When Lebanon Special School District parent Logan Coble came to speak at the district鈥檚 board of education meeting Thursday, he brought his daughter鈥檚 unicorn backpack with him.
鈥淟ast year, I purchased this backpack for my now 7-year-old daughter, and it has unicorns on it, but what鈥檚 inside is more important,鈥 Coble said.
Coble unzipped the backpack to reveal two pieces of ballistic armor inside 鈥 one soft and one hard plate.
鈥淚 purchased this armor very shortly after the Covenant shooting, where, as we all know, there was a tragic loss of life to children and educators due to a school shooting,鈥 Coble said.
Coble said that the knowledge that both of his children have the armor in their bags makes him feel a little better.
However, his son 鈥 who鈥檚 in middle school in the district 鈥 is not allowed to bring his backpack to class as a safety measure.
鈥淚n theory, it makes sense,鈥 Coble said. 鈥淗owever, in practice, it is inherently flawed. An individual who is determined enough will find a way to bring a weapon or any other contraband into the classrooms. If a student wanted to harm others in their class, nothing is stopping them from asking to leave the class to use the restroom, go into their locker and retrieving a weapon. Nothing is stopping an outside individual from showing up with a firearm with the intent to harm our children.鈥
Director of schools Brian Hutto clarified that the backpack rule is a protocol, rather than a school board policy.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to discuss it with our safety team and look to see what that would look like,鈥 Hutto said.
The backpack policy prevents parents from protecting their children in the event of a school shooting, Coble said. He urged the board of education to reconsider the procedures.
鈥淭he only thing standing between my children and the safety that I have personally provided is a school policy,鈥 Coble said. 鈥淚 wish that this wasn鈥檛 the type of thing that we needed to worry about, but unfortunately it is.鈥
Coble addressing the school board follows the deadly school shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia, in which two students and two teachers lost their lives. Nine more were injured. Another shooting occurred Tuesday at Omaha Northwest High School in Nebraska, where one student was critically injured.
鈥淚 know that there is little to no chance that an active shooter situation will happen at one of our schools, but I think that it鈥檚 important to err on the side of caution when it comes to our children,鈥 Coble said. 鈥淚n the last week, there have been two more tragic school shootings, and I feel this needs to be addressed.鈥
Newly elected board of education chair Heather Sadler Gallaher said that that the board will have to research options throughout the district.
鈥淚 also understand where parents come from,鈥 Gallaher said. 鈥淭hey want to do as much as they can to protect their children.鈥
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.