Our children, especially our elementary-aged children, are at an increasing risk of violent death while attending school, exemplified by the very recent deaths in the shooting attack on Covenant Presbyterian School. While it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of school resource officers (SROs) as a deterrent to school shootings, in this most recent attack police investigations have shown that the shooter considered other targets and was, in fact, deterred by the presence of security at those locations, deciding instead to attack the unguarded elementary school by shooting out the locked glass doors to enter the school.   

Regardless of your stance on gun control legislation, we must put as much—if not more--effort and resources into protecting our children as we do our elected officials, banks, media centers, hospitals, and even malls.  Effective change through legislation would require years to produce any appreciable result.   

What we need now are trained and armed officers in EVERY school to provide a first line of defense.  Many high schools and junior high schools already have SROs in place, leaving our youngest children most vulnerable to attack.  As tax-paying citizens, we have a right to demand that some of those funds be allocated to protecting our children and educators.  Lawmakers in Tennessee and Kentucky are expanding their security resource officer programs to all public schools.  Please sign this petition if you believe this should be implemented in Ohio as well, and please share with other Ohioans.