MALDEN — The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education “believes that arming educators will make schools less safe and opposes any effort to do so,” according to a resolution passed unanimously at a board meeting Tuesday.
The board listened to a panel discussion of school and emergency response personnel with expertise in emergency planning for schools talk about the merits of school resource officers, drills and debriefs. They discussed the difficulties of navigating school safety during recent walkouts where students were grouped outside at publicly known times, before unanimously passing the resolution.
Acting Commissioner Jeff Wulfson said the board is a regulating agency that doesn’t normally make resolutions, but that in this case the standard of urgency rises above regular circumstances.
“But this may be one of those rare moments where even a symbolic vote is important,” Wulfson wrote in a memorandum released before the meeting. “Massachusetts leads the nation in so many aspects of elementary and secondary education, and I would be proud to have us play a leadership role on this important issue.”
The resolution has no regulatory power, but is a statement acknowledging the tragedy of school shootings, including the recent shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and stating that the board opposes arming teachers.
The resolution comes in the wake of lawmakers in some states proposing legislation to arm teachers after the Parkland shooting, which President Donald Trump supported during a White House meeting last month.
M.J. Tidwell can be reached at mjtidwell@gazettenet.com.