If “arming teachers” can’t be insured, is the debate just a cruel charade?
Wake up Florida. We are being gamed again. There’s a good chance that the whole uproar overarming teachers is just an orchestrated distraction.
Zero evidence suggests that arming classroom teachers as described in SB 7030/HB 7093 is insurable. Right now, SB 7030/Arming Teachers is on its way to a full senate floor vote. No one is stepping up to underwrite the enormous liability of putting guns into the hands of classroom teachers with scant training. Out of approximately three weeks of training, only 8 hours are devoted to learning to shoot. Where are the insurance companies for districts, unions or sheriff’s offices on this?
Following last year’s passage of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Safety Act, Stephanie Luke, Chair of the Lake County school board in Florida had this to say about insurance, “It’s a discussion we’re having with our lawyer and our insurance company,” Luke said, emphasizing that those talks are only at the early stages, as the board does not want to appear that it has come to any conclusions on a new policy. “But it (arming district staff) would be more liability,” she conceded.
It’s disturbing to think that the 2019 Florida Legislature, filled with impassioned debate and often deeply personal public outcry over the obvious insanity of arming a teacher, is a cruel political calculation providing cover for:
- the radical transformation of private religious school vouchers into a middle-class entitlement paid for by public school dollars
- the transference of public-school referendum money into the hands of charter CONTINUE READING: If “arming teachers” can’t be insured, is the debate just a cruel charade? | The Edvocate Blog
