School Boards need to be held criminally liable for school shootings (Poll)

Should laws holding school boards and security personnel responsible be passed?

  • Yes, children require grown-ups to protect them

    Votes: 19 45.2%
  • No, I'll explain why in my post

    Votes: 23 54.8%

  • Total voters
    42
It's not the board's fault per se, a lot of parents absolutely do not want their children to be exposed to the trappings involved in a hardened environment. I have heard parents state they don't want their children seeing people walking around carrying guns, having to go through metal detectors, or having their "innocence stolen" by them having to understand that there are evil people in the world that could mean them harm but there are things that they can do to help reduce the possibility that they too become a victim, even things they can learn to do to protect themselves and survive if their school should ever become a target.

As far as holding the district and their security personnel liable for any loss of life or injuries, security measures are all about mitigation of risk, nothing and no one can absolutely guarantee no harm will occur. Having said that though, if your personnel follow establish security procedures as they were trained to do and do all within their power to stop a threat then no, there should be no prosecution in my opinion.

If they didn't do what they were supposed to that's a different story.

I know that having someone on-site along with other security hardening measures can definitely mitigate the risk to the students from an OUTSIDE threat, however they will not eliminate the threat from someone thoroughly dedicated to inflict as much harm as possible like the Buffalo shooter who was confronted and shot 11 times it was reported by a retired police officer working security at the Top's grocery store. The 11 shots were ineffective because the shooter was wearing Kevlar and I still haven't seen anything indicating from where he obtained it, because it's not sold to the general population.

Lastly, I hated the way school resource officer Scott Petersen was treated because he didn't go into the building to confront school shooter Nikolas Cruz during the Parkland school shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school back in 2018. Petersen at least tried to get Cruz involuntarily committed (Baker Act) but there were so many people trying to keep Cruz's criminal history clean that it is alleged that they refused to allow him to be committed. Had they no interfered, Cruz possibly could have been locked up somewhere instead of free to kill more than a dozen of his classmates.
'They Don't Know The Truth': Ex-School Resource Officer Scot Peterson Defends Actions During Parkland School Shooting

Worse still, now we find out after the horror of the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas earlier this week, that the police waited an hour before entering the school to confront the 18 year old shooter Salvador Ramos, in spite of the huge number of law enforcement officers and agents who responded to the scene.
Israel limits gun ownership to one gun and 50 bullets.
 
Let's examine your 14 links
1. Limit entryways to school buildings. Clearly mark the main entry to the school and post signs on other entries redirecting visitors to the main entry. Lock outside access doors. Check periodically to make sure the doors haven’t been tampered with or propped open. The periodic inspections should include windows too.
Accomplished many years ago in most schools.
2. Monitor the school parking lot. If possible, have a parking lot monitor who oversees people entering and leaving the campus.
Accomplished many years ago in most schools, with the exception of the monitor which is not feasible,
3. Monitor and supervise student common areas such as hallways, cafeterias, and playgrounds. If possible, add video surveillance in These areas to record anything a monitoring person may miss.
Accomplished many years ago in most schools.
4. Promote school-community partnerships to enhance safety measures for students beyond school property (police surveillance, Neighborhood Watch programs). There are willing community organizations that can help.
Accomplished many years ago in most schools.
5. Consider the presence of school resource officers, local police, and/or security guards.
Accomplished many years ago in most schools.
6. Monitor school visitors. Require that visitors report to the main office, sign in, and wear visitor badges. All staff should be trained to report strangers not wearing a visitor badge to the school office.
Stupid suggestion. School shooters usually start firing as soon as they enter.
7. Provide threat-assessment and risk-assessment procedures and teams for conducting them.
Stupid suggestion. That would accomplish nothing except waste time.
8. Develop/update your school’s crisis plan and preparedness training. School emergency plans should include preparedness procedures such as lockdowns, evacuations, parent-student reunification procedures, and emergency communications protocols. These should be shared with parents and the media. Building-level teams should regularly review plans, hold simulation drills, and train staff in how to respond to students’ questions.
Accomplished many years ago in most schools.
9. Create a safe, supportive school climate that provides school-wide behavioral expectations, caring school climate programs, positive interventions and supports, psychological and counseling services, and violence prevention programs.
So damned vague as to be useless.
10. Encourage students to take responsibility for their part in maintaining safe school environments. Reward students who take the initiative to help keep schools safe.
So damned vague as to be useless.
11. Provide students with access to anonymous reporting systems (student hot lines, “suggestion” boxes, “tell an adult” campaigns). Young people sometimes have a difficult time speaking up if they see or hear something that may compromise school security. Allow them the means to communicate without the embarrassment of being labeled a “tattle tale”.
Accomplished many years ago in most schools. Completely worthless.
12. Institute strict procedures for key control. Assign the responsibility for locking and unlocking the school to as few individuals as possible. Number the keys in existence and document who has which school keys.
Accomplished many years ago in most schools.
13. Keep unoccupied rooms and spaces locked when not in use.
Accomplished many years ago in most schools.
14. Ensure that all classrooms, including portable and temporary classrooms, have two-way communication with the office.
Accomplished many years ago in most schools.
The writer(s) of this article has never set foot in a school and sat around spitballing ideas that are ancient history.
I agree most of those are "theoretical" suggestions for consideration.
The most important one was #1, locking doors and controlling access remotely using video cameras to ensure anyone with a gun can't get in.
 
How does the FBI protect the school boards? WTF are you talking about?
...the FBI classifies concerned parents who speak up at school board meetings "domestic terrorists"...

 
Bullshit. The constitution you hide behind you gun huggers are a funny bunch. Passing the blame to the school boards. That's funny shit. Stupid but funny.
One US city, Chicago, has strict gun control laws, and 3,000 shooting victims a year. You were saying gun grabber?
 
The answer is___________
Recognizing and acting on the fact that we have a gun problem AND and a cultural problem, both of which need to be addressed honestly (for a change) and seriously (for a change).

For example:
I've been saying all along this is a cultural issue. I actually say that about MOST of our problems. Smart, reasonable background checks are fine. Let's do that. But look at the other things in which our young people are immersed: The internet, hyper-violent video games, violent music, violent movies, coarse entertainment, a general lowering of standards at every fucking opportunity.

I'm sick of band aids, and I'm sick of us looking for one simple thing to point at. This is an "all of the above" task. But America can no longer fix big problems, because our fucking tribal politics get in the way. Just another example of why I'm now a one-issue voter: We have to change our political/electoral system before we can advance.
 
Recognizing and acting on the fact that we have a gun problem AND and a cultural problem, both of which need to be addressed honestly (for a change) and seriously (for a change).

For example:

We agree on many issues:
1. Cultural issues, like shooter video games. Missing parents. Lack of discipline. Lack of respect for others. Lack of traditional values. Lack of religious guidance, etc.

2. Background checks: IMHO every gun owner should be required to get a "carry permit" so that the local police know who has what guns in their area. Now to buy a gun the gun store calls the FBI, and the approval takes a few minutes.

3. What is your "one issue" to vote on?
 
Recognizing and acting on the fact that we have a gun problem AND and a cultural problem, both of which need to be addressed honestly (for a change) and seriously (for a change).

For example:
Ole Mac1958 thinks that disarming American citizens will stop homicidal maniacs from murdering people

It wont

But he wants punish honest gun owners anyway
 
We agree on many issues:
1. Cultural issues, like shooter video games. Missing parents. Lack of discipline. Lack of respect for others. Lack of traditional values. Lack of religious guidance, etc.

2. Background checks: IMHO every gun owner should be required to get a "carry permit" so that the local police know who has what guns in their area. Now to buy a gun the gun store calls the FBI, and the approval takes a few minutes.

3. What is your "one issue" to vote on?
The FBI was informed before the shooting that the kid was a danger to society and did nothing
 
Responsible school districts are designing safe schools.
Did you read the OP?
There are many protective devices that can be used.

There is NO SUCH THING as a "safe school". The USA has been "hardening schools" for years. There were armed guards, two cops on site and a "hardened" school in Texas. The shooter took out the three cops, and used the "hardened facility" to keep police out of the school for nearlyh an hour.

Your "safe school" helped him kill those kids.

Stop selling guns to every fool who asks for one.
 
There is NO SUCH THING as a "safe school". The USA has been "hardening schools" for years. There were armed guards, two cops on site and a "hardened" school in Texas. The shooter took out the three cops, and used the "hardened facility" to keep police out of the school for nearly an hour.
Your "safe school" helped him kill those kids.
Stop selling guns to every fool who asks for one.
Lying as usual.
There were no armed guards at the school.
The doors were open.
The shooter didn't take out any cops but barricaded himself in a classroom.

If the school was "safe" the shooter would have never gotten in with an AR, duh. LIAR.
 
Lying as usual.
There were no armed guards at the school.
The doors were open.
The shooter didn't take out any cops but barricaded himself in a classroom.

If the school was "safe" the shooter would have never gotten in with an AR, duh. LIAR.

This knee jerk response to call everyone a "liar" is both destructive and A COMPLETELY FALLACY. Show some manners!!!

Initial reports were that he had shot an armed guard outside the school to gain access to the school, and two policemen who had arrived on the scene.


"The 18-year-old gunman who killed 21 people at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, was not confronted by police before he entered the school, a Texas law enforcement official said Thursday, contradicting earlier comments from authorities and raising further questions about the police response to the massacre.
"He walked in unobstructed initially," Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Regional Director Victor Escalon said. "So from the grandmother's house, to the (ditch), to the school, into the school, he was not confronted by anybody."

 

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