Biden’s New Executive Order Strengthens Educators’ Right to Safe Schools

In response to the escalating threat of gun violence in schools, with at least 50 this year, President Biden has signed a new executive order that directs federal agencies to combat emerging firearms threats and improve school-based active shooter drills.

The Executive Order focuses on two major priorities:

• Addressing Emerging Firearms Threats: The rise of machine gun conversion devices and unserialized, 3D-printed "ghost guns" has heightened the dangers in schools and communities. These firearms are illegal and increasingly present at crime scenes due to their low cost, ease of creation, and lack of serial numbers.

• Improving School-Based Active Shooter Drills: Federal agencies are now tasked with developing guidelines to ensure these drills are trauma-informed, age-appropriate, and effective, addressing the concerns of parents, students, and educators alike.

We could say many things here about the epidemic of violence in our schools, about the all-too-easy access to guns for teenagers, or about the lack of mental health support and social workers available to families.

But you already know all of that. With our own state seeing an alarming rise in school shooting threats, from Austin ISD to McAllen ISD, it's why the fifth plank of our Educator's Bill of Rights is the right to a healthy, safe, and secure working environment.

The rate of gun deaths in Texas increased 46% from 2012 to 2021, higher than the still alarming 39% increase nationwide. As we know too well, our schools are often on the front lines: in a five-year span from 2018 to 2023, 125 people were wounded or killed in 80 Texas school shootings.

Our latest annual polling among our members shows overwhelming concern about the prevalence of gun violence in schools with 82.4% of K-12 employees saying they are concerned by the possibility of gun violence at their campus, 81.1% of higher education employees saying they are concerned by the possibility of gun violence at their campus, and 4.9% reporting that their campus has already experienced an incident of gun violence.

The right to a safe school is not just a demand nor a necessity - it is a fundamental right our public schools deserve so they can thrive.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.