Tamaqua School District Ponders Arming Staff
By: Andy Mehalshick
Updated: January 16, 2013
Tamaqua, Schuylkill County- The Tamaqua Area School District may soon have armed employees. And that could include any employee including teachers..administrators even maintenance personnel....
The school board voted unanimously to research the arming of staff, Larry Wittig is School Board President, told Eyewitness News
"We are doing our best we can to be proactive and set up parameters that a normal parent would be concerned about..the training selection of the person anonymity of the person."
Wittig says the district has been looking into increasing security and looked closely at the Sandy Hook Tragedy.
"The only way to truly deter or eliminate the threat of someone coming in is to have the threat of someone inside being able to meet that threat with equal force."
Wittig says there is a lot of work to be done to work out the details..but says the research into the possibility of arming staff is well underway..
Students we talked with had mixed feelings about the idea..
"Especially now a days the way more people have guns people are on drugs its not a good mix." said Hanna Perli, a Tamaqua Area Student
"I think is a good idea because teachers need to protect the students." noted Sage Frey, a Tamaqua Area Student
"I think the whole gun idea might cause a problem because if people find out where it is they might take the authority to do what they want.." added Cailee Bittner, a Tamaqua Area Student
Some parents are also not sure it is a good idea, while others welcome it.
The Tamaqua School District is looking for public input.
The school board voted unanimously to research the arming of staff, Larry Wittig is School Board President, told Eyewitness News
"We are doing our best we can to be proactive and set up parameters that a normal parent would be concerned about..the training selection of the person anonymity of the person."
Wittig says the district has been looking into increasing security and looked closely at the Sandy Hook Tragedy.
"The only way to truly deter or eliminate the threat of someone coming in is to have the threat of someone inside being able to meet that threat with equal force."
Wittig says there is a lot of work to be done to work out the details..but says the research into the possibility of arming staff is well underway..
Students we talked with had mixed feelings about the idea..
"Especially now a days the way more people have guns people are on drugs its not a good mix." said Hanna Perli, a Tamaqua Area Student
"I think is a good idea because teachers need to protect the students." noted Sage Frey, a Tamaqua Area Student
"I think the whole gun idea might cause a problem because if people find out where it is they might take the authority to do what they want.." added Cailee Bittner, a Tamaqua Area Student
Some parents are also not sure it is a good idea, while others welcome it.
The Tamaqua School District is looking for public input.
