Well, now. It would appear that the Superintendent of Newtown Schools, Janet Robinson, wants to have a continued presence of armed police officers on school grounds. Will VP Biden listen?
From The Huffington Post, 10 January 2013:
NEWTOWN, Conn. — Since the elementary school massacre in her hometown, Sarah Findley has found herself driving by her children's schools in Newtown, checking to make sure police are still stationed outside.
The mother of three is among many people calling on school officials to keep up the police presence at schools in Newtown, which has had two officers at each of its schools since a gunman killed 20 children and six women inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14.
"I think we're all just shaken to the core," said Findley, whose children all attend schools other than Sandy Hook. "I think it made it possible for the people who were maybe wavering about sending their kids to school to actually be able to do it."
The shooting set off a debate nationwide about the appropriate level of security inside schools. In Newtown, where many parents like Findley struggled to send their children back to school after the massacre, some say that the sight of uniformed officers is a comfort to their children and for now they cannot imagine schools without police.
Newtown school officials say they've received many emails from parents voicing concern about long-term security. Schools Superintendent Janet Robinson also wants the police presence to continue, saying children have not ventured outside school for recess because of anxiety.
Folks in Newtown have been emailing the same thing, in The News-Times from 9 January 2013:
"We feel this has gone from a want to a need," Roman told both the commission and the board.
She was not alone. A couple of other parents expressed similar sentiments, and the district has received close to 300 emails, many of them voicing concern about long-term security and police presence in the schools.
Schools Superintendent Janet Robinson said this presence is "indefinite," with Newtown's department supplemented by officers from other departments.
"I've told the police we need them," Robinson said, noting that children have not ventured outside for recess "because of anxiety."
But wait, there's more. It also seems the White House is considering funding for police officers on school grounds. From Breitbart, 11 January 2013:
In what seems like a surprise move, the White House working group on gun control is considering expanding federal funding for cops in schools.
It was the NRA's Wayne LaPierre who, a week after the shooting in Newtown, recommended placing armed police officers in every school in America. The idea was ridiculed by the left but has been embraced by the school superintendent in Newtown at the behest of many parents. There are currently two officers present at each of the six schools in the Newtown district.
I wonder if Prsident Obama told Vice-President Biden about this? Will Mr. Biden ignore these people, or will he actually consider their input? I mean, it is their children who were taken from them, and they should be the biggest voices he listens to right now. Or maybe the anti-gunners are offering him too much money to not...
Politics, politics, politics, baby. And to think people voted for this. *facepalm*
