We were briefly discombobulated Monday morning after a Herald reporter spotted a draft resolution on the website of Durango School District 9-R, prepared by administrators for the signature of the school board president in advance of a board meeting Monday evening.
It seemed to be a proposal to arm school security officers.
Could the 9-R administration really make such a move – try to put armed district employees in the halls of your child’s elementary school – without so much as a word to parents or the public? With no notice at all?
Yes. It is exceedingly poor judgment, to say the least; but this administration just did it.
After the Herald put a story online about the resolution being brought before the board in mere hours, the board tabled it, amid vociferous opposition.
“If we had the chance to be here” – that is, if the board or administration had given them a chance – “we would be here en masse,” one parent told the board.
Board president Nancy Stubbs said this was not a new subject and she assumed word of it had trickled out to the community.
We commend Stubbs for recognizing the need for discussion. We just think there needs to be more.
No matter whether you think there should be people with bazookas in every middle school or you think schools rigidly should be gun-free, first things first: This is something for parents and the community to discuss.
It may be that a community will be evenly split, and a board or a superintendent will push a decision that is bound to be unpopular with some or many. That is called leadership.
Acting unilaterally and without notice or public discussion about such a sensitive subject, or simply trying to, is called a failure of leadership.
We expect more from this 9-R board and administration.
