The superintendent of a small school district in West Central Texas this week after parents learned that his gun was found in a bathroom stall by a third grade student, an incident that comes as Texas lawmakers and top officials discuss school safety in the aftermath of the Uvalde shooting and prioritize measures like arming more educators.
Monty Jones, the principal of Rising Star Elementary School, told that he and former Rising Star Independent School District Superintendent Robby Stuteville carried weapons on campus in response to school shootings. Jones and Stuteville did not respond to interview requests.
鈥淔or our kids鈥� protection, we need someone who is more responsible with a gun,鈥� Elizabeth Lee, who has two grandchildren in the district, .
Parents were upset about how the district, about 124 miles southwest of Fort Worth, handled the incident. After the third grader found the gun, a teacher sent another student to confirm it was real. And district leaders didn鈥檛 notify the community until last week.
鈥淚 was shocked because it happened early in January and we鈥檙e just now finding out about it,鈥� Lee said. 鈥淢r. Stuteville is a good man. But that was irresponsible.鈥�
The Rising Star school board will meet Thursday night to discuss Stuteville鈥檚 resignation and potentially name an acting superintendent.
It is unclear whether Stuteville and Jones were part of the state鈥檚 program, which allows educators to carry weapons inside schools after 80 hours of training, or its 鈥済uardian plan,鈥� which lets local school boards designate district employees who can carry firearms and determine what kind of firearm training they must get. The state keeps the names of the marshals and the districts in the program confidential.
Both the Texas House and Senate have proposed setting aside $600 million from the state budget to , or implement measures aimed at increasing security in school buildings. Lawmakers have not yet said how they鈥檇 like to use that money, but a Senate committee has recommended expanding the state鈥檚 mental health telemedicine system to all school districts and hiring more mental health professionals.
But it鈥檚 unlikely that the attention on school safety will lead to stricter gun laws 鈥� as some 鈥� with the Republican-led Legislature working in the in the aftermath of several mass shootings in the last few years.
鈥淎nything that is considered gun control is dead on arrival,鈥� said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University. 鈥淚n terms of school safety, the focus is going to be almost exclusively on hardening the schools in terms of more money for installing modern security.鈥�
After the Uvalde shooting, Gov. he wanted to arm more school employees under the school marshal program. The TEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Many school staff members don鈥檛 want to be armed. As of Wednesday, only 71 school districts out of 1,200 in the state were participating in the school marshal program. Last year, a Texas American Federation of Teachers of about 5,100 K-12 school employees, higher-ed employees, parents and community leaders found that most of them don鈥檛 support arming teachers and prefer limiting gun access.
鈥淭rying to arm teachers is risky and counterproductive,鈥� said Zeph Capo, president of the national AFT, a teachers union. 鈥淭eachers can鈥檛 be expected to become highly trained law enforcement officers and use guns in a crisis without endangering students or themselves.鈥�
In 2019, public health professors Jagdish Khubchandani at New Mexico State University and James Price at the University of Toledo took a look at school security practices and their effectiveness. They found no evidence that more armed teachers reduced gun violence in schools.
One issue with arming school personnel is that it鈥檚 hard to monitor whether proper protocols are being followed, which could lead to situations similar to the one at Rising Star ISD, said Odis Johnson, the executive director of the Center for Safe and Healthy Schools at John Hopkins University.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 say there鈥檚 a lot of evidence that tells us how effective [keeping guns in school] has been in terms of ensuring the safety of the kids who could have access to these firearms,鈥� he said. 鈥淧eople are so fearful of school shootings that they make access to these guns more likely for kids, and ultimately that鈥檚 not going to keep kids safe.鈥�