BRENHAM SCHOOL BOARD REJECTS ANGEL GUARDIANS SECURITY PLAN
The Brenham School Board voted five to two to reject the Angel Guardians school security plan at their meeting last (Monday) night.
The proposal would put an armed professional on each of the district’s campuses with the hope of ensuring that a mass school shooting, such as the one at Newtown, Connecticut last December from ever happening here.
The vote came after nearly a year of discussions, workshops and debates on the merits of the plan.
The strongest advocate for the program was developer and gun rights advocate John Deans. He called the vote ‘unfortunate’ and said the decision would keep ‘our school children at risk of active shooters since our policy is ‘run, hide and cower.’ Deans said there was support for the Angel Guardians program throughout the district and the community..'
There were several voices of opposition to the plan, including teachers who said they supported the second amendment to the Constitution. One called for better secured schools while another teacher said her students had good questions and said there was nothing in the plan that said what would happened to the students while their teacher is taking up arms in a active shooter situation.
Herb Foelber told the board that teachers should be ‘armed with books and computers, not guns.
Board Member Ray Weiss made the motion for the district to adopt the plan and he was seconded by Dr. Donald Draehn. It soon became clear that most of the Board was not going to favor the program. Trustee Marshall Harrell said the proposal would go too far. Board Member Tommie Sullivan said he couldn’t imagine a teacher leaving their students during a shooting incident.
Weiss and Board Member Dr. Donald Draehn were the only votes in favor of the plan. Board President Melvin Ehlert voted against the plan, along with Board Secretary Natalie Lange, and Board members Marshal Harrell and Susan Jenkins.
Weiss then offered alternative security measures that would begin being implemented in the spring semester. This plan would put aside $75,000 for off duty police officers, have consulting engineers LAN And Associates do a walk through of all the campuses to see how they can be made safer, and consider metal detectors.