Alisha Thomas Searcy convenes Cobb police, parents, educators, students for school safety roundtable

Jun. 24—MARIETTA — At a roundtable this week hosted by Alisha Thomas Searcy, the Democratic nominee for Georgia schools superintendent, a group of stakeholders made clear their thoughts on arming teachers in schools.

A particular issue that gained renewed attention following the mass shooting last month at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 fourth graders and two teachers dead is whether or not teachers should be armed with handguns. When Searcy posed the question to the group, the response was unanimous.

"No. No," said Melissa Youngblood, a drama teacher at Campbell Middle School. "That's not my job as an educator. I don't want to be responsible for firing a gun. That's not our job."

Youngblood's response echoed comments previously made Cobb Schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale.

"If our top priority is staff and students safety, wouldn't that mean that armed teachers would now have teaching as a second priority, and more importantly, a second job? We're asking teachers to do too much already," Ragsdale said at a school board meeting earlier this month.

"I'm very against it as well," said Rachel Andress, a Lassiter High School student, during the roundtable held at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. "As a student, it would always be in the back of my mind whenever I enter the classroom."

Searcy also asked participants the one thing each would do as superintendent to improve school safety. She first called on Andress, who asked if Searcy could return to her at the end.

Next to respond was Rachel's mother, Tammy Andress, outgoing president and incoming treasurer of the East Cobb County Council PTA and a 2020 Democratic candidate for the seat held by Cobb school board member David Banks. Tammy Andress stressed engaging the broader community in what happens at schools and investing in the success of every child.

Cobb school board member Leroy "Tre" Hutchins said "universal pre-K (and) a focus on social-emotional, whole-child learning" would be his priorities.

Hetal Patel, regional services administrator with the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, who was concerned that the discussion throughout was reinforcing the stigma against mental health, declined to offer a specific answer.

"Language can be very powerful, and I think we have to be very sensitive," said Patel. "We have come a long way to stamp the stigma on mental health, and this conversation is rebirthing that stigma, so I think I need to pass."

Searcy responded by asking Patel if she thinks mental health resources should be available to students after events like the Uvalde shooting, even those who did not directly experience the violence.

"The answer is obviously yes," Patel said. "When there is a trauma event in the community, our providers do respond to the schools and provide mental health support systems."

When Searcy came back to Lassiter's Rachel Andress after the others offered their answers, Andress brought the conversation back to the students.

"I'd just say listen to students, definitely allow them to have a say like I am, which I appreciate," said Andress, "because we are the ones experiencing this firsthand."

Searcy, who formerly served in the seat held by state Rep. Erica Thomas, D-Austell, has made school safety a top priority in her bid to become the next head of Georgia's K-12 public schools. The Cobb roundtable was the second such meeting in as many weeks and one in a series Searcy has arranged across the state in the lead-up to her Nov. 8 general election contest against incumbent Republican Richard Woods.

"Keeping our kids safe has got to be our first priority," said Searcy. "So we have to do something."

Though school safety is at the top of Searcy's campaign priorities, and despite holding the roundtable against the backdrop of one of her purple campaign posters, she claimed from the start that the meeting was meant to go beyond the superintendent's race.

"I believe, as a parent, as someone who's active in the community, yes, I'm running for office, but this is not about you supporting my campaign," Searcy told the attendees as she began the discussion. "This is about how I can do something, and how I can bring people together, from all aspects. We can't talk about school safety without having law enforcement at the table. We can't talk about school safety without having young people at the table, and mommas who understand what this is like, [and] educators."

Searcy also asked law enforcement officials in attendance to offer their thoughts on school safety.

Michael Register, assistant chief with the Cobb Sheriff's Office, said preventing mass shootings is not usually law enforcement's first priority.

"I think that we spend a lot of time on the response instead of the prevention," said Register. "We have these active shooter exercises, and certainly, that's a necessity, but I think from a law enforcement standpoint, we have to take a holistic approach to this."

In addition to Register, other law enforcement representatives who participated in the meeting included Cobb Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer and KJ Searcy, a retired Georgia State Trooper. Jeriene Grimes, president of the Cobb County NAACP, was also in attendance.