Hardening schools has been an issue since Columbine. It’s a process that many school districts across the nation have engaged in since that time. Yet, in response to the Ulvalde tragedy, what does the White House have to say?

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says proposals that deal with "hardening schools…is not something that" President Biden "believes in" b/c "the problem is with guns" in America. pic.twitter.com/l19Mo0Yw3h

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 31, 2022

I swear, my jaw nearly broke it hit the floor so hard. The shooter was able to get into the school because a door was open. The WRONG door as we are finding out that Robb Elementary was hardened and had many security protocols in place. The original story was that a teacher had left the door propped open for whatever reason. Which is completely against all school policies that have security protocols in place. HOWEVER, it turns out that what the State police and others were told about that propped open door was totally wrong. Per her attorney:

“She saw the wreck,” Flanary told the newspaper. “She ran back inside to get her phone to report the accident. She came back out while on the phone with 911. The men at the funeral home yelled, ‘He has a gun!’ She saw him jump the fence, and he had a gun so she ran back inside.

“She kicked the rock away when she went back in. She remembers pulling the door closed while telling 911 that he was shooting. She thought the door would lock because that door is always supposed to be locked.”

So an unnamed teacher was vilified for doing nothing wrong. That teacher was thrown under the bus by authorities. Authorities who are now no longer cooperating with the investigation. It also must be asked… why didn’t the door automatically lock once she pulled it back shut? It should have. But it didn’t. A full system review should be happening right now. 

Here’s my issue with this new White House statement. Hardening schools has been strongly recommended since Columbine. In fact both the Sandy Hook and Parkland commissions recommended school hardening. Which entails what?

A single point of entry for any visitor (even parents) and vendors.

All other doors locked from outside, yet can exit from the inside.

All visitors need badges. All vendors need badges.

Security cameras at all entrance/exits.

Door lock systems that work on a consistent basis.

On-site school resource officers.

More school counselors.

Those are just a few of the highly recommended steps for schools that have come about from Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland and more. One such step was the Luke and Alex School Safety Act.

The bill, named after Alex Schachter and Luke Hoyer, another Parkland, Florida, shooting victim, would require the Department of Homeland Security to establish a “Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Best Practices” for use by state and local educational and law-enforcement agencies, institutions of higher education, health professionals, and the public. And it would require DHS to “collect clearinghouse data analytics, user feedback on the implementation of best practices and recommendations identified by the clearinghouse, and any evaluations conducted on these best practices and recommendations.”

What did Chuck Schumer do? He blocked that along with moving any other pending gun legislation forward. 

GOP Sen. Johnson just tried for a bill that could see more guns in schools—I blocked it.

The truth: There were officers at the school in Texas. The shooter got past them.

We need real solutions—We will vote on gun legislation starting with the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act.

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) May 25, 2022

How a clearinghouse database, a WEBSITE, would end up with more guns in schools is illogical, but it’s Chuck Schumer…so there’s that.

Please watch this video: It’s my response to school safety legislation being blocked the day after 19 children and 2 teachers were murdered in Uvalde, TX.@DNC, @GOP, @SpeakerPelosi, @SenSchumer, @GOPLeader, @LeaderMcConnell https://t.co/IHJ9JarMpy

— Max Schachter (@maxschachter) May 26, 2022

School security and safety should be everyone’s priority. Yet, what did the Biden White House say yesterday afternoon about hardening schools? Forget about it, you are on your own. It’s those big scary GUNZ that are the issue. 

“We are the only country that is dealing with gun violence at the rate that we’re dealing, and other countries have mental health issues. So what’s the problem here?” Jean-Pierre said. “The problem is with guns, and not having legislation to really deal with an issue that is a pandemic here in this country.”

So, this is what Biden meant by “Do Something?” 

I completely agree that our schools need to be secure and hardened. So it infuriates me that the Biden White House is dismissing a very real safety component for our children and teachers out of hand. 

Hardening schools is an incredibly important tool in keeping our children and teachers safe. 

Thus, for the Biden Administration to dismiss that key issue with a ‘yeah, no big deal, whatever’ is mind-boggling and, quite frankly, shows that the Biden Administration won’t ever get serious about addressing ALL the issues behind what led to this tragedy.

Feature Photo Credit: End of day at school via Creative Commons license 2.0, cropped and modified