| Topic: |
Sociology > Education |
| User: |
"Paul Berg" |
| Date: |
11 Sep 2007 10:40:18 AM |
| Object: |
Teacher demands to carry gun into high school |
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news article from The (Portland) Oregonian - September 11, 2007
A Medford, Oregon high school teacher is arguing she has the right to
carry a concealed semiautomatic pistol to her classes to protect herself
from a violent ex-husband in a case certain to set off alarm bells in
schools across the state.
In a standoff with the Medford School District, the 44-year-old teacher
may go to court this week to ask a judge to allow her to carry a Glock
19 9 mm pistol to school.
There is no appellate law in Oregon that would cover this situation.
Under Oregon law, people with concealed handgun licenses can carry guns
into public buildings.
What is murky in the law is whether school districts can stop employees
from carrying concealed weapons onto school property. Most Oregon
schools have policies against employees -- and in some cases the general
public -- carrying concealed weapons onto their property.
A lawsuit by the teacher could serve to clear the matter.
"I was shocked when I heard this was an issue," Tim Gerking, attorney
for the Medford School District, said Monday.
At her request, The Oregonian is not identifying the teacher because she
is a domestic violence victim. She did agree to be interviewed
anonymously, however.
The woman said she has had a concealed handgun license for about three
years but would not say whether she had carried the gun to school.
When confronted by school authorities in May, "They asked me if I was
carrying then and there," she said. "I said no. My administrator told me
. . that if they had any reason to suspect I was I would be searched,
I would be arrested and the board would take action against me."
The teacher said she is a longtime member of the National Rifle
Association. Her legal bills are being paid for by a foundation of the
Oregon Firearms Federation.
Medford School Superintendent Phil Long verified Monday that the teacher
has told school officials she is not currently carrying her gun. The
teacher says she knew of other Medford teachers who had concealed
handgun licenses but told officials she did not know whether they
carried guns.
Oregon law is clear that holders of concealed handgun licenses can carry
concealed weapons into schools. Medford officials maintain the teacher
is not committing a crime if she carries the gun but would violate
district policy if she brought the gun into school.
"If an employee violates our policy, it isn't a crime," Gerking said.
"We just have the right to restrict our employees from carrying
dangerous weapons on school property" as a matter of policy.
James E. Leuenberger, a Lake Oswego attorney representing the teacher,
said the school board's policy conflicts with state law, which allows
anyone with a valid concealed handgun license to carry a gun in a public
school building.
"State law is crystal clear," he said. "State law says a person with a
concealed weapon permit can carry a concealed weapon in a public
building."
The Medford teacher has a restraining order against her ex-husband, whom
she divorced last year, according to Jackson County Circuit Court
records. Those records show the teacher has accused her former husband
of hitting her and threatening to kill her numerous times.
In a filing for a restraining order in September 2006, the teacher wrote
that her former husband told her he would "kill me and that I would
never get a cent out of him." At the time, she said he drove by her
house four times one night and made repeated, daily phone calls to her.
The teacher has two children.
Similar district policies
Some school districts have more expansive policies than Medford.
Portland, Tigard-Tualatin, Lake Oswego, Vancouver and other large
Portland-area school districts make it a rule that no one except police
can bring guns onto school property. Even if those rules are
unenforceable, they're on the books and school personnel act as if they
count.
"We don't allow firearms of any sort in our buildings, no matter who you
are," said Matt Shelby, a spokesman for Portland Public Schools.
Others, including Gresham-Barlow, have the same policy as Medford,
specifying that as a condition of their employment, staff and
contractors can't bring concealed weapons onto school property.
Rebekah Cook, attorney for the Oregon School Boards Association, says
districts are on sound legal footing when they prohibit employees from
bringing concealed weapons to work, even when they have a legal permit
to do so.
In a 2001 case against Washington County, the Oregon Employment
Relations Board ruled that the state's concealed weapons law does not
prohibit a public agency from making no guns at work a condition of
employment.
"An employer . . . retains the right to address its unique concerns with
its employees' possession of firearms," the board ruled.
But Cook concedes it is ultimately an "unsettled area of law," having
never gone to the Oregon Supreme Court.
Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, who strongly opposes guns in schools,
says, "On the face of the law, it certainly looks . . . that if you have
a concealed handgun license, you can basically take your gun wherever
you want, except federal buildings or through airport security."
A North Clackamas School District janitor who sued the district after it
fired him in 1999 for bringing a concealed weapon to campus brought what
was expected to be a test case in 2000. Custodian Greg King had sought
back pay and restoration to his job but got neither after dropping his
case after a few months. King dropped his suit after the district
pointed out that a concealed handgun license allows the holder to carry
a gun hidden on his body, whereas King left his semiautomatic weapon in
a backpack in an elementary school's elevator.
Portland Public Schools has a rule that no one can bring a concealed
weapon on its property, even though the district has been forced to
acknowledge state law trumps its rule. That was proven when a parent
brought three guns to a Lincoln High School football game in 1999.
School security officers were outraged and took him into custody. But
ultimately the district conceded the law was on his side.
Kevin Starrett, executive director of the Oregon Firearms Federation,
said his organization has sought in the past to clarify gun laws on
Oregon's college campuses without success. The issue of public
employment and the right to carry a gun remains unresolved, he said.
The Medford teacher contacted the federation seeking advice and help. At
first, Starrett said, it attempted to resolve the matter out of court by
contacting the district, but a courtroom showdown is increasingly
likely.
Burdick, who opposes the state mandate to let concealed handgun license
holders bring guns to school, has backed legislation to let schools bar
concealed weapons from campus -- but has gotten few lawmakers to vote
her way.
Burdick said fear of the National Rifle Association, not public opinion,
is what causes Oregon lawmakers to kill the idea year after year.
"It's just ludicrous to allow guns in schools under any circumstances,"
she says. "There are regular common-sense gun owners who overwhelmingly
want the local school board to at least be able to make their own
decision on this at the local level. Most of the parents I talked to had
no idea, and they were horrified when they found out it was possible to
bring a gun to school. . . . Johnny's parents don't want his first-grade
teachers packing heat."
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| User: "Benj" |
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| Title: Re: Teacher demands to carry gun into high school |
11 Sep 2007 02:19:28 PM |
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Paul Berg wrote:
"We don't allow firearms of any sort in our buildings, no matter who
you
are," said Matt Shelby, a spokesman for Portland Public Schools.
Ok. So these people are education majors which means they were pretty
much born with non-functioning brains...BUT.. The only question I have
is WHY do they still have their jobs? How can any rational human being
think that they are so all-powerful that if they make some half-baked
rule about your pants or hair or carrying a gun that anyone but the
kids are going to even consider obeying and half of them probably
won't as well! What total and amazing arrogance do these so-called
"educators" have! Va Tech didn't teach them a thing. They are so
callus and cruel they'd rather see people die horrible deaths than
have their so-called "rule" questioned! They are all wanna-be tin
horn dictators who REALLY need to be taken down a peg. Maybe a few
years with a job emptying garbage cans into the back of a garbage
truck will give them the "education" they need.
Until any of these morons can show how some "ex" who might say "If I
can't have her nobody can!" is going to be stopped from murder by any
"rule" they all should be sued into oblivion and then fired forever
from contact with children. The future of our country DEPENDS on
getting RID of clowns like these!
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| User: "The poster last in PDX in 2003" |
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| Title: Re: Teacher demands to carry gun into high school |
12 Sep 2007 12:43:29 PM |
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If she was serious she'd just plug the rat in the first place. She's
beyond living in HUD housing by now anyway.
Now that Weekly World News is gone, try not to carry on for them?
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