'Our Teachers Did Not Sign Up To Carry Guns': Illinois Union Head

SPRINGFIELD, IL — The head of Illinois' largest teachers union joined the chorus of others in the education field around the state and the Chicago area Thursday, decrying President Donald Trump's call to explore the option of arming educators as a response to the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead. llinois Education Association President Kathi Griffin said identifying potential shooters and getting them the help they need before a tragedy strikes is the key to keeping students and faculty safe at schools, not allowing teachers to carry guns.

“We need to stop repeating history and tackle the school shooting epidemic head on, but arming our teachers is not the answer," Griffin said in a statement Thursday. "Our teachers and support staff members did not sign up to carry guns! They are not law enforcement. They became teachers and support staff because they wanted to help students learn and succeed."

Griffin's comments were in response to a series of tweets posted by the president Thursday, Feb. 22, that made his case for "look[ing] at the possibility of giving concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience — only the best." Trump called "gun-free" schools a "magnet for bad people," and allowing qualified teachers to carry guns in the classroom would cost less than hiring guards and could be a powerful tool to curbing mass shootings at schools.

"Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive," he wrote. "GREAT DETERRENT!"

But Griffin — whose group represents 135,000 teachers and support staff in schools outside Chicago — disagreed with Trump and didn't think introducing more guns to the equation was the solution. Instead, she advocates working with law enforcement and adopting procedures to help identify the students who fly under the radar, the disenfranchised, that end up committing these senseless acts of violence … the kids on the fringe." Griffin specifically pointed to "Know Me, Know My Name," a free program for schools developed by the union designed to do just that. The group also lists a variety of other resources for educators on its website.

RELATED: Schaumburg High School Students Walk Out For Stronger Gun Laws

"We have been working to spread the word and implement trauma-informed practices throughout the state for more than three years now to try to prevent this from ever happening in Illinois," she said about those resources. "Our members don’t need to be carrying guns. We need to identify these kids who need help and connect them with the services they need to get them the help they need."

Griffin was not alone in her dissent. Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery told the Chicago Tribune that the idea of arming teachers is grating at a time when educators are told there's not enough money for actual teaching.

"We’re constantly told there are no resources for — you name it — another school band, another school program, school arts funding," he said. The IFT represents more than 100,000 teachers and support staff. "But wait a minute, there’s suddenly funding to put weapons of war into the hands of teachers? I think it’s insanity."

RELATED: Thousands Walk Out In Oak Park High School Gun Violence Protest

Some chicago educators told the Tribune that arming teachers also could present a variety of problems in city schools, given the level the of gun violence many of the students already must deal with on a daily basis. Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson and Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey both objected to the idea.

"Frankly … weapons going into schools every day is the last thing we need," Sharkey told the Tribune.

This debate over allowing teachers to carry firearms comes a day after students around the state and the nation walked out of classes to mark the one-week anniversary of the Parkland shooting. Thousands of high school students in Schaumburg and Oak Park also used the observance to call on legislators to pass stronger gun laws.

More via Chicago Tribune

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