Should Columbia teachers carry guns? School board candidates talk student safety
A question about school safety, asked by a Hickman High School student, again drew distinctions among the three school board candidates on Thursday at a forum by the Columbia-Boone County League of Women Voters.
The forum, with moderator David Lisle, was in the Friends Room of The Columbia Public Library.
The three school board candidates are Alvin Cobbins, John Potter and Jeanne Snodgrass. The top two vote-getters on April 2 will be elected to the Columbia Board of Education, serving three-year terms. Snodgrass is the lone incumbent.
Potter also is running for the Missouri House of Representatives in the 47th District.
Hickman High School students Penelope Heidy, Allison Hall and Olivia Watts, members of the LWV's Youth Advisory Board, each asked questions of the candidates. Heidy asked about student safety when school shootings are frequent and deadly.
Potter drew gasps from the audience when he proposed allowing staff member to conceal and carry firearms at school.
"The only thing that can stop a gun is a gun," Potter said. "The worst thing you can see on a school is a gun-free zone. It's a deterrent."
Current district policy allows only district security personnel and school resource officers to carry firearms, with requirements for annual training.
Later, Potter clarified that he would want armed staff members to be trained.
Snodgrass said she disagreed with Potter's proposal, instead opting for measures the district is actively pursuing including controlling entry by visitors into school buildings and a weapon detection system.
Communication also is important she said.
"When weapons are discovered, it's often because somebody says something," Snodgrass said.
Cobbins said he can't imagine children in school buildings where teachers or staff members are carrying guns.
Creating students with a love of learning and teaching them to read will prevent them from becoming violent, he said.
Watts asked about understaffing.
Improving teacher pay is part of the solution, Potter said.
Student behavior issues are driving some teachers from the profession, he said. Instead of teaching, they're also required to be security guards and psychiatrists and break up fights.
"They've just got too many hats that they have to wear right now," Potter said.
Retention and recruitment of teachers requires paying them adequately, but supports when in the job also is necessary, she said. That includes good professional development.
Teachers are under a lot of pressure, Cobbins said.
"We have to get ahead of that issue and we have to rectify it," Cobbins said.
Hall asked about efforts elsewhere to ban books from schools.
It hasn't been an issue in CPS.
All three candidates said they don't want to ban any books, but they should be age-appropriate.
Politicians have been behind most efforts to ban books, Cobbins said.
"It is a political football that has no place in public schools," he said.
Potter called for a districtwide cell phone policy, as he has at all the forums.
"You can't learn math if you're on TikTok," Potter said.
Lile asked the other candidates about a cell phone policy.
Something that's consistent across the district is needed, Snodgrass said.
"We want distraction-free classrooms," she said.
Students are sneaky about using their phones, but it shouldn't be allowed, said Cobbins.
"I don't think there's a place for them in classrooms" unless they're necessary for a lesson, he said.
Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on X at @rmckinney9.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Columbia school board candidate proposes arming school staff
