Current board policy allows school resource officers, employees of the Columbia Police
Department, to have guns in school buildings. The district security director and assistant
security director may also carry firearms, provided they have police certification, necessary
state and federal licenses and at least 24 hours of firearms training annually.
State lawmakers have debated for several years whether to allow teachers to be armed.
Candidate Della Streaty-Wilhoit said she opposes the idea, as did candidate Blake Willoughby.
Candidate Jay Atkins said he’s open to the idea.
The forum for Willoughby, Streaty-Wilhoit and Atkins, sponsored by the Columbia Missouri
National Education Association, took place at Paxton Keeley Elementary School. The
moderators were teachers Cortni Gonzalez and Shelli Thelen. The trio is vying for two open
seats on the board in the April 2 election.
“I do not believe guns should be allowed in Columbia Public Schools,” Streaty-Wilhoit said.
People have tempers and when they also have guns, people get killed, she said.
“The old-fashioned way is to talk it out or duke it out,” she said, adding that she’s not
recommending the latter, but that doesn’t result in death.
Before answering, Atkins joked that he wouldn’t want to tangle with Streaty-Wilhoit.
“I wouldn’t want to reject it out of hand,” Atkins said about allowing teachers or others to
have guns.
Who could carry a weapon would depend on the level of training required and other factors,
he said.
“Some mix of armed personnel, it might make sense,” he said, adding that the district
currently is doing a good job of providing safe schools.
Safety measures the district has in place have been working, Willoughby said.
“I don’t want to offer teachers that option,” Willoughby said.
The issue of charter schools is being forced on larger communities by work in the legislature
on a proposal to expand charter schools. Currently the independent but publicly-funded
schools are allowed in Kansas City and St. Louis, but bills in the legislature would allow them
in any county with a charter form of government or any city with a population greater than
30,000.
The candidates were all skeptical of whether charter schools are needed in Columbia.
Atkins said no charter schools should be allowed without oversight by the local school board.
“That’s foolish, right?” he said. He said if there is local oversight, charter schools can be more
flexible.
“Flexibility in education is key to making the right decisions,” he said.
Willoughby also said there should be no charter schools in the Columbia school district unless
the local school board oversees it. He said charter schools need to be held accountable to the
public.
Streaty-Wilhoit said charter schools have the potential to make a negative impact on racial
and economic diversity of schools.
“Before we move to charter schools, let us understand the bill a little bit more,” she said.
On the question of how to provide protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
students, the candidates said the focus should be on fairness.
The district should provide more gender-neutral bathrooms and better training for teachers
and staff, Willoughby said. Teachers and other adults should accommodate students and their
preference for pronouns or their name. Students already are in a precarious time in their lives
and politics shouldn’t be part of the debate, he said.
“It’s about the kids and making sure they’re safe and included and welcome,” Willoughby said.
“Well said, Blake,” Streaty-Wilhoit responded.
For her, the issue is fairness in education, Streaty-Wilhoit said.
“Under my watch, everybody will be treated with fairness,” she said.
Atkins said he agreed with Willoughby that the issue is about fair treatment of kids and
making them feel welcome in school.
“This is not about grown-ups,” he said. “This is not about politics.”
During a discussion of early childhood education, Atkins criticized the district for cutting the
Parents as Teachers program and for reducing the number of reading specialists, calling them
“two incredibly bone-headed moves.”
Parents as Teachers provides home visits to parents from birth to age 5 to track development
of children. While Atkins blamed cuts on the district, Allie Gassmann, a PAT parent educator,
said after the forum that the program was available to all parents until the staff was reduced
nine years ago as a result of state cuts.
There has been no reduction in reading specialists, district spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark
said Friday. In fact, she said, the number of reading instructors has increased.
Streaty-Wilhoit and Willoughby said the district should do more to provide and promote early
childhood education.
“If you don’t start that within 1- or 2- or 3-years-old, they’re already behind,” she said.
Willoughby said research shows the early childhood education is beneficial and Parents as
Teachers is an important part of that.
“Every decision needs to be about what is going to make sure that our kids are life-ready,”
Willoughby said.
