A Safe Man Not A Gun Man

I answered the phone and heard the crying voice of a teacher informing me that a parent was murdered and found by her children.  I  met the police at 5:30 in the morning and took girls into the safety of school because their mom was raped as they slept in their beds. I witnessed a five-year-old tell her teacher that she was touched in an awful way.  I attended funerals of parents who have died of heroin overdose.  I refused to release a child to a strung out parent.  I held a child in my arms and shared that his dad was going to jail for life. I stopped a child from eating from the dumpster and found the child food. I comforted children who witnessed a shooting.  I wake up in the middle night as my brain flashes back to the images of abusive marks left on children's bodies. 

I am a principal and I am there at a child's worse moment to keep a child safe.  I am the only safe man in some children's life.  I am a healer.   I am a nurturing voice.   I am the protective and loving man when children hurt.  I will not carry a gun.

 I will lead the charge to run into harm's way to protect a child.  I will sacrifice my life in loco parentis.  I will not carry a gun.   A safe approachable person in a child's life is not a person with a gun.  I am a safe person in a child's life.

We are at a crossroads in responding to school safety. We need a national comprehensive response that addresses mental health and school security.  We need transforming change to keep our children safe.

I will not carry a gun.  If an armed presence is needed in schools than let's find the funding to train school security officers or higher school resource officers.   Don't our children deserve trained security and not a teacher with a concealed carry permit? 

Educators are already responding every day to the needs of children. We are safe adults nurturing and caring for children.  We are a safe harbor in a chaotic world.   

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