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U-46 Board takes stance on IASB resolutions


By Seth Hancock
  The School District U-46 administration agreed with the recommendations of the Illinois Association of School Boards’ (IASB) resolution committee recommendations as did the majority of the Board of Education as it was discussed on Monday, Nov. 6.
  The IASB’s annual conference will be held this weekend in Chicago where member school districts will be voting on resolutions to guide the lobbying efforts at the state level from the organization. Board member Veronica Noland will be the U-46 delegate to cast votes on behalf of the board.
  U-46 CEO Tony Sanders said the district administration did “not come up with any recommendation that is contrary to the position” of the IASB, but board members Phil Costello and Jeanette Ward did dissent on one proposal.
  A resolution proposed by four rural school districts sought to have the IASB lobby for districts to have the ability to allow staff to be armed for student safety and protection. The IASB resolution committee opposed that resolution.
  The resolution sought to give districts “the option of developing Student Safety and Protection Plans which may include administrators, faculty, and/or other staff who have successfully completed a training course approved by the school board and who have passed the multiple background checks and qualifications for and have a current Illinois concealed carry license or a carry license issued under the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act to be an active and armed part of the Student Safety and Protection Plan, upon being granted board approval.”
  The districts supporting the measure said the resolution “does not compel” but rather “leaves the decision to each local district board to decide what is best for their schools and students.”
  The rationale was twofold including that many schools, especially those in rural areas, have a longer law enforcement response time “up to thirty or more minutes” to “arrive on scene in the case of a life-threatening event” as well as many schools not having the resources to afford armed security: “There are many schools that do not have the financial resources to employ full time security on school property to insure the safety and protection of their students and school personnel.”
  The neighboring states of Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri all allow staff to be armed and at least 30 states in the nation either allow or are pursuing the allowance.
  U-46 does have a contract with area police departments providing armed security in the form of School Resource Officers (SRO) at its secondary schools.
  Costello and Ward supported local control.
  “I think that’s a good idea to give teachers that ability, especially for school district’s where an SRO is not present or that the SRO is far away,” Ward said. “I think that when lawful citizens have the ability to defend themselves it prevents people from getting hurt, particularly vulnerable people like students in this case.”
  Costello said: “I would vote for supporting this resolution. Especially given the circumstances this past weekend, we need to understand how we’re going to protect our classrooms.”
  Costello was referencing the church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas on Sunday, Nov. 5 that left 26 dead. It took a law-abiding private citizen, former National Rifle Association instructor Stephen Willeford, to eventually stop the gunman which possibly saved many more lives. Willeford said after his heroic actions that “I think my God and my Lord protected me and gave me the skills to do what needed to be done” and that he couldn’t have stopped the gunman without his AR-15 rifle.
  Noland along with board members Traci Ellis, Sue Kerr and Melissa Owens all said they simply “don’t support” the resolution without offering any rationale for their position. The IASB resolution committee, as well as the U-46 administration through its concurrence with the committee, only offered that it did not trust local school boards and that guns are controversial.
  “The struggle for consensus was borne out of the controversy of having guns inside the school,” the committee’s opposition stated.
  Another resolution discussed at the board meeting was one submitted by Sangamon Valley CUSD 9 seeking a 1 percent sales tax “across all counties in Illinois.” The IASB resolution committee along with U-46 administration opposed the resolution.
  The district’s position was not one against the added taxation but rather the difficulty in implementing the tax as Sanders said “the challenge for us… you’re going to add an additional percent to those” counties that already have that sales tax, and within U-46 Cook County is currently exempt from such a sales tax.
  However, the resolution itself appears to be seeking to have the state force that tax upon all counties regardless of current exemptions to it as it states the IASB “shall support legislation that will institute the County School Facility Occupation Tax across all counties in Illinois.”
  Costello wholeheartedly disagreed with the resolution calling it “shortsighted” and “ill-advised” while referencing the large number of residents that have been fleeing the state, and Ward agreed with his assessment.

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