EPISODE SUMMARY

Dr. Mark Lenihan shares superintendents' nuanced perspectives on arming school staff as part of an emergency management plan.

EPISODE NOTES

School shootings have been on the rise in recent years. For obvious reasons, any measure about school safety usually gets a lot of attention and strong opinions. One proposal in the school safety discussion is having armed personnel on school grounds.

While many districts now have resources officers in buildings, some have proposed arming teachers and other non-law enforcement members of the school team. In his recent dissertation, Dr. Mark Lenhian from Wayne Community Schools in Nebraska researched school emergency management planning, including arming teachers.

Mark surveyed superintendents from Nebraska, some of whom are in the unique position of being miles away from any form of professional emergency response, about their perceptions of arming their staff to protect students.

In this episode, Mark shares how his research has surprised him and how he is working to continually better understand how to keep schools like his own safe places to learn.

Dr. Mark Lenihan (@MarkLenihan61)

Wayne Community Schools (@WayneSchools)

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