Forsyth Satellite: #NeverAgain

Tragedy struck on Valentine’s Day and has rocked the nation. On February 14, 2018, Nikolas Cruz entered a Florida high school and opened fire, resulting in the death of 17 and many others injured. In response, President Trump has suggested arming teachers to prevent shootings and protect students. However, our Forsyth educators have other ideas.

In a tweet, Trump stated that arming teachers would be “up to the states” and act as “a big and very inexpensive deterrent.” Trump has further stated that armed educators must be “very smart people. Must be firearms adept and will have trainings...shootings will not happen again.”

In a survey to the Forsyth community, 100% of our educators’ responses answered no, when asked whether or not they believed arming educators would be beneficial in preventing shootings and protecting students.

Our teachers provided reasonings for their beliefs. Though the answers varied, every response had very similar ideas. There was a general consensus that providing school staff with arms would be ineffective. Many pointed out that the role and training of a teacher is to educate and support students, not to shoot.

Educators emphasized the importance of providing better support to schools. One anonymous educator suggested, “...smaller class sizes, more teachers on staff so schools can provide a greater variety of classes and services, better training on being culturally responsive, greater diversity in the workforce, more guidance counselors and social workers to provide social and emotional support to students and families, more and better facilities.”

Though President Trump may believe in arming educators as a deterrent, our Forsyth staff feel differently. Instead, we need to do better to prevent mass shootings. This should not and can not happen again. In support of the survivors and their movement for a call to action, #NeverAgain.