consider having guns allowed in Congress. (such hypocrisy)
The logistics of having any guns in the classroom is just daunting enough without thinking about what would actually happen if some type of incident occurred.
Schools have trouble affording things like computers and lab equipment, but now, the government will give you a howitzer if you want.
This is intended as yet another effort to distract the public’s attention from Cohen and Manafort and the Russian interference. Look at the timing of the announcement. Don’t be fooled into arguing with Trump drones about guns. Make them defend the true corruption
Umm...gun lobbyists profiting once again? Who in the gov't gets the actual purchase order decision-making power on a stockpile of guns? Will this person decide on used or brand new guns? And imagine the logistics of pulling up to a school with a van full of guns to give training and disseminate. Is this considered a "teacher development day"? Will kids be pulled from learning so teachers can learn the mechanics of a gun? And how not to panic under an adrenaline rush? Can we get Betsy DeVos under a high-stress environment, hand her a gun, and see how she does? Will her pearl necklace get rattled? How about if a student gets injuired from an accidental shooting by a weapon in the classroom, DeVos gets punished. She has nothing on the line other than a vague idea and pandering to gun profiteers.
Having zero qualifications for her job, why would anyone trust Betsy's "discretion" to do anything? I certainly don't.
1
Easy people, this is not mandatory. There are already school districts in several states that think this is a good idea for THEIR situation. Let the local situation decide, not a visceral hatred of Trump, DeVos and firearms.
@TED338 - maybe you missed the point that it would be FEDERAL dollars - not local dollars as a good idea for their situation - that would pay for this. I.e., all of our taxes (well, by all, I mean those of us that aren't so rich we can avoid paying taxes) will pay for. Thus we have every right to to be upset at those who on a Federal level would implement this hair-brained idea. Trump, DeVos, et. al. and we can even do it without visceral hatred of the person.
@TED338 Not with my tax money.
This woman is clearly in the pockets of many people. In an era where we are underpaying teachers and forcing them to buy supplies for their classrooms, she wants to buy guns!
1
This is the most repulsive idea I have ever heard, an expansion of the military-industrial complex to a breadth never before imagined.
There’s an episode of All in the Family where Archie goes on the local TV station to discuss gun control. His answer to airplane hijacking was to arm all of the passengers as they boarded the plane. Utterly ridiculous idea in the 1970s. Our government “leaders” want to do something similar to our schools? As a teacher of 25 years in a large Illinois high school, this makes my stomach churn.
1
Is there nothing this administration of incompetents will not do to starve our schools of the funds they need to educate our children?
It is so very difficult to watch this happen.
3
Instead of the government funding guns in schools, how about lunches for kids who are in need; how about fixing crumbling school buildings and making sure that the drinking water is safe; how about text books, and libraries, and art supplies, and musical instruments, and sports equipment, and teacher's salaries? It's a sick and pathetic testimony to what is happening under Trump that guns take precedent over what our students really need.
Another sick example of how the Trump Administration hopes to privatize every single aspect of our government----for the sole purpose of enriching the biggest donors (in this case, the arms manufacturers) at the expense of every tax payer. Who cares if a few dozen students and teachers get killed each year as a result of a completely insane policy----that is merely the price of "freedom," they will tell us.
Many teachers have to use their own money to buy school supplies, but apparently their is enough money in the federal budget to buy guns? what about body armor for the kids? Sounds like a giveaway to Smith and Wesson.
4
Which only goes to prove that no matter how much you pay for that cabinet appointment, your chances of doing a good job are up to you.
In DeVos's case, as with most of Trump's appointees, who paid heavily to attain their positions, she will send funds to the lobbyists who support the Republicans, such as the NRA and the gun manufacturers. That makes more sense to them than spending money to educate those nasty brown children, who might not grow up to vote for them anyway.
If a few teachers in those schools had a gun there'd be some kids still alive today.
It's a way of sending tax money to gun manufacturers. 99.99% of those guns would sit gathering dust, and one or two might end up shooting an innocent bystander, aged six.
It's about guiding tax money to friends more than anything else.
DeVos doesn't give a hoot about people so poor they send their kids to public school.
Follow the money trail.
1
It is absolutely stunning that the one thing our government is contemplating funding for our schools is not education, or repairing crumbling infrastructure, or paying teachers a living wage, or replenishing school supplies and text books, or offering programs to help children grow into healthy, well-adjusted adults. No, the one thing they are willing to fund is more violence. It is utterly idiotic, and unfortunately in our newly tattered America, not surprising. There are no depths to which we will not plunge.
1
Why not? Let's give every student from K to 12 a gun to protect themselves.
Back to school lists include necessities like toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Why not just add a gun to that list? Honestly, what does our “education” secretary think kids are doing in school these days? Just shut them down and let everyone homeschool. It would save us old folks a heap of money.
1
A proposal from Betsy DeVos, probably the most unqualified Education Secretary in US history. What more needs to be said.
2
This is pure madness.
1
This is obscene. Devos' run cannot end soon enough.
1
Meanwhile I read in the Navajo Times that Feds are cutting Headstart funding on reservation by $8 million .... this administration is out of touch with our children and their future.
Did DeVos ever find her missing yacht (1 of 9)? She certainly needs distraction from destroying education.
5
How many public school teachers across the country are reaching into their own pockets to buy much needed school supplies for their students, due to underfunded education budgets? DeVos, like so many in this Fake President's Cabinet, is the worst ever! Another striking example underscoring the absolute necessity to defeat all Republicans in November! VOTE!!!
1
Less art, more guns. What a wonderful idea.
Forget Manafort and Cohen, look! over there! Betsy is going to spend education funds on guns!!!
As if this could ever actually happen...
1
this is the virtual last straw. this woman has lost her senses. she wants to use our tax money to buy guns to put in schools. i would leave this country if this were to happen. this woman is so far removed from sanity that it is scary and dangerous. i want no part of anything this insane administration does. how i wish i could wake up one morning and find that it's all been a horrid nightmare.
1
No, no, and no. No federal funding to buy guns for schools! This is absolutely insane. This woman needs to go!
2
First thing I read with my morning coffee is de Vos taking what’s left of public education funding (after diverting as much as she can to her own chain of for profit schools) and buying guns with it. “The best people”: The best pillagers, plunderers, and rapists the country has yet known.
2
Another trumpite team distraction. Such a glorious legacy she’ll leave grandchildren.
Is Erik Prince going to get the contract to train armed teachers?
1
Betsy, what a great idea!. The teacher had a fight at home, Comes to school in a rotten mood,pulls out the gun and kills a kid who gets out of line..What is there about a teacher that guarantees they won't shoot anybody.If a mother is ready to shoot one of her two children because they are getting on her nerves,how about the teacher with a room full of brats! I'm afraid to even allow the teacher to carry around a ruler. A teacher with a gun is the craziest idea i ever heard of.
She’s part of the actual swamp currently being drained and needs to be added to the list of those being removed from their positions. She’s one of the many people appointed to a department which she seems focused on destroying. #vote #impeach
She may not know much about guns, but she certainly knows about the business of guns, her brother is the CEO of black water... the private renegade seals-type murderous "security" company. Don't be fooled people. The pro gun lobby is looking at the 100,000s of schools in the US as a new market.
2
Pay teachers better instead of throwing that tax payers' money at gun manufacturers!
2
Don't by books, computers or musical instruments... buy guns! What madness!
1
So what happens when one of these armed teachers comes off the rails and starts shooting? The answer is obvious, isn't it. Arm the students. Then what?
2
Up is down. This adminstration is darker than anything William Burroughs could have come up with.
No money for teachers' salaries...
No money to upgrade the condition of our schools...
No money for new books or computers..
No money for school breakfasts nor lunches...
No money for grants to college...
No money for a living wage for support personnel...
No more for public schools at all, but let's start charter schools...
Let's buy guns!! While everything else crumbles
GRIFTER
12
Of course she is weighing this idiotic idea. That's because Trump brought us the "best" people.
3
Why don't we just arm Trump and parachute him in wherever there's trouble? He said he could take out a shooter, let's see him prove it.
Oh yeah, he can't. He has "bone spurs."
3
Can she be impeached?
Seriously , this lady is evil.
Betsy DeVos is a danger to children.
I’d like to see a NYT story on all her investments.
And all her financial ties to prisons, NRA, and her brother Erik Prince , Id like to see her tax returns made public .
7
Academi is an American private military company founded in 1997 by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince of Blackwater fame. (Wiki)
Would Academi, owned by Betsy's brother, be training academics?
2
The terrorist org. called the NRA, which I believe will be shown to have been the condiut through which the Russian mob laundered money, and which is the biggest feeder for the corrupt RNC, is LOVING this.
10
Right on schedule, Trump lobs a stink bomb to distract.
5
Gee, I wonder what's in it for her brother, the mercenary Erik Prince.
6
Moronic. And totally consistent with the thinking of this horror show of an administration.
7
In the simplest of terms, DeVos is certifiably nuts. Is this a continuation of her efforts to destroy education in America?
She is another Trump mistake.
7
Just reading that headline made my jaw drop.
4
More insanity from a Trump minion...and an ignoramus to boot! I don't know how to even address the stupidity of such a proposal.
4
So we can't afford adequate texts, supplies, school facilities, or teacher's pay, but may find money for guns, in schools. What an asinine idea. And so depressingly American.
7
How much longer do we have to suffer these erratic incompetent fools who no common sense, a total lack of morality and this insufferable need to satisfy their radical incurious base? She has no training or experience in education, education leadership or instructional design, yet this buffoon is setting policy and direction that will impact our young population for a decade.
5
Among my highest priorities for coming elections is the removal of all these trolls like DeVos, Wheeler, Zinke, Mnuchin, etc. from office. They are the generals for trump & GOP sent to destroy the People's Government.
4
This is as stupid as it gets. And, once again, it shows how this administration will do anything to please the NRA donors. Where does it end? That is a rhetorical question because there is no end. No bottom. Will it soon be fine for every government employee to carry at work? How about in public hospitals too? Perhaps we will allow a nurse to point a gun at you as an incentive to swallow your medicine.
I know that sounds insane but what about this administration lately isn't insane? When you have a president who says that witnesses should never be allowed to "flip" in order to tell the truth, you know there is no bottom.
4
The day Betsy DeVos uses my school tax dollars to buy guns is the day I will help organize a march on the WH. Like her boss, this woman is an abomination.
12
Totally nuts!
Far better to expand existing police forces and improve security.
Thoughtless and unnecessary.
3
I like it how this Republican White Woman who knows nothing about gun control decides whats best for schools.. They are deciding this because finally shootings come to white schools.. Guns, Drugs and shootings that have plagued inner city schools for decades.. Really.. Where were these same White People when Blacks and Latino children were getting shot up for decades.. She needs to take her little white pearls and her blue Chanel suit and go back to Holland Michigan and rethink everything she has thought about since she became secretary.. Does she really think she knows what goes on in a city school?? She needs to learn to live in the projects and see what really happens...
2
As a rifle platoon leader in Vietnam, as a career educator of 40 years arming teaching it totally NUTS! INSANE! What the GOP needs to do and get on board with some common sense gun control laws!
110
@antiquelt
As a rifle platoon leader in Vietnam, as a career educator of 50 years....arming teachers is a great idea.
@George Orwell - well you chose a perfect name - straight from the Ministry of Truth.
This is the same country that invented air conditioning chlorinated drinking water, and the MRI (all life saving devices by the way). And yet our proposal to keep kids safe (and alive) in school is to buy more guns to protect children from guns? (Insert head scratch here).
3
Members of Congress lack the political will to take sufficient legislative action to protect innocent and vulnerable children from mass shootings in their public schools . So now the federal government considers using federal funds (e.g. my tax payments) to arm teachers. The conversation usually centers around the adults... the teachers or principal, the security personnel, the police and the perpetrator and should center more around legislators' inaction. Think about this: what lessons will young children learn when they see that their safety in public schools depends on their teachers carrying guns? What lesson will they learn about their elected legislators whose inaction on gun purchases, even after this sad chapter in our nation's history of mass shootings in public spaces, left them, the innocent, vulnerable ?
5
If we live in an evidence-based world, this won't make schools safer and might make them more dangerous, but this will help sell more guns.
When we put our kids' rights ahead of guns' rights, we'll have safer schools. Right now, our kids' lives are secondary. Gun massacres are good for sales. Additionally, places where small shootings are common produce better gun sales.
1
I'm seeing red. This just illustrates how convoluted this administration's values and priorities are. Instead of trying to resolve the gun issues in this country they would use desperately needed money intended for the education of our children to buy more guns.
4
It would appear reckless and wasteful to use Department of Education money when there is undoubtedly a large number of surplus military weapons that could be allocated to our schools. There are likely many hardly used M 16s or 50 caliber (desk mounted) machine guns that could be assigned to educators requiring only minimal training. For those more enthusiastic and ambitious teachers, advanced training in the use of RPGs (only in cafeterias or gymnasiums) could be instituted at minimal cost to taxpayers.
There doesn't appear to be a limit to the insanity or incompetence of this administration.
3
Ah, my tax dollars will now flow directly into the coffers of gun manufacturers. If this Administration stays in power much longer, the transfer of all our tax dollars to the top one percent will likely be complete.
3
America will always find money for military hardware and fire arms. Doesn't this bother you parents out there? That the schools are crumbling, the teachers are underpaid, and the system as a whole does a poor job of preparing students to compete in the global economy is secondary to doing the bidding of the NRA and lining the pockets of gun manufacturers.
We are such a war culture that implementing this policy will probably have many believing it is the best option.
3
As a retired teacher I think I have an idea of what teachers need. In too many areas of this country, they need adequate salaries. They also need facilities that are well lit, adequately cooled or heated to be used year round. For the teachers to have success they need children that come ready to learn who are properly nourished, counseled, and are safe from bullying, abuse, violence from their homes and neighborhoods. In many places in this country these basic needs are not being adequately provided. Providing guns for teachers to carry would not face any of the true needs they face. The current education secretary thinks more like her brother whose career is to provide mercenaries to fight armed conflicts. For him, guns are a tool; for educating our young they are more of detriment.
3
It is time to stop selling bullets to the public . I am former military and know what guns can do. In Toronto after their last shooting they are stopping the sale of bullets and handguns . They said to do nothing will cause an out of control situation like their neighbors the US is having drowning in shootings.
1
Reader was about to suggest that federal funds be used to dress all school-age children in uniforms of bulletproof Kevlar, then searched online to find that such has long been promoted by manufacturers of those products. It's a gun-lobby gravy train.
2
Yep, I was a teacher. Training a handful of staff members in the use of firearms makes sense. People who enter schools to inflict mass casualties are on a suicide mission. The faster they are put down the better. So whether its a teacher or a hired hand, it's a horrific job that must be done immediately. Obviously, most teachers will want nothing to do with firearms. I understand. It goes against their nature and values. I respect that too. An additional strategy would be to harden the security of school buildings, allowing entrance through a single portal equipped with detection devices. However, I doubt anyone wants to see bars go up on the windows.
8
YIKES! Thinking of the teachers from my youth with guns! How crazy is that? Who is going to decide which teachers are not mentally stable to be carrying firearms?
What is the total number of teachers in the US, and the total number of students injured by firearms in US schools?
I thought so.
@Art
3
@Art "Training a handful of staff members in the use of firearms makes sense. "
Arguing whether teachers should be armed seems to be missing the point that DeVos is advocating that the federal government should buy the guns for the teachers. (I didn't see training mentioned).
1
@Art, teachers are there to educate.....period!
1
Wealthy sister of a mercenary who enriched himself with international blood money... nothing to see here, folks...
anyone surprised?
11
At what point to every day people begin to express their anger without waiting for the leadership to organize its display?
What more will it take for people to take to the streets?
Should this come to pass, parents in those school districts that avail themselves of this monstrous policy idea should keep their kids at home in protest.
This administration hates the classes it sits underneath. That is patently obvious. All the Trump administration has been doing is extracting the wealth from the 91%. That now includes using the people's money against our own children.
Just. Say. No.
---
What Trump Has been Doing While We Weren't Looking
https://www.rimaregas.com/2018/08/07/greed-malfeasance-never-sleep-blog4...
14
This woman is sick to the core.
18
Is this an Onion article?
13
@John Morrison
One gun,
two guns,
three guns,
MORE!
.22,
.38,
9 mil,
.44!
1
America's students are fine.
It's the Education Secretary and her Guns R Us Administration that need immediate access to mental health counseling.
22
I still remember one of my 4th grade teacher reading to us from Howard Carter's Tutankhamun. In all my life, my interest in this part of history and others was never diminished. That is what school should be about. Unfortunately, this gun totting society does not see it this way anymore. Today's pupils can not even recall the events of the 20th century.
I feel for the teachers who are doing a difficult job under these circumstances. There must be a different answer to all this.
7
Can I sell my gun on ebay and buy computers for my students? They need to write essays.
13
There is something rooten in the Trump kingdom, when the chosen solution to prevent school shooting is to put more guns inside the schools, no hope stay. I feel sad for all of these kids who grow up in a gun culture, in the fear of a school shooting. Poor America
7
This proposition demonstrates how removed from reality this charlatan really is. Why not let school districts form their own Air Force and Infantry? Howitzers can fit in the gym when it's not in use, and tanks will look great near the running track. This woman is beyond insane.
4
I think we should arm all the students with firearms. Start the experiment at the flyover states and southern states. All children should be fully locked and loaded. Institute stand your ground laws starting at the pre-school level. After a few years, let the NRA report back to congress on the success of the program. I'm sure it will all work out well.
4
Its back to school time and parents are crowding into Staples and other retailers to buy everything from pens and pencils to toilet paper because America has devalued education at every level. School infrastructure is rotting, there is a shortage of books and other basic supplies needed to educate our young people. Thankfully there are still teachers who want to bring their respective best to a fundamental need in our dysfunctional society; Teaching and learning. It comes as no surprise that a disgraceful person such as Betsey DeVos would even consider this disgusting effort toward solving a real problem. George Orwell was correct: "make the masses fear something and you can lead them to the slaughterhouse...saddens me to no end to think our public educational system is devolving into a war zone."'
What a disgrace.
11
Not enough educational priorities, eh Mrs. Secretary? Maybe you and your protective entourage (surely a first for the Department!) should actually visit a PUBLIC school.
5
The U.S. Department of Education is desperately in need of educated people. Who hired that spokeswoman, Liz Hill? Isn't there anyone on staff to help her with her English? How could they let her say, "The secretary nor the department issues opinions on hypothetical scenarios," and not pass out from shame?
Has no one heard of "neither...nor?" Do they not understand that a scenario is just about, nearly always, hypothetical? And of what possible value to anyone is not commenting on it? They're OK with considering and evaluating "issues" related to school safety; but not with "scenarios."
Fail. The whole bunch of you fail!
5
Why are more and more people having children later and later? Or not at all?
Let us count the ways.
When you think about, the Republicans have a point: Why worry about grandchildren suffering and dying as a result of climate change when their parents won't even get out 4th grade alive?
2
Is THIS what this country offers it children: readin', riting and revolvers?
And can Hollywood be far behind in the re-make of "Shootout at Johnson Middle School"?
This American carnage must STOP...this November.
2
This woman is a disgrace to public education. Someone who has never worked in the public education system, has never sent her children to any public schools, and has zero understanding of our current education system, making decisions for millions of students, teachers, and support staff is like having a failed real estate developer and a tax evader running the country! She has shown that making money from for herself and her cronies is her main goal, and not education. As an educator who has worked in public education for the past ten years, nothing she has done so far signals that she is headed in the right direction.
11
Billions for guns, not one thin dime for Crayolas.
What a great campaign slogan!
7
Several months ago I came across this sentence in an article about ATF. "The NRA reported spending the most amount of money in its history in 2016 working to support Mr. Trump and the Republican Party. . ."* Today's headline made me think that Betsy DeVos has found an insidious way to pay them back: divert funds from education. May we elect better 'leaders' in the future.
*NYT 2/22/2018 How the NRA keeps federal gun regulators in checks by A. Watkins
8
Instead of using the word UNPRECEDENTED in most articles concerning Trump and his administration (everything about this Trump administration is unprecedented and beyond rational belief) why don't the NYT and other responsible journals just call the egregious acts by Trump et al just plain unimaginable or better yet EVIL. The Devil really is in the details of the Trump Administration.
11
Compared to some of the mind numbing after school technology meetings we've had for teachers at my school, I would welcome the relief of getting up and moving around learning how to shoot a gun at a target. Tapping at stupid iPads all the time has reduced my index finger to near uselessness. Pulling on a trigger might help get it back into shape.
Sure, we need more guns and less books in schools.
Soon everybody is dumbed down enough, so we can enjoy the pleasures of a dictatorship.
3
Is this part of the MAGA plan? Why is this unqualified person leading our education system? When will this bad Administration be sent home to their multi-million dollar homes so they can stop wrecking everything
4
This administration is so comically incompetent and corrupt, it wouldn't even make a good movie. Not believable enough.
I mean, who comes up with these ideas? Every one worse than the last.
5
Just where I want my tax dollars to go. What is wrong with this women?
6
Hard to put into words how idiotic this idea is. Schools are typically underfunded as it is. Now the US government provides a new market for the NRA and gun makers?
Perhaps metal detectors and security features would make schools safer.
It stands to reason -- and research clearly backs this up -- that the greater the number of firearms, the more likely that someone will be shot.
14
All teachers nationwide should go on strike if Betsy deVos' insane suggestion becomes reality.
13
For a conservative administration they sure like to spend our money!
11
This is a dumb idea, but when you look at the person proposing it, it's easy to understand why.
My tax dollars are suppose to go to protecting the country but not for our schools, lets pass anti-gun laws before we go back in time to the wild west.
2
Don’t let her vapid stare fool you, behind that idiotic smile lies the mind of an evil genius. How else do you explain the endless stream of ideas coming from this woman? All designed to further degrade our public education system and to enrich the 1% even more by funneling wasted tax dollars upwards while ensuring middle class and poor kids will not be too educated to figure out how they’ve been robbed of opportunity.
11
This woman has the brains of a peahen (with apologies to peahens). She probably went to private schools not because she has so much more money than brains but because she couldn't have managed to graduate from a decent public school. But she does have cunning: Who is in a better position to supply the gun-safety education and that would be required of everyone who had access to a firearm in a school than her equally distasteful brother, Erik "The Prince of Darkness" Prince? We have a corps of nincompoops running our country. Is there a single Cabinet member in this pathetic administration with a shred of decency, honesty, dignity, honor, compassion, morals or probity? Apparently not: Behold their leader, our "president."
8
I believe everyone taking a commercial flight should be armed - that way the passengers can fight the highjackers when they try to commandeer the airplane. Makes sense, right?
We should arm all of the children so they can defend themselves against potential threats. Makes sense, right?
DeVos is insane.
4
Absolutely insane. We refuse to address the cause. People with guns kill other people.
Take the means away: yes, take the guns away. Amend the constitution.
Devos is absolutely insane. Millions of Americans are absolutely insane.
Well, Americans, ha ha ha, we'll have to endure many more tragedies before your moment of clarity arrives.
4
Who appointed this doofus to the education dept.? Oh, yeah -- him. No wonder she hasn't a clue.
6
Is she crazy or just as incompetent as her boss?
Money should be used to buy better educational tools rather than arming teachers.
4
It's a shame Erik Prince sold Blackwater, isn't it.....Ms. DeVox could have contracted with his military to 'protect' schools and kept all that money in the family, so to speak.
1
I will homeschool my children before ever allowing them to spend a SINGLE day in a school where teachers are armed.
Another dumb idea from an administration replete with dumb ideas...
6
And this is exactly how DeVos is undermining public education.
1
As head of the NRA, Oliver North needs to look out over his shoulder. Betsy Devos is seriously angling for his job.
Fire this woman ASAP. We will lose a generation of children to idiocy and student debt to online crooks.
She's not qualified for anything.
She's terrible at public service.
2
What a disgrace. This woman has her priorities completely wrong. Guns before education. She's a symbol of the mindset that is infecting America today. For all citizens who value democracy and common sense, VOTE in November to remove the GOP from power. Drain the Washington cesspool. It's the way to begin ridding people like DeVos from positions of authority.
2
The woman's a mental giant. Let's make it easier for the prospective mass school shooter by letting him know he needs to take out the teacher first, and then do his killing.
4
She and her brother need to go to prison. Amazing how wealth makes some people stupid. The arrogance just comes with the money.
9
Utterly insane. I can picture it now, first day of classes, “Sorry children, we have no math text, but I’ve got a 9mm Glock, let’s see how we can use it to do math problems..” . How DeVos ever got her job is beyond my comprehension. She is further evidence of Trump’s incompetence.
6
@D. Knight
She got her job because of her donations to Trump's campaign.
1
So obviously a gift to the NRA.
4
Betsy DeVos and her Blackwater brother are simply immoral—weapon and money crazy. Trump wants to Privatize the military,responsible only to him if one can imagine, so Erik Prince can make more of a fortune from taxpayers with his mercenaries who run rampant outside the law in war zones, enough to discourage our Generals. She carries on here with her agenda, he with military crimes and bedlam. Trump, being of like character, is entirely complicit, Americans be damned. These people must go!
4
“One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.”
- Malala Yousafzai (I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban)
"One child, one teacher, one gun, one idiotic country can destroy itself with a national shooting gallery"
- Betsy DeVos, De-Education Secretary of the Failing United States of Guns
12
@Socrates Everything you write is spot on. You should run for president. We need your brilliance.
Oliver North is clapping with both feet. He will revive his arms trafficking networks from the good old days. Iran-Contra redux, but in US schools.
3
My wife has been teaching in public school for 36 years, she's a dedicated and unbelievable teacher, based performance reviews from her principals and parents of her students.
We spend at least $600 to $1000 dollars a year out of our own pockets to help buy supply's and things for her students and classroom each year, that is where clueless Betsy DeVos should be spending education department funds.
I only hope it's a short lived tenor for someone as incompetent and uneducated in Public School and Education as Betsy DeVos, before she does long term damage or sets schools back for generations.
7
This is old news, for the most part. The new news here is that a federal agency could authorize the use of federal funds by schools (public and private?) at their discretion to purchase firearms (with taxpayer money) without the approval of Congress.
Think about the precedent that would set. Best case hypothetical scenario - NYC schools use all of the their discretionary funds on guns and overthrow this administration. Second Amendment.
3
This is an awful idea and is completely against what the designated monies are supposed to be used for: "The $1 billion student support program, part of the Every Student Succeeds Act, is intended for academic and enrichment opportunities in the country’s poorest schools and calls for school districts to use the money toward three goals: providing a well-rounded education, improving school conditions for learning and improving the use of technology for digital literacy." That being said, as a retired NYC Public School teacher and Assistant Principal, I can woefully add that funds are needed for many more important things than guns and gun training. There is the misguided cloud hanging above the many who believe training teachers to use guns will prevent school violence. It will not. Monies directed towards mental health services (yes, more than one social worker to serve 1000 students, albeit her or his job is most likely IEP driven), more than one guidance counselor/400 students, and the list goes on. Interventions - early interventions - when the red flag goes up and the bullying persists, engage parents, and keep weapons out of the hands of children (yes, to all the parents with that nice vault full of an array of weapons - think Adam Lanza, think any child who can go purchase a gun), worry about parents who watch their children become reclusive, play violent video games and spend endless hours in the backyard shooting cans and glass bottles.
4
How about federal money to pay for school supplies?
6
Her brother already runs a private army. Now the sister is supporting him by training kids to live with gun anxiety and war.
This is the Macbeth family. Betsy is Lady Macbeth. They have blood on their hands.
6
Given the greed-motivated, profit-centered history of Betsy DeVos and her brother, Blackwater mercenary army's Erik Prince, I suspect that the proposal to use our tax dollars to buy guns is a business deal.
I urge the NYT to look for backchannel donors and other connections between the NRA, the gun industry, Betsy, Erik and other players in the Trump gang.
Erik Prince recently proposed that his private mercenary army be contracted to do the job of the American military.
Along with the fact that turning schools into armed fortresses is an insane idea...follow the money.
With Trump's gang, it's almost always about money.
4
Someone with the right resources ought to check Ms. Devos's portfolio for investments in gun manufacturers.
10
Public schools under DeVos can now turn into war zones and
students will flock to her favored private ( religious) charters to avoid all the risks of arming teachers instead of supplying them with needed materials. Or is she planning to subsidize for profit
schools as well with taxpayer money? Plus why would anyone sane or genuinely dedicated to teaching choose to teach in a school full of concealed weapons? Surely there are more productive ways to use federal funding for schools.
1
The NRA gave large sums of money to the president and many of our elected representatives. The primary purpose of the NRA is to further the interests of gun manufacturers. Isn't this a way to repay the NRA for its investment?
4
Sorry, nevermind this preposterous idea--but where are there schools that get enough funding in the first place to afford guns? The entire administration is a bad joke.
2
This smacks of disingenuous political dinner theater. Yes, it's outrageous -- that's almost certainly why we're hearing about it. Right now. This week, of all weeks. It's not even sourced to one outraged whistle-blower - "multiple people" with inside knowledge of the department's meetings all happened to confirm the details. Pray tell, did one of them look suspiciously similar to Betsy in a fake mustache?
If you read closely, the Department of Education isn't doing anything at all. The DoE oversees how states allocate these grants in their education budgets. She's just considering turning a blind eye if any state wanted to waste a precious infusion of federal funding - meant to help students in poor communities have access to computers and other technology the districts can't afford - on this pointless "arm the teachers" venture.
As the article notes, some rural areas have implemented some version of the concept already, out of sheer necessity, due to the lack of first responders in the surrounding area. But it's hard to imagine most impoverished communities without that problem supporting this waste of tax dollars -- and this does exist regardless of what Betsy decides. So let's not lose our heads over this pathetic PR gambit.
1
@Januarium . - exactly my point in my own comment made here. This is NOT 'new' news; there is nothing in the article to support or warrant a 'breaking news' moment. This just riles up everyone who's left of center and takes our collective eye off the ball. Yes - Devos is evil, a lunatic, and self-serving. No - this retired teacher doesn't want guns in schools - - but I seriously question the worthiness or placement of THIS article (with such a headline yet!) on THIS week, when we have breaking news convictions and their consequences to focus on. Apparently it served my feared purpose - to rile the masses and distract from the main course.
3
DeVos figures that using enrichment money to buy guns enriches the Trump’s administration’s relations with the NRA which in turn is very enriching, indeed.
Seriously, bringing guns into schools is very expensive. It’s not just buying some expensive devices, it’s training, it’s ammunition for practice, and a very well established system to keep the guns secure but available with little warning for use. That means that educational enrichment would just not be used with the money remaining.
2
Instead of arming teachers, why not just turn schools into prisons and hire Blackwater to staff them? I'm sure De Vos's brother would give the taxpayers a great deal, and the kids would be super safe. Hire only so-called "evangelicals" as faculty, abolish the science, history, literature and foreign language departments, and you've got the GOP's grand dream of education.
4
So now it’s the Education Department wing of this administration making unwanted and unnecessary policy decisions. Betsy Devos weights using federal money to buy guns for teachers. You might think the department's name was the NRA Dept. of Education. I m a teacher and the last thing I want in the classroom are untrained people carrying guns around small children. What is wrong with these people?
The Housing Department wants to raise rents on poor people. The Environmental Protection Agency wants to put coal pollution into the air rather than to take it out. The Attorney General has been separating children and parents at the border who are fleeing violence in their countries. The Interior Department is selling off public lands to energy companies. The Secretary of Commerce has not fully divested his financial interest. The President paid hush-money for sexual affairs, spends all his time playing golf and tweeting nonsense, can’t seem to get the reason for the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians straight, publicly lies to his supporters, and stands very close to possible criminal indictment.
America needs to catch it’s breath and get rid of these people.
6
If schools are going to be required by law (or threat of crippling lawsuits) to have guns and/or armed guards then yes, the government and voting tax payers should pay for them. If additional funds are not granted the price will come out of already strained school budgets anyway. But it is completely crazy to require schools to have guns.
I saw the notification come through on my phone last night sitting next to my wife as we were both sitting in the movie theater. We are both teachers. My wife said that this will make her quit if this plan comes to fruition. This is an ongoing militarization of society. As if everyone carrying guns is going to be the answer to the gun problem.
4
This is a devolution of the worst kind. This action would open the school districts to wrongful death claims and more importantly, this is not part of their charter as educational entities. This action would suddenly condone armed responses by educational organizations for unproven results.
2
I wonder what Ms DeVos or any other proponent of this concept would accept as collateral damage (injured, maimed, or dead schoolchildren)... we know that police trained with firearm use in bad situations have problems with shooting the wrong target in chaotic circumstances. What about a "trained" schoolteacher ?
Even pretending to arm teachers that have military experience is foolish - not everyone in the armed services have training or experience with these scenarios and even then, may have been years prior.
3
The Quickening is coming, Betsy. You have through October to continue fouling things up. After that it's going to be a whole different show. You might spend some of your budgeting time getting prices from movers.
1
Honestly, I think this might be the tipping point for us in terms of remaining in the US. The lunatics are running the asylum. Fellow Americans, wake up. We don't have to live like this. No other developed country on earth lives like this.
5
I am a retired teacher, a proud veteran, a parent, grandparent, and someone who grew up hunting, and have owned guns for sixty years.
This policy is NUTS!
How can any rational person think that having guns in the classroom is a way to protect children. What actual research shows this as a viable solution to our societal ills. Money needs to be spent on education for sure, maybe more mental health outreach for families, help in reducing poverty, maybe more books, computers, maybe more teachers, repairs to buildings and mechanical systems and staff to maintain them, property tax reduction, and more, but arming teachers is a dystopian dream promulgated by people that spend too much time in front of video games. This idea needs to be put in a circular file and Betsy DeVos and her supporters need to be returned to their private citizen status and replaced with people who actually care about our children.
150
@Robert Shaffer Wonderful comment! I couldn't agree with you more. Guns and teachers make for strange and dangerous bedfellows. Guns should have no place in the classroom. This is part of Trump's dystopia.
@Robert Shaffer It's also being pushed hard by the people who will make money selling the guns to the government.
Exactly how is property tax reduction going to improve our schools? Part of our property taxes are used to fund schools. Most people pay willingly as part of their obligation to support the community, but there are quite a few taxpayers who don’t have students in public schools who resent having to pay property taxes used for that purpose.
Both sides of the gun discussion are wrong.
First, it is unfortunate that the anti-gunners jump on every school shooting as a reason to limit gun ownership. In fact, it is a reason to improve school security -- not to "prison" levels as these ill-informed zealots declaim but perhaps to the level we provide for the office of the village clerk: limiting access points and magnetometers manned by armed guards. A person who doesn't belong should not be able to gain access to a school. That they can and do is attributable 99.9% to the gross negligence of school administrators, not lax gun laws.
As for paying to arm teachers, this would be OK if limited to non-lethal tech, such as tasers and pepper spray -- which are better than nothing against a crazy with a gun. Lethal weapons would be OK if limited to a few key personnel, such as properly trained and physically capable guards and administrators. Again, something is better than nothing if a slaughter is ongoing.
10
@KenC Me, and everybody who works for me at the concertina-wire factory, agree.
@KenC The shooters are not always "crazy." Getting the "key personnel" to the right place, while, of course, abandoning their students, would be just as difficult as getting a policeman to just the right spot. Schools are big places. No shooter that I have ever read about has "broken into a locked classroom." This is a money grab by the gun business -- getting the government, instead of citizens, to buy their guns.
1
@KenC, how about barring gun sales from people who have histories of violence and mental problems? How about keeping people on the no-fly lists from buying firearms?
The problem with these propositions is lost opportunities, since that would mean fewer shootings, and shootings help sales. As long as people confuse gun rights with their rights, we will have serious problems, for those who value life over profit.
Societies that have gun regulations and a process for gun ownership create a situation where firearms on the black market shoot up in price, making them too expensive to most would-be mass killers.
I am a gun owner and concealed weapons permit holder. I fully support the right of Americans to arm themselves. Arming teachers, however, has got to be the dumbest idea ever. Ms. DeVos is clearly not familiar with guns. Shooting a gun is not like shooting in a video game. In order to be comfortable and familiar with a gun, one must spend time (and money!! bullets are not free) training at the range, cleaning, servicing and maintaining the weapon. Even if one goes to the range regularly for target practice, shooting at a paper target is completely different than shooting in a situation where there are children, other bystanders, police, etc. Further, most school days do not end in bullets. Being surprised by a shooter in an environment that is typically safe is also not the same as going to the range. Police and other law enforcement train for these types of situations. Teachers do not. Let's leave the teaching to the teachers and the shooting to law enforcement.
122
@Sharon: I too own guns. I totally agree with you. Guns is school is like letting a 3 yr old play with dynamite.
1
@Sharon, the point is always to sell more guns. This has nothing to do with safety. Nothing the gun lobby has been pushing has had anything to do with safety for a long time.
So, from the above perspective, this is a very sensible idea.
@Sharon
close. miss devos and her family have huge investments in the gun industry. they profit from gun sales. it is well established that every mass shooting increases gun sales. she has a direct financial interest in causing more mass shootings and more hysteria about them. the more she talks about it the better. she also has a direct financial stake in selling guns to schools. she even wants to use federal dollars to pay for them.
kits all about money for her. her kids don't go to schools where this even matters. yours do, though, right?
The next stage of the con: where they can’t send tax dollars to private or religious schools, they can try to send them to the gun manufacturers instead.
One wonders if any of them realize that mass underfunding of education is going to limit the skills of the workforce at large. Good thing we’ve got such strong immigration policies, I suppose...
7
It's all designed to keep our kids out of schools so republicans can end funding schools. Just like in the good ole days.
9
How about funding for books, school supplies, music and art classes? Stuff that has long since been suffering and forgotten in our educational system.
7
If you look at the data on grizzly bear attacks for the past year, you’ll see why this is so urgent.
19
Hurry up, November, when we can take the first step in getting rid of this administration by electing members of Congress and Senators who will restore sanity to our government and our country.
19
NRA's vision for the future-
Forget funding books, teachers, or decent school buildings. Let the tots have guns and shoot it out, only the strong survive after all.
9
So now there is federal money to buy guns for teachers. Is there also federal money to train teachers how to use the new classroom safety enhancements? For this to work, even in theory, the following has to happen:
1) Teachers must be allowed to choose the correct firearm which they can safely handle. One size does not fit all. Some people have large hands, some small. Some are more sensitive to recoil in large-caliber firearms than others.
2) Teachers must be provided with free ammunition and a target range to practice at. Shooting a firearm takes skill. Proper stance, grip, sight picture and follow-through all require proper shooting form converted to muscle memory, which must constantly be reinforced through practice.
3) Teachers must be able to pass the same rigorous safety and proficiency requirements as police officers.
4) Schools must provide a safe way to store the firearms so they cannot be accessed by students, ever.
5) Schools will need federally-funded liability insurance to cover students/faculty killed by a teacher using a firearm in self defense. Police hit bystanders all the time- don't expect non-professionals to be any more accurate under extreme pressure. And there isn't a commercial insurance company stupid enough to sign up for this type of liability.
NOW- do we have enough $$ for all that, Ms. DeVos? If not, please go back to worrying about bears breaking into our Western schools.
11
Why not do like in third world countries? Metal detector at the door, one way in; several ways out. Everyone (including children) goes through the same door, visitors must check in and can't just wonder around.
6
@Duda You are describing exactly what schools in THIS third-world country, the United States, do routinely.
Most schools already have one way in, multiple ways out, and visitor check in. Metal detectors are problematic because of the need for body searches of students.
But arming teachers using education funds is ridiculous. Better to arm teachers with educational materials and support.
1
So We the People's tax money will go to the big corporation who do not pay taxes? Why? Instead of focusing on improving our Public, PUBLIC EDUCATION (NOT private education) quality to prevent poverty, obesity, and other social problems which the Republicans use social programs funds to divide us, Uhm!
7
If Betsy DeVos wants to focus on "lead" in schools she can give funds to remove lead pipes and provide clean drinking water to students. We don't need more lead in our schools in any form.
8
A very sensible idea. Kudos to Secretary DeVos!
How about mandatory body armor for students and teachers. They can designate a hallway as an indoor shooting range and call it the gun safety room.
1
Betsy, it's time to go home, your tenure thus far has been miserable for students, education an afterthought, perhaps in your mind a privilege for the affluent few. Can't you see, in spite of your wide, and awful, social distance from the poor, that you have become a hindrance to allow some 'equality in opportunities'? No one is the enemy of the 'rich and powerful' corporate world; but we ought to be more friendly with the least among us in this wealthy country, condemned to survive in an unjust segregated world (of course, not only in Education but in Housing and Health as well). Can't you see the justice in your leaving, so a honest broker can fix your undoings?
10
@manfred marcus
We should all remember that the sensitivities of the very wealthy have a different understanding of the effects of education.
Lady Bracknell from "The Importance of Being Earnest:" ‘The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately, in England (Read 'the US') at any rate, education produces (little or) no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square (Read 'the Red States').’
After all, well-educated servants and slaves make snide remarks behind your back - and sometimes giggle when your yacht comes unmoored and floats away - and they refuse to work for what you consider they're worth.
1
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos: NO college degree in Education!!! (for starters)
Betsy’s accomplishments:
Defunding public schools, giving breaks to parochial and religious schools by promoting them - with no testing data to back up why, the Betsy DeVos way.
Takes legal action away from students who have been duped by Betsy’s favorite private, profit making schools.
Betsy promotes?
Guns in schools paid for with federal taxpayer money? For teachers?
I’m a nurse. I have worked as a school nurse. My husband is a teacher and long term outdoorsman, including hunting in our home state of Wisconsin. Neither of us recommend teachers using guns in schools or permitting taxpayer money to buy guns.
I attended the March for Our Lives in Washington DC in March this year. Betsy DeVos must have been living in a cave that day. Hundreds of thousands of kids, parents, grandparents, teachers marched for the United States to do something to help kids in schools - and the Parkland kids appealed with deep hearts, tears, and intellectual voices.
Betsy DeVos has insulted kids all over the country. She is a heartless, uneducated in her field, appointee of Donald Trump. I remember the day she came romping in and out of the Trump Tower in January, 2017 when she met with Trump.
She and her brother, Erik Prince, may be friends of Donald Trump. They’re not friends of US citizens - and she, the person who should promote educational futures, is no friends to kids, more an enemy.
16
"The Education Department is considering whether to allow states to use federal funding to purchase guns for educators"
Why stop there? Why not add purchasing kevlar vests, Damascus Protective Upper Body Shoulder Protector gear, helmets, taser guns, and everything in between? What's next on Ms. DeVos list - NRA information booths in the school cafeteria?
Not only are this woman's priorities completely skewed, the real direction, focus and goal of the Education Department has been lost and/or mangled on what should be paramount - EDUCATION and LEARNING. It's one thing for kids to read about the gunfight at the OK Corral in history class, it's quite another thing for kids to witness real life interpretations of this historical bloodbath, starting with their teachers toting a .38 on their hip.
12
If the gun people were really serious about arming citizens, they would support giving/subsidizing gun purchases for people in high-crime neighborhoods so those citizens can protect themselves from bad guys with guns. I don't think the NRA would support that, especially if the people in those neighborhoods are black.
12
Teachers are desperately trying to mitigate the effects of cell phones in their class room. Who thinks they have the time to keep track of a lethal weapon? Do you really think a teacher would be effective against an AR 15 with a 30 round clip? They're educators not soldiers.
The NRA spreads the fallacy that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Thats magical thinking, when more guns are present real world statistics paint an entirely different picture that includes toddlers finding a gun in mommies purse and shooting themselves dead. It's very simple math, more guns equal more accidental shootings, suicides and suffering.
13
Turn schools into free-fire zones.
What possibly could go wrong?
8
Teachers with guns is just a plain ol stupid idea.
Even highly trained police miss their targets the majority of the time. On top of that, it would create a crossfire situation between a teacher and perpetrator, with students in the middle. The likelihood of injury or death from “friendly fire” is far too risky.
And there are many other dangers, too many to list but apparent to anyone with a modicum of common sense.
Maybe we’ve reached a point where we need metal detectors at schools. I don’t like that idea much either, but it’s far safer than arming teachers.
Finally, I doubt that Betsy DeVos would want her kids in a school with armed teachers. Don’t impose on others what you would not accept for yourself.
7
Why Not? It wasn't enough that this family made billions fleecing the vulnerable in the Amway pyramid scheme, they had to move to where the REAL money is- the US taxpayer.
It's not a recent phenomenon; we have been financing the Dick Cheney/ Eric Prince mercenary Mideast War for going on two decades.
If and when Robert Mueller starts prosecuting the GOP/NRA/Blackwater/Hillsdale College/Heritage Foundation/Fox News/Russian?? Family- the real fireworks will start. The GOP gave over control of the party to the Family; they live in fear of the day of reckoning.
The greatest accomplishment?? of Pres. Trump is that he is exposing not only the Trump family business but also the GOP 'Family' business to ruin.
8
Republicans have succeeded beyond their dreams in dismantling the public education system that gave us the largest catch of Nobel prizes winners in every endeavor of human intellectual activity.
They are now way ahead on their plans of turning our school systems into armed indoctrination camps.
And it is all happening because they cannot any longer win on the strength of their intellectual arguments.
Republicans today reserve for themselves the right to lie, cheat and steal, and to use the democratic process to corrupt all the laws and societal compacts that made us the wealthiest, most creative and best trained country on earth.
Onwards and backwards is their motto.
14
So, no money for books, school lunches, or special ed, but they can buy guns???
Words fail me.
19
November 6 2018
End the Republican madness.
Vote in record numbers for Democrats.
15
What is wrong with this woman? Oh, her brother is a mercenary and she has no grasp on reality. Democrats you found your adds for the midterms. I think she is perhaps the least liked woman in America and it is well earned.
4
This is a distraction/manipulation tactic straight out of the T-rump playbook. Keep an eye out for other, less obvious, malfeasance that she want to keep under the media's and public's radar.
2
@Richard..."wants to keep..."
With this idiotic move, it would make the USA the only country on earth with armed school teachers because parts of society are so rotten and out of control that peoples' lives are at risk for going to school.
5
Money for everything except for what is the non negotiable need. Education
She is both incompetent and corrupt
4
It sounds like the headline from Mad Magazine
6
No Federal funds for abortions. Federal funds for guns in schools? Now you are talking.
(Yes, more sarcasm.)
4
In an administration full of miscreants and incompetents, this woman takes the cake.
4
Because they have all the textbooks they need? Just ask teachers in Oklahoma.
4
Ridiculous! People are educating themselves to hold a gun in class, they are training themselves to
TEACH our children! WTH! Use the money to hire safety officers for every school door! maybe Home schooling should be on the agenda now....
1
Way to distract us from what's going down in the White House, DeVos.
2
Betsy DeVos started out dumb as education secretary, and appears to be getting dumber by the day.
5
Is this truly stupid woman with no experience with anything other than spending her family's fortune truly shaping our country's educational policies? She is taking kickbacks from every home school, charter school, and guns for all wacko organization in this country. When is the Trump nightmare going to end?
7
Stupid is as stupid.
This is just the first step towards turning schools into indoctrination military camps.
1
This is just another tactic by "Ditzy" to scare people into enrolling their kids in Charter Schools or homeschooling them so she can continue to defund our Public Education system.
4
Seriously, can someone please offer Betsy a job with the NRA and get her out of the education business?
Give kids a shot with education just not with their teacher's guns.
2
Is Ms. DeVos a public servant or does she serve the NRA?
5
Why not buy spaghetti strainers to use as helmets while we are at it? Teachers are not soldiers nor are they law enforcement. Might as well make a reality tv star the President with this kind of logic.
Oh yeah.... sigh.
4
Even assuming the idea of putting guns in classrooms is a good idea, this is a stupid way to do it. This is taking money designated to improve and enrich classroom teaching in districts struggling to provide a solid education and shifting it to (supposedly) to school security, it is not only borrowing from peter to paul paul, it is fundamentally going against the primary function of a school,to teach. I am sure part of gun nut nation, who view education as a 'frill' or as something that 'fills kids heads with dangerous ideas' like scient, cheers this on, but rational people should be appalled. And no, unlike some of the posters said, I doubt they will shift other funds to replace the funds used for guns, the money used to spend on arming teachers is basically slashing education spending. It is kind of ironic that the pro gun, pro guns in schools, arm everyone GOP congress specifically didn't allow federal funding for guns in schools and De Vos is trying to walk around that deliberate ban. The other problem with any kind of federal funding is will there be any kind of regulation around it? Will there be guidelines on how teachers or administrators are trained, will there be regulations on where and when they can be used? And what happens when there is a school yard fight, and a teacher panics and kills an unarmed kid, will people question this, or will the idiot right basically say the kid deserved it.
3
It's time to get this entire shameful team of incompetents and thieves out of the White House. DeVos is a joke.
4
My name is John F. Ames. I taught elementary orchestra for twenty eight years. My public school district #412 was Shoreline Schools, Washington State. Shoreline is the next town just north of Seattle. A suburban environment, eighty percent white and affluent.
One morning, arriving at work, there was a young black man's dead body lying between two portables...dumped there and clearly shot in the head. It made the local news, a blip in the days events. But what we as teachers and administrators knew was that the South-Seattle drug wars had reached our front door step in what was considered be a safe environment. What did we do? Nothing. We pretended like it never happened and swept it underneath the proverbial suburban rug. Upon reflection I realized shielding children from harm's way is tantamount to our job as is teaching our students in academics and the arts. Teachers who want to arm themselves already have that right with the proper permits from the state government even though every school I ever taught at had a large sign stating, "This is a drug-free zone and no fire-arms permitted." Having my tax dollars supplying armaments for teachers from our federal department of education makes me think that George Orwell was correct: make the masses fear something and you can lead them to the slaughterhouse...saddens me to no end to think our public educational system is devolving into a war zone.
137
@John F. Ames I saw you asking for more information on Erik Prince in another post... https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.voanews.com/amp/4536504.html
@John F. Ames, way down south in East Los Angeles where I teach and where nobody is white and kids face that fear of reality all the time every day in their own neighborhoods. Their schools is about one of few remaining safe places where they go during the day and we should try and keep it that way for them. Pretending their world around them isn't real and doesn't exist when they see it with their own eyes every day certainly does them no favors. Instilling naivety and wishful thinking is hardly responsibly preparing them for their future.
I'm a former educator. I left the system because the job is thankless and the pay is miserable. Half of my current salary is the top step in teaching. I recall there being no money for new books, supplies, buildings, etc. let alone fair pay for educators. And now this idiot is going to use federal money to buy guns. Meanwhile, yesterday afternoon there was a line of teachers going into the local Staples to buy daily essentials during their big back to school sale. I don't blame the current administration. I blame the leaders in congress that are allowing this band of morons do whatever they want.
191
State governments are also responsible for the state of education today. Many are deliberately underfunding schools.
It is great to read sane comment! @Paul
@Paul Blame the current administration as well, as they do not value public education nor want to pay for it. We are increasingly becoming a society of haves and have nots, which is largely due to Republican policies.
Want to impress the teacher? Don't leave an apple, a nice box of hollow points left on the desk will be better.
(Yes, sarcasm.)
2
A hefty tax on semi-automatics, and a slightly less tax on other guns and ammo should be used to pay for all of these expenses of protecting the public from being killed, including "hardening" our schools. Otherwise the money comes at the expense of things like education, health care, road repair and other "normal" and needed items.
2
Wow. I hope they’ve accounted for the increased insurance premiums these schools are going to be forced to pay. The liabilities here are extreme.
It’s flabbergasting that grown adult humans are actually discussing this as potential policy.
It’s official, America (right leaning America) has officially lost its mind.
Profit before their children and grandchildren.
Profit over everything.
5
This is terrible. Schools should be purchasing books and instruments of learning, not instruments of death. What is she thinking?!
2
@Scs - "What is she thinking?!"
How this idea will make her richer?
1
That’s just it Scs, she’s not thinking. I doubt she would send her own kids to a school with armed teachers. But I’m sure the NRA loves it.......
1
I will be curious to see how much the percentage of families who either homeschool their children or pay for private school increases if this gets any traction.
1
This is a spectacularly bad idea. Have we truly lost our collective mind here? Militarizing our public schools with the expectation that it will make us safer is utterly insane. Surely she is joking, no?
3
If our Secretary of Education thinks more guns is the way to a safer society and safer schools we have indeed lost our way. And frankly as a taxpayer I do not support my dollars being spent in this manner.
4
Not content to have teachers educate our children, we then asked them to raise them while we went to work, then asked them to address their emerging mental health issues as well. Now, we are asking them to pick up a gun to protect them.
With this tremendous load of responsibilities, one would think that they and their schools would be well funded; but there is woefully inadequate state and/or federal funding for public education.
Worse still, schools and universities have been attacked by Conservatives as too Liberal: recent surveys showing that well more than half of Republicans feel that universities “have a negative effect on the country”.
It is terrifying to see that now – only with a gun in their hand – many Conservative commenters are coming to support teachers.
What sort of “education” is this?
3
Retired teacher here. So now DeVoss has found a way to funnel federal tax dollars intended to improve learning conditions in our poorest schools to gun manufacturers instead. Got it.
5
If this "plan" goes through, I can't think of a bigger incentive to a tax strike. I will not allow any of my tax dollars to be used for this purpose.
6
Living in this country just gets more bizarre by the day. The president of the country talking like a mob boss saying how good it is a convicted criminal under him "didn't break" and now the idea to use scarce educational resources to by weaponry to arm schools. Yes, guns in schools. How does this not lead to more violence? While the tragedies in recent history have been horrible in US schools, how much worse will it get if guns are intentionally housed in every public school? And, rather than be a deterent to crime, they may cause more attacks because of access or simply change the targets of the insane attackers to private schools over armed public ones. We are slowly (and maybe not so slowly after all) going mad as a country. Is there any other 1st world country (or 2nd or 3rd would country for that matter) that buys guns to be kept in schools? Aren't countries with less gun violence doing the opposite: restricting access to guns?
6
You’re right on all counts Pax. This is insanity.
If this keeps up, I predict a serious brain drain from this country. Yes, it's hard to move and, yes, most civilized countries don't want us. But how long can one live in a country when you're at odds with the basic values of decency, honor, compassion, and respect for the law?
5
Our country has turned upside down. We have no one to blame but ourselves for allowing these “leaders” into our government. Anyone who did not go out to vote or voted for Trump, these are the consequences.
6
To those who voted for Trump because they thought it wasn't a big deal who was in the White House, that the presidency is a figure head position, and who would vote for anyone but a Democrat or a woman - here's yet more evidence it does matter.
4
If they arm the students too this can be considered Academic Enrichment. In place of those things schools now can't afford, which are obsolete anyway, such as literature, history, art, music, etc., they can have defensive-perimeter design and exercises in infiltration, and fire and movement. Red-blooded things.
1
We don't have enough money to educate children, but we have enough to enrich the bloated gun industry.
6
Does the Secretary of Education have any ideas at all about education?
23
Haha - resoundingly hilarious. I was a public high school administrator for a long time. For all of that time schools struggled in large part because the Feds would mandate BUT NOT FUND education programs (e.g.: Title IX and others). Now we get this "story" that I assume will be withdrawn shortly, that the Dragon Lady would pay schools for the cost of arming teachers. Is she paying for ammo as well? Is she paying to train teachers to use these guns? Is she paying for firing ranges so teachers can maintain and build their gun-slinging skills? This could not be more laughable, except that it is sick, sick, sick. The rest of the world will be relieved to have us designated as a rogue state so they can treat us as such.
17
Oh yeah, and I forgot the liability insurance premiums and, of course, someone will need to pay when a court awards the family of a fourth grader (deceased) 70 million for negligence, reckless endangerment, etc.?? Will Ms. Vos be paying that?
Of all the things teachers need financial support to afford guns are way, way down on the list. This is among the worst ideas I have ever heard and sets a new low for support for public education coming from the Trump administration and its out of touch Secretary of Education.
13
this is a great way to expand their base! as we all know: the less educated a person is, the more likely he is to vote republican.
9
If public schools spend public money on guns, then they also need to spend public money teaching sex education, providing contraceptives, and about abortion within current limits.
14
And thank you, again, to everyone who didn’t vote in 2016, or voted Green or Libertarian, because there was “no difference” between Donald and Hillary. These cabinet secretaries and Supreme Court picks are the price of your keen reasoning.
50
Before you decide that this is insane, just consider that since truth isn't truth, books and all science-related materials are pretty useless, and immigrants, not guns, are responsible for all violence and crime, this not only makes sense but is sure to cause a huge reaction that will distract from the "rigged witchhunt"'s recent successes.
7
@cary
my thoughts exactly! the idea is so beyond the pale and so sure to grab headlines, that the first thing my (rapidly becoming cynical) mind told me was "45 and his cronies concocted this one". what a world we live in...
2
Teachers are buying essential supplies with their own money. Parents are asked to provide classroom supplies - basics like paper towels. Schools are using ancient out of date textbooks. But yeah we should buy guns.
18
It seems to me that the sensible thing to do in an attempt to curb school shootings would be to change the gun laws not add more guns into the mix. But, no, then the GOP's darling, the NRA, wouldn't benefit.
What a sick world these people have created!
8
This goes beyond the pale: there are schools that cannot afford decent textbooks, clean drinking water, supplies, etc. and she wants them to use funds to buy guns?Totally unhinged, and watch it: she'll start with this, then push for a contract for her brother to provide security for our schools. We need to throw these people out! Vote in November.
20
As an educational consultant most school districts do not have adequate funding to purchase much needed professional development for their teaching staff's, who, in areas like mathematics, science, and various applications of technology are woefully unprepared. I won't mention districts I have worked in with outdated textbooks, deteriorating building structures, and teachers too busy working two other jobs to devote to further their own education and training. And yet, Ms. DeVos is looking for monies to purchase guns for districts, which I am certain will be accompanied with generous monies for professionally developing their gun handling skills. As a country, we have truly lost our way.
233
@ACJ Ms. DeVos is primarily interested in an income stream for arms manufacturers.
I can't educate my students, making sure they are learning, thriving, and progressing, with one hand on my blackboard eraser and another hand on an assault rifle. See the dichotomy there?
143
@rox
Since no one is asking you to do that, your bizarre 'point' is moot.
PS: It's called a 'straw man' argument and is invalid.
Good, she should allow these funds to be used to protect children in our schools that are completely under siege all over the country, sitting back and asking the criminals to be nice doesn't seem to be working.......
2
Cheaper to have cops be teachers, since we are under siege. Laughable. More guns have not made us safer.
5
@There Actually, we don't tell the criminals to be nice. We tell their victims they should have been nicer and invited the psychopath to eat lunch with them.
@There
Um...common sense is needed here.
All of our schools are not under siege.
This is a lie told by right wing crazies to make people afraid so they will support the NRA.
1
Wonder if she has stock in the gun industry. If so the district may get a discount. Another pirate amongst the rest of the White House ship of pirates.
16
The appointment of Betsy DeVos is one of the most shameful acts that this President has committed. Her family is involved with the arms and mercenary business. Erik Prince is her brother, former head of Blackwater, Inc. which gunned innocent Iraqi citizens. Her policies are racist and sexist. She is a rich, white entitled buffoon.
57
There is something seriously wrong with this woman.
As this country continues its journey through the gates of hell, our illustrious congress sits and does nothing to stop the rot.
Trump and his bottom feeders continue to feed on the carcass of our democracy
26
This woman is the most dangerous person in Trump's White House.
31
@robert conger That's a tall order - she needs to step over Pompeo, Bolton and Miller.
2
@robert conger second most dangerous. Trump is still #1.
Will she allow funds to purchase body bags as well?
46
This woman, who owns ten yachts and whose family received funds for the kidnapping of children at the border, must be REMOVED from office. She was NEVER qualified and is now a real and actual threat to American children. Lastly, what a disgusting way to send money to their buddies in the gun manufacturing business. The depravity and greed of this “administration” knows no bounds.
42
Where I live, in Oklahoma, the textbooks are 20 years old and held together with duct tape. They don't have enough textbooks to go around so kids can't take books home with them to study--they're needed for the next class. They don't read novels anymore because the schools don't have books to send home with kids. In many schools, the kids sit on the floor because the desks and chairs are too broken to use. Lots of schools have gone to four day weeks. Some schools didn't turn on the heat last winter because they couldn't afford to.
Guns in schools? How about books in schools? How about heat in the winter in schools?
77
@Linda As a teacher in NYC, I cannot fathom what being a teacher in OKlahoma must be like. You should tell public school teachers you know about Donorschoose.org - this crowd-funding website has radically changed the resources and education of my students. This summer students are reading 1. “Les Miserables” (getting ready for the French Revolution); 2. “Salt” and 3. “Nzinga” about an exceptional African Queen that history has ignored.
2
Wonderful site...sad it is needed.
Federal monies are restricted to certain purchases within public school districts since they are specifically allocated for a learning. How is it that federal funds are now available for gun purchases rather than better surveillance? Citizen tax dollars will not be spent to over arm public schools to appease Trump's NRA debts from his campaign. The master of money laundering will do no more.
7
"Here," says Ms. Devos. "Take this rock. It will protect you from students who want to throw rocks at you. We'll use taxpayer dollars to pay for the rock and you can go for a couple of days of training so you can throw the rock straight. Oh, and not at the good students. Don't do that. Only hit the bad students."
"We don't want a rock," say the teachers. "We don't have good or bad students. We just have students. We serve all of them because that's our job. Can we have new books? Money to pay teachers properly so that we can hire the best talent? A soccer team? Mental health services? Those are the things that support healthy communities and keep the kids from throwing rocks in the first place."
"I'm sorry," says Ms. Devos, "I have to go. I have a lunch with the National Rock Association."
27
There was a time we thought the pen was mightier than the sword. The poor pen doesn't stand a chance against the gun.
5
Betsy Devious is completely unhinged. School districts don't have enough money for food, supplies or even building maintenance. But we're going to buy them 45 magnums? Insanity.
"Teacher, I need some lead."
"Oh we have tons of that, Timmy. FMJ, armor piercing... what do you want?"
"No. For my pencil."
"Sorry Timmy. Haven't had that kind of lead in years."
19
Why doesn't Secretary DeVos implement things like focusing on inclusive practices where instructional and behavioral strategies will improve academic and social-emotional outcomes for all students? Or how about getting more minority teachers in the classrooms? Or studying the impact of poverty on student incomes? Just the tip of the iceberg of things that would help students become healthy adults.
13
Just look at what this woman is doing to public education. If you voted for Trump you got a rich woman playing at being an education secretary. She paid the way to her job. Her donations to the job on her selection committee said everything. Pence had to break the tie. If you voted for Trump, you voted for this woman to gut public education and to allow the NRA into the classroom.
31
The accuracy rate of professionally trained police officers in NYC and LA is less than 35%. The accuracy rate of teachers, of course, would be far less. Arming school staff would cause more harm and lead to a false sense of security. A terrible idea!
9
I would not send my children to a school where teachers carried guns. As an educator I would not work in a school where teachers carried guns. As a taxpayer, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, I would follow in the footsteps of Manafort and Cohen and not pay my taxes.
22
Hear, hear! I do not--repeat, not--want my tax dollars used for this purpose; and if tax refusal is what it takes, the Society of Friends (aka Quakers) has long experience in this resistance tactic and could provide a model for those who choose to adopt it. Shall we call it a tax "sanction" on guns in schools?
8
I've made it clear to my daughter that this is not the profession for you. Not anymore.
11
This money would be better allocated on creating a program for training and hiring our military vets to protect our schools that feel a need for armed protection.
I’m sure many of our men and women in the armed forces would jump at the chance to obtain meaningful employment and a chance to continue serving on our home soil and in their communities.
2
Perhaps with a dollar for dollar match for funding mental health supports and other teacher-suggested needs? So monies go to both a short-term and long term solution?
If there are to be guns in schools, they should only be carried by trained, uniformed professionals, i.e. police officers. Simply buying guns and handing them out won’t do a thing to increase safety, as any fool should know. Guns in the hands of amateurs are a liability; you’re asking for big trouble DeVos.
7
You've got to admire the creativity of this administration. If they can't succeed in eliminating a grant to support and enrich students, turn it into an NRA grant program. I have a better idea. Instead of using my tax dollars to enrich gun manufacturers, create a gun donation program for NRA members to assist school districts who find armed teachers the best way to address security problems.
5
Perhaps DeVisit will also allocate federal funds for districts to buy grizzly bears.
17
Once again another way to line the pockets of their friends, rather than spending it on actually benefiting our children. These are morally corrupt people.
25
A huge windfall of profit for gun manufacturers, as hundreds of thousands of school arm up. It should tell all of us (and not just parents) something that we have gotten to the point when this proposal can even be considered. What a slap in the face to the young people of Parkland Florida.
And what a blow to the students' formal education. Who would want to be a teacher in these circumstances? Evidently some do, but do we want those people teaching our children?
11
@S. S. Treeman, "do we want those people teaching our children?" Stereotype much? Just because someone carries a gun doesn't make them a bad teacher.
The policies proposed by Ms. DeVos are prime examples of the perversions on display in this administration. Ms. DeVos's limited world-view certainly reflects the ideology of "muscular christianity" i. e. God and guns. Instead of using her position to strengthen the public education system so that it serves all citizens fairly and safely, she has squandered this opportunity in favor of "faith based" initiatives that can only benefit a few select populations. If a morally responsible congress prevails, Ms. DeVos should be one of many individuals sent packing as the Trump "presidency" staggers and falls.
18
I'm a former teacher - all 5'3" and 110 lbs of me. Will Ms. DeVos take responsibility when a 16 or 17-year old boy overpowers me, takes my gun, and shoots someone?
Teachers are humans - and many humans accidentally leave their guns unsecured (in their homes, in public restrooms, in cars - all recent examples in the news.) Will Ms. DeVos take responsibility when a teacher leaves a loaded gun where a 6-year old can get hands on it and shoots him/herself?
Too many communities already have school-to-prison pipelines for our children of color. Will Ms. Devos take responsibility when they become school-to-graveyard pipelines?
3 scenarios....all much more likely than an armed teacher stopping a mass shooter in a school. Ms. DeVos needs to wise up. Guns don't make our children (or us) safer.
316
@Sarah B
Well, not all teachers would be (or should be) armed. They should be carefully vetted and trained. It sounds to me like you wouldn't be a good candidate.
@Sarah B
Sadly, I don't think there's much likelihood of Ms. DeVos wising up. Don't forget she was trying to get guns in a couple of schools to keep out grizzly bears.
@Sarah B
"Ms. DeVos needs to wise up."
I say the moon needs to be swiss cheese.
We have teachers spending their own salaries on school supplies. We have teachers justifiably striking in states around this country where they have not received a raise in years.
We lack the funds in our schools to help the many at risk children like Nikolas Cruz, who went on to murder 17 of his classmates at Parkland. As a consequence, we have children being slaughtered at their desks, while hiding under desks, while running in the hallways of their schools trying to evade shooters.
We are going to spend money to put guns in schools? There have been so many stupendously moronic ideas to come from this administration that I have lost track, but this has got to be up near the top.
Parkland kids, I am counting on you guys to weigh in and share your thoughts on this. Personally, I am horrified. Betsy, go back to your Christian schools and leave the rest of us alone.
269
@Energyone:
"Betsy, go back to your Christian schools and leave the rest of us alone." That's a good one!
They aren't "christian" schools! They are right-wing Koch/DeVos academies who brainwash students with conservative political "thinking"!
In the DeVos world, it would seem schools are either police stations or prison camps.
9
Those guns should be turned on DeVos's policies. What an ignorant, hateful, incompetent woman, so typical of Trump appointees. Ideology trumps reality. How many more guns do we need? No Federal money for abortions? Then no Federal money for guns.
We need a real tax revolt. What if we all refused to pay our taxes to run this travesty of a Trump government? With a diminished IRS, how many of us could they prosecute. How long have Cohen, Manafort, Trump, et al, gotten away with tax fraud because they throw more money around than the average person? Time for a new TEA party.
14
This woman, like all of Trump's malefactors running his administration, is a menace to our country. A disgrace beyond words.
20
This article could easily had been a sequel to Gail Collins funny article this morning..... but sigh it's not.
2
When I first glanced at the NYT Breaking News headline saying "Betsey DeVos is considering..." I hoped it was going to continue "Stepping Down at the End of the Month."
No such luck. The insanity, and her drive to destroy the public education and higher education systems in America continues.
9
The lunatics are in charge of the asylum.
Even 45 calls her Ditzy. Time for him to fire her!
Where’s General Kelly? Where’s Ivanka?
Aren’t there any sane voices left in the administration and the Republicans in Congress?
8
@April Kane I agreed with you until you implied Ivanka, Kelly, and any other Republicans were sane.
2
What a loathsome woman. Does her brother, the Blackwater founder, have an arsenal he wants to unload?
24
Guns not books. It makes sense if your Betsy DeVos. If you're anyone else it is completely inane.
6
The stupidity of the idea of guns in schools is beyond comprehension. DeVos has not done anything positive to improve education in our country. Last week it was turning back rules around For Profit Colleges, this week is funding guns in schools. What will be next?
16
The Secretary of Education, who has no experience and brings a particularly virulent form of conservatism to the table, is a national embarrassment.
How many children are going to be sacrificed for this foolishness?
18
Rhetorical question: are you out of your mind ? You've proven your (in our esteemed president's word) "ditziness" over and over, but this idea seems totally over the moon. Schools need help, but the biggest assist, by far, would come from sweeping the Republican knucklehead-know-it-alls out of office. (Starting, of course, with the entire administration, provided there are any left, after the Justice Department issues those orange outfits and sends them to their no-star "hotels.") What would really be a boost for education in this country? Providing REAL ROLE MODELS to our children. Good luck finding any!
5
She is absolutely the worst, most unqualified member of a president's cabinet in modern times.
2
Well I'm sure it's more important to this administration to create new little future nra members that to educate kids...after all gun sales are more important than education in this country...
6
Once that Russian money dries up what's a beleaguered NRA to do? Need new dupes...
1
Learn or we will shoot you. Why did you shoot my kid? He threatened me by not following my instructions in class.
2
It must be a family thing. Her brother is notorious Blackwater mercenary Erik Prince. It's all about military arms over education. That Betsy DeVos is pushing guns is par for the course.
8
Betsy DeVos wants to arm teachers - words fail me except for “what a fool.”
6
Worst idea ever. DeVos doesn't have a clue what schools need.
8
Opposing this embryonic notion will leave Democrats in the unenviable position of leaving children defenseless against the clear and present danger posed by deranged mass murderers.
1
sacha baron cohen lost an real good opportunity here.
3
What an absolutely stupid, nonsensical and unimaginative solution to improve safety in schools.
We must get out the vote in November to bring back people to serve in government with some common sense.
19
Is this lady crazy? She needs to go and spend a week teaching third graders with no one supporting her. Then see what she says. Just picture it 20 or 30 little hysterical kids and you are going to take time to find your keys, unlock a drawer and get a gun and not take care of the kids. Give me a break! None of these people should be making laws about things they don’t know.
5
I grew up watching black mad white era of Gunsmoke. Matt Dillon was THE MAN. Clearly, besides being good with a gun he had the best judgment in the entire town. Bet my bottom dollar that he would have sent Betsy DeVos packing. Out of town by sunrise! She is incompetent and harmful, not to mention a crony. Where is Mr. Dillon when we need him?
4
Betsey DeVoss is a very dangerous woman and needs to be removed from public office without further delay. She is not an educator, I even question her own personal level of education, she lacks critical thinking skills and strikes me as actively anti-American in her skewed views of the world. This plan = big money for the NRA & gun/ammo manufacturers & retailers. Is her mercenary brother (I have guns and will kill for a price) Erik Prince involved in this scheme too? We know he is a corrupt killer for hire and has been a behind the scenes player in this current criminal Trump administration. Say no to this very bad idea and get rid of DeVoss and her immoral brother too while we are at it. Perhaps Erik will face prison time, hope so, he should not be on the streets w/ decent folk, but Betsey must be removed asap, she is a genuine threat to our kids and to their futures...they deserve far better then the dim witted Betsey DeVoss.
25
@Sandra Garratt, you might want to spell her name correctly. *Betsy DeVos.
@Sandra Garratt Please tell me more about Eric Prince? I am a retired school teacher and I have not heard of this man till now. You have strong opinions about him (and Ms. DeVos which I concur). Please tell me more, thank you, sincerely, John F. Ames
Just what we need: Crossfire in the classroom. And what happens when a teacher's weapon falls to the floor and discharges? Or when an unruly student grabs the teacher's weapon? Or...
Idiocy.
23
My first thought when I saw this news late last night..."Well, THAT didn't take long. DISTRACTION!" Let's rev the Dems up about ANYthing other than trump's band of criminals.
The title alone is distracting. And then to read the entire article! The fact is there's NOTHING in the article that states or refers to anything NEW regarding this matter occurring yesterday, or even last week. More like last month! Please explain why this wasn't this published then... The editor's timing to publish this article instead as breaking news last night is extremely disappointing when we need to keep our collective eyes on the tattered ball being tossed around home plate.
1
This is all about Trump, his crime family, and his band of criminals. Anyone who still thinks Trump or any of us appointees is competent to run the government is either a family member or a fool.
1
@wcdevins -- - exactly my point - we need to keep our focus on trump and his band of criminals. Look how incensed people got over this article, how much energy on it, when in reality, this is OLD news. There's nothing new here, vague references, and sources going back to last month. Why print this at all? Let's get back to focusing on trump and his criminals. Of which, Devos is no doubt one of them.. Expense account, please?
Criminals aren’t running into to shoot kids - kids are shooting kids. There is obviously a problem with the adults in the room when child feels so alienated he gets a gun & shoots his peers. Bullying, intimidation, hazing - the answer is not guns in schools.
5
DeVos reminds me of the George Carlin riff - "Think about how stupid the average person is and then realize half of them are stupider than that. "
7
Instead of firing guns, fire DeVos! Americans, let's get this done!
4
Have we gone utterly insane? The demonstrated incompetence of yet another T appointee continues to be worn on her shoulders like a cape.Unbelievable! Combine ignorance, money and power. This is the result!
16
This is the craziest, dumbest idea I have yet heard from this Administration, and that's really saying something.
24
Get rid of DeVos asap. How stupid is this idea? And why is she assuming that teachers want to have weapons?
7
This is all about the children. We need to protect them at all costs. That must include the purchase of firearms, including, AR-15s, Glocks, revolvers and even shotguns to accomplish this goal. If every school had a principle with a conceal carry permit, and a select few teachers properly armed and trained, the killers would think twice about their nefarious crimes. So yes, arm the law abiding. Protect the children. No more Sandy Hooks. Great idea.
@Steve Your comment assumes that the shooter is afraid to die, when in most cases they don't survive the school shooting. They must be going in with the knowledge they won't survive, so arming teachers or principles won't be a deterrent.
@Steve You’ve been watching too much TV (and not studying English). First, a principal with a pistol has a very small chance of hitting his target. In combat, only 10% of U.S. Army rounds fired even go down range, much less actually find a target. Second, the majority of these school shooters are suicidal
and wish to go out with a bang (pun intended). The ultimate way to protect school children is to remove guns from the equation. No guns, no school shootings. It’s as simple as that.
5
Sensible gun control and ending private sales of firearms without some sort of control would be better. The rest of the developed world looks at the US and shakes its head. No other industrialized country has the same level of gun violence. Why? Fewer guns is one reason.
5
Ms. Devos-
Whether you read this or not, you aren't allowed into my classroom. My classroom is filled with brilliant minds and critical thinking. I arm my kids daily with the knowledge they need to do the right thing and stay clear of irrational-thinking people like yourself.
367
I'm going to suggest that our PTA replace the standard fundraising thermometer with a silhouette of an AR-15. I think it will tie in nicely with our annual charity blood/bullet drive.
5
DeVos says yes to guns, but it is a state/local problem to buy pencils, textbooks, classroom supplies, etc. I wonder who will be responsible for buying bullets and body armor?
4
May I quote one of the best Op-Eds the Times ever published?
"Once again, this reflects outdated thinking about students. My current students have grown up learning responsible weapon use through virtual training available on the Xbox and PlayStation. Far from being enamored of violence, many studies have shown, they are numb to it. These creative young minds will certainly be stimulated by access to more technology at the university, items like autoloaders, silencers and hollow points. I am sure that it has not escaped your attention that the library would make an excellent shooting range, and the bookstore could do with fewer books and more ammo choices." - From https://nyti.ms/OHU9OP
6
Agency after agency, department by department, Federal appointees have made clear that they are in place to destroy the agencies they are there supposedly to serve.
The 'ideas' they broach are ruinous across the board, pointedly counter to decades and centuries of practice and plainly foolish or outright irrational. They're like very bad actors playing the roles of insane people.
So emboldened they no longer even attempt a cover of sober reason, they just grab at the infrastructure, rip it to shreds without regard for the country or its people, and repeat endlessly "We are Real Americans".
Its heartbreaking how readily the staff of some some of these agencies have taken to the task of decimation.
Its more disturbing how impotent is the media in all this, willing to treat even the most tragically misguided of these schemes as if they warrant any reaction but outrage.
We may survive these charlatans, these traitors, but we will be paying for decades of not a century or more, in this case for having allowed a generation of frightened, neglected, ill-educated children to suffer so on our watch.
This is a deeply shameful country at the moment, among the very worst. Our sentinels, our media share much of the blame.
Do you not see how serious, how perverse this really is?
12
First rule of management and Hypocratic Oath: first, do no harm. She is always making things worse.
If we really want to protect the children then we really should be arming them. With semi automatic rifles outfitted with bump stocks, too. Only a good child with a high capacity rifle can stop a bad teacher with a government issued pistol.
7
Is the secretary of education that vacant.? I propose that she teach at one of her charter schools with a gun near, lest somebody threatens her.
Finally, the government is taking steps to protect our little ones. Ideally, the weapons will be high impact to ensure the animals who attack our children die rapidly.
Was it Hoover that promised "A chicken in every kitchen a car for every home?" Now it's a gun for every school - if our government has it's way. This is not going to be a happy outcome.
1
I think it was "a car in every garage and two chickens in every pot", but who's counting? It was just another fake populist Republican making false promises and lying to his base for votes. Some things, like GOP hypocrisy, never change. Vote ALL Republicans out in 2018!
1
So, take money meant to help the poor districts and use it to fund the proliferation of firearms.
...would be surprised if the Devos family had financial ties to firearm manufacturers.
1
Wow, such a creative solution to a complex problem. Ms. Devos is such an inspiration; would that all the US students emulate her brilliant problem-solving skills.
1
For a moment, I thought I was reading an Andy Borowitz satire.
And didn't the Times just run a story on Sasha Baron Cohen getting prominent politicians to voice their support for arming kindergartners?
What is WRONG with these people?
9
Looking at this from afar, makes me think that the US has totally lost it. There is little enough money flowing into education, the status of US students in the world show that. To divert this into weapons, no doubt to the joy of the gun manufacturers, will push the country further into madness. And I suspect will do little to reducing the carnage in the schools -- more likely increase it. Just as militarizing the police has not made things more peaceful. Fuel on the fires...
5
It boggles the imagination that anyone could agree with this sick proposition. Hey, we can't guarantee an armed teacher will be there on the spot when the first shots are fired, so let's give every student a gun and have them carry it locked and loaded all day long. Then the shooter won't have a chance against a bunch of permanently traumatized panicking seven-year-olds.
1
This is one example of what the next administration won't be able to fix. Soon our schools will look like prison compounds.
Sure, it makes perfect sense. Why would spoiled billionaire DeVoss want to use money to help disadvantaged kids when the money could be used to help Trump's standing with the NRA? So, we get a few more school massacres every year. That's just the price you have to pay.
2
The woman is insane as well the administration. Our kids need more educational resources, tools and better pay for its teachers especially in the poorer districts and not guns. It would be a lot safer for all concerned if Betsy Devos jumped on the band wagon for extremely tough gun legislation as well as others in the administration. Trump complains about illegal immigration crime/killings yet when it comes to Americans killing Americans with assault guns and rifles….he is indifferent. The hypocrisy of this President and administration is just overwhelming.
I for one do not want my tax dollars to buy guns for schools.
7
When all of the teachers in America are saying "we need better pay and better books and school supplies so we don't have to buy them ourselves" you can trust Betsy DeVos to propose buying guns instead.
6
The ultimate absurdity proposed by the most clueless cabinet member in recent history.
8
Betsy de Vos, this is the LAST STRAW!!! The Second Amendment to the Constitution does not say we citizens have a right to own and shoot guns.
It says citizens have a right to own and bear arms to serve in a militia, if necessary. There is only one way to protect our children and other innocent Americans: get some control over guns. The Second Amendment to the Constitution does not prohibit in any way the use of good judgment and intelligence in solving lethal problems. Wake up America! Wake up Betsy de Vos. Using money meant for education to arm schools is the worst idea yet.
220
In the distant past - such as time of Civil War - it may have been appropriate for individuals to have access to appropriate arms based on the Second Amendment. Currently allowing people who have been in armed services to not drop their having the types of guns they have had access to in the service is extremely inappropriate. Many of these people have no appropriate intentions for use of these guns outside the armed service. They also have strong need for someone besides themselves to ensure they will use the gun appropriately.
1
“It’s not the gun that kills, it’s the hard heart.” The military makes it clear that your weapon is a tool that you must master to be able to kill the enemy. You shoot at realistic human shaped targets, you train and train for war. Even with all this training a percentage of troops will hesitate the first time they are being shot at and have to shoot back.
Are teachers really prepared to look down the barrel and take a life?
1
Next up: DeVos allows federal funds to be used to hire gun-toting mercenaries in schools. That her brother runs a mercenaries-for-hire company is entirely coincidental. As for teacher salaries, why do we need teachers in schools anyway?
12
Killing 2 birds with 1 stone: any shred of justification for her appointment and any pretense of intellectual development
2
This is a woman who is costing taxpayers thousands of dollars per week to have U.S. Marshals shadow her because a few people yelled at her and blocked her from entering a school. It's not a sound proof phone booth or a flotilla of Secret Service agents like Pruitt's burden on taxpayers but it says a lot about the person and it isn't pretty.
17
My earlier - unposted - comment asked whether insanity was a prerequisite for this administration. But it occurred to me that if the one making the selections is insane than sanity would appear aberrant, thus opting for insanity would be the normal thing to do. As we have seen over and over again.
11
““The department is constantly considering and evaluating policy issues, particularly issues related to school safety,”... No money for teachers salaries, but money for guns? Also better be buying some hefty insurance policy's.
4
How about we use government funds to buy much needed supplies for schools so that teachers don't have to dip into their own pockets!
7
If DeVos's charge is to serve the students, teachers, parents, and other legitimate stakeholders in the US public school system, then shouldn't she be using those taxpayer dollars to support activities that will produce citizens who can read, perform mathematical calculations, synthesize information, participate successfully in our economic and political systems, and enjoy all the benefits of our culture and society? And how about using that money to restore the art and music programs, the chess clubs and field trips that have been reduced or eliminated in most public schools? Just using tjose funds to feed the many, many American students who arrive at school hungry every morning would be immeasurably better than betraying the nation by serving the NRA agenda and corporate interests that are behind this demented and diabolical idea. What are you teaching the next generation of voters when you deny them opportunities for intellectual and emotional development so that you can arm the adults who are their mentors, role models, and points of reference in a complicated world where violence is never the solution to a problem? What do you think they will learn?
15
Yes, that is all we need from this largely illiterate woman, guns in schools where students have been gunned down.
How about gun control? Too logical?
15
What an outrageous proposal! Betsy Devos probably never learnt what all rational individuals did at school that the Pen is mightier than the Sword! This is the second most deranged individual in the Trump administration right after the man himself.
6
DeVoss must be heavily invested in firearm companies stocks.
16
She and her Ponzi-scheming husband have got to make back the money they lost on the Thaneros scam. Why not have taxpayers bail them out again? Why is Trump and his every appointee using tax money like their personal bank accounts, or like Trump used the money from his "charitable" foundation like a personal piggy bank? Where is the IRS on those violations? Where is the indignant screaming from concerned right-wing spewing heads about Trump golfing and having his corporations paid by our taxes for the use of his golf carts? Corporations that the Constitution says he cannot have! It was too much for Fox News that Obama went home to Hawaii twice a year. Where is the indignation now? The stupidity, the hypocrisy, the lies are too much to take. Vote out ALL Republicans in 2018!
6
@Rocco rocca
Her brother is Erik Prince.
And so in a so-called civilized nation an "Education" Secretary sees no problem with the notion of using public funds to provide guns to schools. Meanwhile parents making back to school shopping lists now routinely include bulletproof backpacks on these lists.
When does this level of irrational response to a public safety issue persuade our politicians that it is time to get the train back on the tracks rather than continue deeper into this dark morass if death and dysfunction? This is borderline insanity.
5
Why stop at half measures? Why not arm the students? K to 12. Reducing class sizes in overcrowded schools will be an unintended benefit. No need for surveillance or “student” resource officers. Think of the savings! No assaillant in whatever mental state they are in would go near a school armed to the teeth like that. With thanks to Jonathan Swift.
7
Madness.
I blame those who said there was no difference between Trump and Clinton and then stayed home on Election Day.
24
Just more crazy nonsense from an Administration that is on the verge of going out of business and hopefully taking most of the Republican Party with it.
4
We are past the point of madness. Does that put us in the lunacy category?
The NRA and gun manufacturers must be popping the Champagne, again.
8
Is there Russian champagne? Or did the NEW just buy it with Russian money?
2
NEW should be NRA. Darn auto-correct!
Betsy,
The guns are a nice touch, but how about thinking a bit bigger?
No need for a Saturday Night Special when you can give the janitor a rocket launcher. Imagine the physics lessons that could be built around its usage!
Building moats around schools should also be considered. Perhaps have the kindergarteners decorate the vats containing hot oil you can pour on the intruders at the gates.
You're amazing Betsy! I hope you quit, (several months ago).
6
As if we needed any more proof of DeVos's incompetence, we get this little gem.
She is so out of touch with reality, much less what's really needed in our education system, that it truly boggles the mind.
It truly shows that cronyism is alive and well in this country, when an imbecile like her is made Secretary of Education.
20
And the Republicans confirmed her appointment despite the all the evidence of incompetence, most of it coming out of her own ignorant mouth. Vote out ALL Republicans in 2018.
8
I'm surprisd she didn't offer a contract to her brother to provide armed security in all schools...
5
I've heard of funding schools better so we need fewer prisons but Demos is considering turning schools into prisons. The NRA must be pleased.
5
Well, it will probably help with the overcrowding problem.
1
I'm sorry, this woman doesn't have the mental capacity to weigh anything. She has an agenda that caters to Trump's base. Period.
13
Heck, who needs pencils, rulers, or even accurate history or science if you can have guns?
7
I don't want strangers correcting my child. I don't want them shooting my child. Buy the gun for me. No nanny state...republican motto?
school shootings are a huge problem. so you solve it by bringing in more guns? not with my tax dollars you're not!
I agree with others readers... do you have to be a total wacko to work in the executive branch of US government?
8
Doesn't it make more sense to get military surplus, like municipal police departments do? A school parking lot filled with tanks, humvees and blackhawks would be a great deterrent!
1
Betsy DeVos, who had NEVER BEEN IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL before office, who made money on schools even when they performed badly, wh is for making colleges like Trump U less accountable, who wants to privatize the good ones, and socialize the bad (expensive) ones. What about paying public school teachers $10/hr per student? What about building brand new schools nationwide, and not allowing charter schools to get paid by using public school buildings, and pushing the cost of repair on the public schools that share the space? Guns in schools? What?
16
What country is this? An insane and evil plan ! There are already too many weapons in too many hands- more guns is not an intelligent or thought out response but rather an easy one- this woman is not in her right mind and should not be in the cabinet or in any job among decent, peace loving people much less in a job affecting schools and students- shame on her !!! Trying to placate criminal , irrational President I assume
7
Such a surprise. I mean, her brother runs a mercenary army.
4
Okay Betsy - let’s make a deal.
You favor private, charter and for-profit schools. Why don’t you test out your blood thirsty gun program in those settings first, and leave public schools alone?
Even better - why don’t you do a trial run at the nutty evolution-free private school that you attended? Sounds like a perfect match.
14
I guess Betsy DeVos fell hook, line and sinker for Sasha Baron Cohen's great satirical piece on creating "Kinder-Guardians": That is to say, to supply three to fourteen year-olds in schools with lethal firearms.
The IMBECILITY and outright EXCREMENTAL policies of Trump's appointees keep plumbing fresh depths in the sewer..... so much so that the sewer itself will shortly now erupt and cry out, "Enough is Enough"!
6
Of course.
Ms. DeVos has done nothing whatsoever to merit any type of recognition or praise in her position to date - she is one of many cabinet members who hopefully will be gone when Trump slithers back to his towering lair. But this proposal, unquestionably an NRA proposal, is beyond belief if this is not "fake news" and it probably isn't. Totally inappropriate, unnecessary and potentially rife with NRA blood money. What about federal money to shore up programs for lunches, books, teacher stipends, curriculum materials, afterschool programs, mental health services, etc..... on and on. Meanwhile pray this total incompetent woman doesn't do anything but speak against this abhorrent proposal and, as a bonus, resign.
8
So...this is what Trump is going to use to distract us all from Cohen and Manafort.
4
room full of kids a gun = parents worst nightmare
2
And the rest of world wonders what is important to Americans.....
17
@Sharon Dusting - Many Americans find education an important option that should be supported appropriately. Unfortunately, the current director of education in US government, DeVos, is anti-American, anti-education of poor Americans and at least in past a strong robber of those working for her companies.
4
Teachers can then be deployed to Afghanistan during summers as mercenaries for Eric Prince’s war.
11
Is Ms. DeVos also going to allocate funds for a gun safe in every classroom ? Think of all the tragic deaths that occur when children get their hands on unsecured firearms that parents or other relatives own legally but have failed to properly secure in their homes. At least today a would-be shooter must first get their hands on a gun and smuggle it into the school before doing harm. Under this new proposal, all they have to do is figure out which teacher is the weakest link or break the flimsy lock on the teacher’s desk. Also, aren’t funds from that program supposed to be for schools serving low income students ? School shootings seem to be much more frequent in affluent suburban schools that are infused with private money from parents and local businesses on top of state and federal funding.
103
I would support this idea in principle, if the firearms were used for curricular training of all in the respect and correct use of these precision instruments of self-defense and the defense of others.
ROTC. It already exists.
3
Does anyone know whether the DeVos family has investments in gun manufacturing companies? We already know about their holdings in distilleries. Nothing about that family would surprise me.
12
Is Ms. DeVos also considering allowing guns inside the Department of Education? After all, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
15
Why doesn't she simply hire her brother - a mercenary army tycoon - to turn every school in the country into an armed camp, and give a new meaning to the old gym class game we called "Bombardment?"
17
aka, Dodgeball, which is pretty much how things stand now.
@ aldomir - It is obvious that this brothers position as 'mercenary army tycoon' should put him into prison rather than be able to be involved with schools or US military resources.
Honestly, I cannot believe I'm reading this. Can't she think of better ways in education (not sure if she even understands what that word means) to spend my tax dollars???
15
There is no more sanity left on the right. The gun obsession, the gun worshipping, has led to an approach not too dissimilar from the Republican lunacy regarding economics. Tax cuts and deregulation is the panacea, the miracle cure, the remedy for every single economic problem a conservative could ever ponder a solution for. Now, with guns, the answer is more guns, more guns, and of course, more people with guns. Teachers, trained to educate, to inspire, to mold young people into good citizens, will now take the role of a police officer. Militarized teachers and schools. Insanity. The political right is so lost, so ignorant, so confused, and so insane, that they can't see any solution to any problem outside those prescribed by their myopic ideology. They are the reason the USA is in decline. What a disgusting and ignorant approach to the complex problem of gun violence in America. We might as well try and cure cancer by intentionally giving people cancer. That's where we are. Lunacy, ideological nihilism, hopelessness and fear. The USA may survive Trump for a time, but it will certainly not survive the political dominance of these radicals who dare call themselves conservatives.
19
The more the USA spends on fortifying schools, hiring armed guards and practicing lockdowns, the more it will continue to fall behind other countries whose stricter gun control laws allow them the luxury of spending education funds on ... education.
18
Utter Insanity- teachers spend approximately $500.00 dollars each year to buy supplies for their classrooms.
How about a raise for one of most underpaid professions in the US?
Hmm- would her brother's mercenary companies supply the guns? Keep it all in the family, just like her boss. Fire this woman now. Her incompetence keeps shining through.
27
“But the department issued a statement saying that it did not plan to do so because “this is a function appropriately reserved for the states“”
Good lord! Which state? One in Yemen?
11
"Ditsy" indeed (although I would 'nickname her' less … far less … favorably).
P.S. 'Our' For-Profit-College Heroine and her collection of profitless, for-profit-college aides and assistants in the Dep't of Education (?) 'hierarchy' might themselves need guns for protection against aggrieved students with worthless, for-profit-college "degrees" -- and I'm confoundedly sure that Ditsy Betsy can get trump/the trump administration to release federal funds for their '2d Amendment needs.'
2
It is not the role of educators to act as guerrilla warriors.
11
In some school districts, teachers are paying for supplies out of their own pocket. Parents provide items like paper towels & sanitizer wipes at the beginning of the school year. And this administration wants the government to think about providing guns??
Vote in November.
14
This is still to fight off wild bears, right? Bear infestation is extremely high in some school districts due to global warming...
11
What a great idea! No one with one iota of respect for education and providing an environment where children can learn would have suggested creating an armed camp in schools. To use my tax dollars to fund the effort is just adding insult to injury.
Vote against these minions of the gun manufacturers, polluting industries, sham colleges etc.
We the people have seen enough
20
How about first we let teachers use federal money, or any other money for that matter, to buy pencils, paper, and other basic schoolroom materials that many teachers now purchase themselves. (Ammunition could be added to the list.)
Will teachers be required to use their own time at the local pistol range, or does Ms. DeVos further propose that federal money be used to construct shooting ranges in every school so that teachers may achieve and maintain proficiency in the use of these weapons while staying close to the classroom? Maybe some money could be saved if we just mounted a target on the back wall of the classroom so the teacher could fire off rounds as she lectures the class. (That would also keep bored, sleep-deprived students from nodding off!)
What a stupid idea. This administration has sold out to the NRA lock, stock, and rifle barrel.
15
All teachers should simply refuse such an idea. Putting children in danger goes against everything a teacher does. Just refuse.
15
Betsy DrVos is truly the most horrifying Trump enabler. Vote Democrat in November, and encourage everyone you know to turn out and vote Democrat. It’s the only way to stop these people. Marches, editorials, and speeches are fine, but voting Democrat is the only real solution.
14
Awesome idea!! Instead of Friday night high school football we can have Friday night military games with live ammunition.
7
I assume that the Prince/ DeVos families have financial interests in various gun manufacturers. Welcome to the new "swamp-Trump Style".
12
Betsy De Vos is already seen as one of the more extreme swamp creatures whom Trump has appointed.I predict this outrageous idea will be litigated by Courts-the government cannot simply hand out guns to schools.Has the NRA made a deal with her?
14
I wonder if Betsy DeVos will attend the funerals of the children killed in the inevitable accidental shootings.
I am sure the bereaved family would find it very comforting to hear from the always articulate DeVos an explanation as to why their child had to die for a dangerous political stunt.
15
It’s this sort of insanity that goes under-reported and under the radar because people are too focused on the circus that is the Trump maladministration.
Don’t lose sight of what this corrupt, inept, mendacious maladministration and the complicit GOP Congress are doing to education, the environment, healthcare etc during all the distractions.
18
And maybe add bear spray to thwart grizzly attacks.
15
What a swell idea ! Squander our money,while the intelligence rate in America plummets, and allows people in the pocket of corporate interests to govern them and pick their pockets, while teachers are underpaid and schools are understaffed .
12
I’m reminded of the words of Pema Chodron, the great, wise Buddhist nun who teaches that in order to get unstuck we have to not scratch the itch. Like having a case of scabies or chicken pox, the more we scratch the slower we heal. She challenges us to learn how to not scratch, instead to be present with the itch and that eventually the itching will stop.
We are a nation deeply stuck in a cycle of gun violence in our schools yet this mindless, irresponsible, compassionless ‘leader’ (of educators, no less!) can only come up with one solution: keep scratching. It’s not only unenlightened. It’s breathtakingly stupid and downright cowardly.
Adding more guns will not solve this problem. Maybe spending that gun money to get to the root cause eventually could.
6
How about we equip all the cabinet members with guns to bring to the next meeting?
13
Ms. Devos, as a teacher, mother and grandmother, you WILL NOT be using my tax money to buy guns for schools. Are you out of your mind?! If you want to help teachers, get us supplies, put money into the system so that our kids can have books and good food and proper equipment to help develop their minds and bodies. This is WRONG for so many reasons.
52
@Rev. Linda
I couldn’t agree with you more. Insane. What kind of a world does Betsy deVos want for us? One of constant fear of violence that only a gun can deal with? Hasn’t she learned anything? Guns are killing machines.
Her sponsorship of federal money for guns in schools shows her total misunderstanding of the results of a country’s arming itself against daily life. Not a country I want to live in. I believe our country is smarter at problem solving than that.
4
So, under the current regime, grant money for "student support and academic enrichment" = "guns for teachers."
Please stop the merry-go-round; I want to get off.
22
Using federal funds to buy guns - that is probably the most reckless idea I've ever read. Just what the school system needs - more gun on school property (sarcastically stated).
Why not use the money to beef up security like installing more metal detectors and hiring security guards?
In an open society, no one can ever guarantee total and complete safety, but wouldn't kids be safer going through security lines at their school than seeing their teacher packing a six shooter on his/her hip?
107
@Marge Keller Lets bring home our soldiers from Afghanistan and make them security officers in our schools. At least we would have guards who actually understand combat. The other upside is that the money we spent in that useless war could be spend on improving our schools and getting better mental health services for out students.
1
@Jeff
Your suggestion makes a lot more sense than anything being spewed from Ms. DeVos. Thanks for sharing this interesting point of view.
In polls earlier this year, 45% of Americans supported arming teachers. That's the most astounding fact to me in this whole thing. So, is it De Vos, or us? But here's a way to save money: maybe when our police services upgrade their assault weapons to the latest military cast-offs (militarization of police having been such an astounding success) teachers can be given their old stuff. No new funding required.
For more and more of the events in our time, I'm reminded of the British doctor who ends the movie "Bridge on the River Kwai":
"Madness. Madness!"
The actions being taken by many, in and out of our government, are completely insane, but we all pretend that these are sane folks making sane, rational decisions. They're not: this is crazy and no sane society would be taking these steps.
9
You just can't make this stuff up! However, it should have been as predictable as what's already happened with the EPA, Department of Interior, Commerce, Justice, State, Treasury, HHS, etc.
Only hope I can now hear Rudy once again say, 'Sometimes the truth is not the truth,' so we can all wake up to realize this was only a bad dream.
6
Protecting the lives of our children with highly trained armed teachers is an excellent idea for those teachers who wish to participate. It's a small price to pay for the lives of our children.
2
@Pinky Lee
I guess that would depend entirely on the school, it's particular social setting, the psychological stability of the teacher, and many other factors. If teachers want to be armed security, go be an armed security guard. Simply giving teachers guns with the sort of brief training the schools will ultimately provide, will do nothing but put more lives at risk. Officers and military personnel often speak of mistakes they make in a combat situation, after years and years of training and real experience. The idea that you can simply give a teacher a gun and a few hours of training and expect them to defend themselves and others against psychopaths showing up with AR15s is insane. You know what the police do when they face a gunman with an AR15 and they have nothing but their handgun? They call for backup.
2
@Pinky Lee
How are the police to distinguish between the "good" armed teachers and the "bad" shooter when they arrive on scene? Will the teachers get out their little orange vests first, before taking action?
1
It's idiocy. More guns = more deaths is the only proven equation you need to know.
1
As I read this article, I wondered how much the NRA has influenced DeVos and others working for her. There has to be money involved somehow. My youngest child has three years left until he's out of high school. With our current climate, I am increasingly concerned about his safety. The police chief of our district had said he is opposed to arming teachers because when the police are looking for the shooter, anyone with a gun is a suspect, including the teachers. The police will shoot whoever has a gun. The ones who will suffer most from arming teachers are the students.
11
A school campus bristling with guns will solve everything. Whenever I hear someone argue for more armed personnel in schools, I wait to hear what other measures will be put in place . At a minimum, the personnel with weapons should have the same type of training that police officers have, maybe even a SWAT team type training, or the defenders of a school could cause as much carnage as the shooters. Usually, the advocates of guns in schools have no other plans to prevent or minimize school shootings. This is short sighted and careless.
My first reaction after the Columbine shootings was that money should be spent on cameras and a live person monitoring the screen. In the Columbine case, the shooters drove in and unloaded not only weapons and ammo but small propane tanks and walked across the school parking lot with them. If their approach was seen, steps could have been taken.
Another preventive step would be to have an advertising campaign to encourage students to well, snitch. In many cases, some students had an inkling that someone was going to do something violent. A well publicized, anonymous tip line and a system to respond to tips would be less dramatic than setting up an armed camp, but might be effective.
2
@Monica C
Both the FBI and local LEO were tipped off to Nikolas Cruz before he shot up Parkland, and the school district failed to get him the help he needed then tried covering it up. So as much as you wish it, simply trying to monitor more closely will not prevent the next shooting.
As to training, you obviously don't know that here in Florida at least one county has put district employees who wish to carry (and note these are volunteers who chose to carry to protect their schools) through a training course that consisted of 144 hours of training, equivalent to sheriffs officer training. Simp,y knowing that there are armed personnel at a school will act as a deterrent.
If the Feds want to allow funding to be used to assist that effort that is fine with me - after all it will be up to the individual school district to determine how those funds are used.
Your suggestion that students report any inkling of violence is spot on, but the rest of your post is ridiculous. Putting more guns into schools won't make them safer, just more like prisons.
1
Baloney. More guns = more deaths. That is the only equation that matters in the reality-based world.
1
What firearms do they have in mind? Pistols are notoriously hard to shoot accurately, particularly under stress. Will school districts need to carry extra insurance for friendly fire casualties? Assault rifles fire rounds that retain lethal energy after passing through walls. Will school districts need to up-armor interior walls and windows?
1
Hopefully when the current generation of school children grow up and take over they will look back at this decision and fail to understand how on earth it was made. And then they will correct our mistakes.
7
The beneficiaries of her thinking are the NRA and, I suspect, her brother Eric Prince and his henchmen: send them in to protect the kids, laughing all the way to the bank, draining Federal funding from developing educational programs and buying educational materials.
The teachers don't want guns in the schools. And I don't want my children/grandchildren in a school with armed teachers.
4
Ms. De Vos, I'll take a Cult. 45, an AR 15, and a 38 Special please. Maybe that will make up the difference finally of having dig into my own coffers a little more this this year for actual school supplies..
2
This is another step down the slippery slope of arming schools,next will be neighborhood nuclear superiority.
5
It is sad that the schools in the US are in the hands of someone with such little understanding of the human being and real life as DeVos.
The only good thing is that her decisions will be revoked in less than three years.
6
@Sten Moeller
I would say that the people with little understanding of real life are the ones that don't know that in a number of places teachers and school employees can choose to be armed to protect their schools, so determining whether a school district can use funding to assist those efforts is entirely reasonable - after all, it is up to the school district to determine how those funds are used.
As I walked into my office building I noted the signs and boxes for the drives for school supplies that the building, businesses, and my own firm are all doing right now. Are you seeing the same at your places of business? Given the way we are under funding our schools I am would guess that this ritual is being played out across the country.
The juxtaposition of those efforts to make up for what the schools can't supply and DeVos wanting to use the money to buy guns for schools was glaring as I walked into work.
Have we got it all wrong? Should we be dropping off guns for the teachers rather than the pens and notebooks, and calculators in response to those brightly colored pleas for the students?
19
i have a friend who teaches middle school here in Silicon Valley. I was at her house one summer when she said she had to leave to go to her school. When I asked why she said it was so she could steal the texbooks out of other classes so her students would have enough to go around. I once went o a public school in a depressed area of San Francisco. If you visited a school like this you would not believe it. A quote from the principal: "As long as they are not fighting we don't care what they do." I believed her.
As we move schools further and further from real education we need to spend the resources we have on things that benefit the kids education, not that make Oliver North proud.
6
@Sal Fladabosco- The only thing to do to see us proud would be to get Oliver North appropriately placed into prison for life.
DeVoss, much like her protector Trump, has no idea how to run an education Department. NO Guns ! No political Hacks need be allowed. She must go and the NRA with her.
Education and protection of our children is too important to be left to her mindless ideas.
11
Is this real?
I’ve heard about shortages of pencils, paper, crayons, scissors and other materials, but this is the first mention of a need for guns.
I also haven’t seen any news about grizzly attacks. None.
So what’s the reason for this?
Unfit to serve, just like her boss.
4
@Steve Ell
The reason for this is that school districts around the country are allowing their teachers and school staff to be armed. Training in one county here in Florida consists of 144 hours of training - or the equivalent of 3 and a half weeks.
How rich, look for a loophole in a bill that does not specifically say no guns can be purchased and exploit it so you bypass congress. Is this really the most important thing in education. I’m sure the NRA is in here someplace. This is what you get when an incompetent is made secretary of education.
20
@David DeFilippo
"And while no such restrictions exist in the federal education law"... "In its research, the Education Department has determined that the gun purchases could fall under improving school conditions"
"Its" research, I can't help but wonder whether this research was provided by the NRA.
11
I support the right to arm bears. Forever Grateful.
1
Maybe a more up to date curriculum, or maybe even a required class that you earn credit for which covers mental health, substance abuse, eating disorders, and domestic violence. Also the tools , and resources needed in times of need.
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@Brian Shylkofski
They sound like courses both she and the cult leader need!
In this backwards reality, it wouldn't be a matter of if, but when a teacher would have a lapse in securing the gun properly. What happens when a student finds it?
12
I've been a teacher for many years. You have hit the nail on the head. We are going to start hearing about students 'finding' the guns and there will be deaths.
4
Please. God. No.
Our son will be entering Kindergarten in two years. I’m not happy about this.
1
If any of the complainers don't agree, they always have the option of sending their children to private school, you do have options in this country.....
@There
Only if you're wealthy enough to be able to afford to do so - more of the same DeVos thinking.
2
@There clearly didn't graduate from one.
3
Pretty far out...There. Stupidity apparent runs in conservative circles.
1
Given where we are, with Individual 1’s base and his crimes, do they really want to have a lot of guns in the hands of folks whose politics they are not sure of?
2