Editorial: Teachers packing heat?

Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007 | 7:15 a.m.

D iscussions have surfaced once again about whether Nevada's teachers should in some instances be allowed - encouraged, even - to carry concealed weapons in their classrooms.

Such a proposal died in the Nevada Legislature this year. But in two stories by the Las Vegas Sun last week, school police officials from across Nevada, members of the State Board of Regents and retired police officers raised the issue again with informal proposals for training existing teachers as reserve school police officers or training retired police officers to teach classes.

Both options leave many questions unanswered. For example, would a classroom teacher who is trained as an officer be allowed to use more aggressive tactics in controlling an unruly student? And if a situation arises in another part of the school that requires the attention of a teacher-officer, does that teacher simply leave his class unattended?

Seeking out retired police officers to teach doesn't exactly solve the issue of school security, either. We should be hiring teachers or seeking professionals to enroll in the state's fast-track teaching certificate program because of their abilities and desire to teach, not because they can handle a weapon.

And in addition to these concerns, there is one very real consequence of having teachers double as officers: Children as young as 5 or 6 could be in classrooms where loaded guns are present.

Phil Gervasi, president of the Clark County School Police Officers Association, told Sun reporter Emily Richmond that he doesn't believe that arming teachers is the way to improve school security. "Several times a week we get reports of teachers losing their keys, losing their cell phones, teachers having their wallets taken out of their purses and desk drawers," Gervasi said. "How are they going to secure a weapon during class time?"

It is a good point that illustrates that the issue is not whether it is better to turn teachers into cops or to turn retired cops into teachers. Guns do not belong in Nevada's classrooms.