For further information contact:                                                                                                     
David Broderic (717) 255-7169
Wythe Keever (717) 255-7107

HARRISBURG (Feb. 22, 2018) – In response to state and federal officials’ interest in arming teachers and school support staff in public schools, Pennsylvania State Education Association President Dolores McCracken issued the following statement emphasizing that policies to put guns in schools would endanger students, school staff, and first responders.

“We are all shocked and horrified by the recent mass shootings that have occurred in public schools across America, in places where students should feel safest. PSEA is committed to working with Gov. Tom Wolf and lawmakers to find ways to ensure that these tragedies never happen again.

“But we are absolutely certain that legislation aimed at arming school employees would make our kids less safe, and we strongly oppose state and federal efforts to put more guns in schools.

“Teachers are not trained law enforcement officers – their job is to educate children and act as role models.

“PSEA is not opposed to the use of appropriately trained and armed school safety personnel in schools, like the school safety officers that some districts employ. What our Association does oppose is arming teachers, education support professionals, and other school staff.

“Proposals like these would create more problems for first responders arriving at the scene of an armed confrontation, making it more difficult to immediately distinguish a perpetrator from a school employee.

“PSEA is for strategies that keep students safe. Arming school staff members doesn’t keep students safe. That’s why we oppose it.”

McCracken is a paraprofessional in the Council Rock School District. An affiliate of the National Education Association, PSEA represents approximately 181,000 future, active and retired teachers and school employees, and health care workers in Pennsylvania.