Update: On 1/25, The S. Huntington BOE unanimously passed the measure to have armed guards on school grounds. This petition will continue to oppose the measure in the hopes of repealing it.

This Wed. 1/25, the South Huntington Board of Education plans to vote on whether or not to have armed guards stationed at entrances to all schools every day and at certain events. This petition against armed guards will be shared with the board on the morning of the vote. Please comment with your connection to the S. Huntington community and share with other concerned parents.

THE DATA: Do armed guards make our schools safer? A report jointly issued by Every Town for Gun Safety in partnership with the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association cited two large studies. One examined 179 school shootings over a two decade period and found no evidence that school resource officers reduced deaths or injuries from school shooting incidents. Another study conducted by the National Institute of Justice looked at every school shooting and attempted school shooting from 1980 to 2019 in US K-12 school and found that the rate of death in these incidents was over two times greater in schools with armed guards on the scene than in those without.

PROTECT OUR BIPOC YOUTH: Research has also found that armed security at schools increases the fear and criminalization of our most marginalized students. Armed guards create a negative school climate of fear and mistrust in the community, particularly with persons of color.

ACT: Please sign and let the board know that this is NOT what our community wants or needs. Please share ASAP with others who you think will care. 

REFERENCES:
https://everytownresearch.org/report/how-to-stop-shootings-and-gun-violence-in-schools/
https://everytownresearch.org/graph/the-u-s-gun-homicide-rate-is-25-times-that-of-other-high-income-countries/
https://www.nea.org/resource-library/hardening-schools-doesnt-work
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/do-guns-make-us-safer-science-suggests-no/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/more-guns-do-not-stop-more-crimes-evidence-shows/
https://www.edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/ai21-476.pdf