White House hears PSRPs on protecting kids from gun violence

School and college support staff have a unique perspective on how the most vulnerable students must be protected from gun violence, and this week the White House sought out their experiences and ideas-both on protecting students and on healing the trauma that follows an outbreak of violence.

Photo credit: Andrii Koval | Getty Images

In an AFT-only event on April 29, paraprofessionals and school-related personnel described the obstacles facing special education students trying to flee harm; the layers of trauma weighing on PSRPs who live in the communities where they work; and the safeguards that can be built into their union contracts.

"It's essential that the White House hears from all of us," AFT President Randi Weingarten said in inviting PSRPs to the event, "from the school support professionals who help students thrive and comfort them through crisis, from those who must answer calls from parents after an active shooter drill, and from those who want to see us make a change."

The event was hosted by Rob Wilcox and Gregory Jackson, both deputy directors of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and both gun safety activists before working for the Biden administration. They were joined by Mary Wall, the U.S. Education Department's lead official on gun violence prevention.

They heard first from Carl Williams, a custodian by trade, an AFT vice president and the president of the Lawndale (Calif.) Federation of Classified Employees. Williams urged the policymakers to listen to the voices of frontline employees at schools and colleges.

Jeff Whittle, a special education paraprofessional from Macomb, Mich., spoke on the effects of gun violence-and even safety drills-on neurodiverse students and those with severe physical restrictions. In Michigan, students with severe health and mobility issues are in school from ages 0 to 26.

When people talk about a school shooting, they almost never think of students with special needs. Leaving the building or going into hiding presents extreme challenges for those in wheelchairs, Whittle said. There simply are not enough staffers to move everyone at once. What's more, a secure location may not be accessible.

Neurodiverse kids thrive on routine and calm; they may not be able to process an emergency and may shut down. Whittle described one autistic student during a lockdown drill, saying, "No, no, no, I don't want to talk about that." Practice and training are insufficient to protect these kids, he said. Most violence prevention trainings are too traumatic for them, and fire drills are not the same as gun violence procedures.

Whittle closed by imploring the Biden administration to take students with disabilities into consideration when setting violence prevention policies.

Next up was Carron "C.J." Johnson, a paraprofessional from St. Louis who recalled the AFT's powerful response to a shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts in 2022. The union brought healing and training.

But this was not Johnson's first trauma. Just 14 when she was shot, she is now 41 and is still coping, to the extent that she still needs care for her mental health and well-being. After the shooting at her school, Johnson took trainings in gun violence safety offered by the AFT health and safety department. As an instructor in AVERT training, she has given about seven trainings in the course that includes situational awareness, disarming and flight strategies, wound packing and applying a tourniquet until help arrives.

Staff members must learn to heal each other, she said: "It's still very present and very traumatizing."

Britten Postma, a research specialist at the University of Montana, has experienced only one lockdown, thankfully without incident, but said it's crucial to consider "what if." Imagine a custodian working on campus, she said, unaware of an imminent threat.

Gun violence is the leading cause of death for young men in Montana, which has the highest rate of gun ownership in the nation. Postma, a member of the Federation of Classified University Staff in Missoula, said the last thing they need is firearms on campus.

Christel Williams, a school clerk and leader in the Chicago Teachers Union, spoke of her own experiences with gun violence and expressed hope for solutions.

Looking at the virtual participants, Williams said she was glad to see them despite the somber occasion. "I've had family I lost to gun violence," she said. "I've lost students." She spoke of one student with special needs who was horribly bullied: "He became so angry, he got a gun and killed someone," and is now in prison. Her community also lost a 9-year-old. Teachers and staff are still traumatized.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has a big heart and a huge challenge, Williams said, noting that the city also recently lost a police officer to a shooter. She recommends putting safeguards in union contracts and fighting for all the public services children need. "Students don't just wake up in the morning and decide they want to use a gun," Williams said. "PSRPs know who they are."

And Williams does know. She can always be found at the front of a union march or rally, she sews prom dresses for high school students, and she has forged wide-ranging connections throughout the community. She hopes the PSRPs' conversation with the White House will open doors for schools to put mental health supports in place across the country, "so we can deal with the treatment and not just with the trauma."

Co-hosts Wilcox and Jackson described President Biden's gun violence prevention work, including preventative measures, resources for at-risk young people, safe storage of firearms and anti-trafficking measures.

Biden has spoken clearly on the subject, saying there are too many kids in crisis and that too many have access to guns.

The White House staffers highlighted their multifaceted approach to addressing gun violence: (1) keeping firearms out of the hands of those who shouldn't have them, through supporting background checks, safe storage requirements and extreme risk protection orders; (2) taking on illegal gun trafficking (one criminal was found to have trafficked more than 100,000 guns); (3) preventing gun violence from occurring through community violence intervention programs and providing resources for at-risk youth to address the underlying conditions that produce gun violence; and (4) strengthening support for victims and survivors of gun violence.

Finally, they noted that the Biden administration has just launched a gun violence emergency response system. It's an all-government response to a mass shooting, just like FEMA would respond to a natural disaster.

In the question-and-answer session, Wayne Scott of Brighton, Colo., remembered driving a school bus 25 years ago when a neighboring school district, Columbine, was attacked. Decades later, he lamented, there's still no training specific to school bus drivers and attendants. Buses still line up at school bumper to bumper, trapped, he said. And no strategies exist for safety at bus stops.

The role of support staff is often forgotten in discussions of gun safety, Weingarten said. She asked the White House officials to consider AFT members as allies and emissaries.

To members, Weingarten said: "You see what this White House is. You see who Joe Biden is," pointing to his great empathy. And she thanked school and college support staff, saying: "Your input really matters."

[Annette Licitra]

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