FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Adam Marcoux, President, Office: 603-888-7544
NTU OPPOSES ARMING TEACHERS AND STAFF
NASHUA, NH March 21, 2018 – A little more than a month since the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman High School, and most recently, the shooting at Great Mills High School in Maryland, the topics of gun control, school safety, and arming teachers and school staff is still an active conversation. Even with the outpouring of opposition from teachers, staff, students, parents, and Union leadership across the country, the push continues.
“The Nashua Teachers’ Union Board of Directors is completely opposed to arming any of our teachers or staff in Nashua,” said Adam Marcoux, President of the Nashua Teachers’ Union. The vote to oppose arming teachers and staff, which was unanimous, was taken at the NTU’s monthly meeting earlier this week. “Can you imagine sitting at calendar time or doing a read aloud, sitting next to students, with a loaded gun? We came into education to teach and help students, not be armed guards. I can’t think of a single person in the Nashua School District who wouldn’t think twice about helping and protecting students, but asking them to carry a loaded gun is asking too much.”
Marcoux went on to say, “we as educators need to be armed with books, school supplies, reasonable class sizes, more guidance counselors and school psychologists, current materials and text books, and more support, not side arms. We don’t have the funds for more teachers, para-educators, guidance counselors, and school psychologists, but we can train and arm school staff? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“We stand in solidarity with our colleagues from AFT and NEA across the country, opposed to arming teachers and staff. Arm us with pencils, not pistols.”
