‘I’m very scared’: TN parent worried by what arming teachers could mean for kids with learning disabilities

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — With Tennessee teachers now allowed to carry guns on school grounds, the passing of HB1202 by Rep. Ryan Williams (R-Cookeville) has met fierce outcry from many parents, students and even teachers themselves.

When Yadira Calderon, a parent of a high schooler at Metro Nashville Public Schools, heard the bill had passed on Tuesday, April 23, she said her heart immediately began pounding in her chest as she wondered, “What is going on?”

READ MORE: Legislature OKs permitting armed teachers in Tennessee schools

Being a parent of a child on the autism spectrum, Calderon said it’s not always been easy for her daughter’s teachers to understand her behaviors, but she never imagined she would have to worry about what might happen if teachers are armed.

“With the dynamics of possible teachers within the school setting being armed — yes, their main goal would be to, I hope they’ve been trained in de-escalation to minimize possible damage. But this is a very heavy concept,” Calderon said.

Challenges in the classroom

Children who are diagnosed with autism can have a variety of different behaviors. Calderon’s daughter went several years speaking very little, which her mother said manifested into negative experiences at school — experiences her daughter still has trouble grappling with today.

She was only 7 years old when Calderon said her daughter was locked in the bathroom by a teacher in Florida who “didn’t know how to work out or help her with the circumstances at the time.”

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“Placing a 7-year-old in a bathroom and being told you don’t know how to behave; this is where you should be, and you have to wait. I’m sorry, it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work,” said Calderon, who added that she worries about what the outcome may have been if a gun was involved.

In one study, researchers found that children aged 6 to 10 years old who were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder were rated by their teachers as exhibiting significantly higher levels of behavioral and emotional difficulties than their peers.

Those difficulties included things like “oppositional behavior” and “aggressive behavior,” as well as difficulties regulating their emotions. Another study last year found that one in six children with a sensory processing disorder are expelled from preschool for behaviors connected to autism.

However, it’s not just children with autism who face these unique challenges at school. Calderon said any parent of a child with disabilities or in an Individualized Education Program understands the behavioral or emotional difficulties that can arise in a school setting and how those situations can quickly escalate out of control.

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She used the state’s testing requirements as an example, explaining how it can be “disastrous” for a student on the autism spectrum, or with ADHD or OCD, to have to stay in a testing room for hours without any accommodations.

“I know it’s important to vocalize this and share this information because these are some of the fears that we parents have,” Calderon said. “These are some of the concerns. We are not in the classroom… we the parents are here, and we need to be included in the conversation.”

Although HB 1202 has strict requirements for teachers who wish to carry handguns, including, undergoing a thorough background check, completing 40 hours of additional training, and passing a psychological evaluation, that does not put parents like Calderon any more at ease.

“Yes, the explanation has been presented that there are all of these hours of training, the background checks, but we know that that happens right now,” she said. “And that hasn’t stopped certain situations from taking place, regardless of the training of whoever may be.”

How school districts are responding

Many Tennessee school districts are still waiting on further guidance before making decisions on whether they will allow their teachers to carry guns, with some like Wilson County Schools stating that it will likely be discussed at upcoming school board meetings.

Middle TN school districts waiting on further guidance before decisions on arming teachers

However, Metro Nashville Public Schools has already rejected the idea. The school system put out a statement earlier this week saying that only “approved active-duty law enforcement officers” will be allowed to carry weapons on campus.

Calderon said she is very thankful and has a lot of “respect” for her daughter’s school district for not allowing teachers to carry guns but worries that decision could eventually be reversed. She also knows parents of children with special needs in other counties who are still nervously waiting to hear what their district’s decision will be.

Read the latest from the TN State Capitol Newsroom

“That’s why existing schools now have SROs, the officers and the personnel, who are armed, who has been trained doing that job,” she said. “But adding an extra layer of people, giving them all these dual and triple roles, I don’t understand. I don’t get it. And I’m very scared.”

Proponents of the bill have argued that the legislation will not only be a deterrent for potential shooters, but a solution for some schools struggling to find school resource officers (SROs).

“If you’re from a rural district where resources are limited, you don’t have the ability to provide enough SROs for your community or an SRO at all, this would give you an opportunity to find a different pathway with training, fingerprints, mental evaluation,” Williams told News 2 in a previous interview.

However, Calderon said she believes lawmakers need to reassess how they approach school safety. As she has done in the past, Calderon said she plans to continue writing state lawmakers, urging them to consider children with disabilities in their decisions.

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“I urge all of them, including Gov. Bill Lee, come and talk to us parents of children with disabilities, with special needs, who are also individuals, who are human beings, who have rights,” she said. “And we can better help you understand and include us in the decision-making when laws are being passed for whatever situation maybe that has to do with the school setting.”

The bill, which passed 68-28-2, will soon head to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk for his signature. Many schools have stated they will make a decision on policies after the bill is signed.

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