As rhetoric from some elected officials and politicians suggest arming teachers with guns in their classrooms is part of the solution to gun violence in America, Dr. Thomas Ahart wrote the following statement sharing his position as Superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools.

The job of educating our children has become increasingly challenging. More and more responsibilities have either been shifted to schools directly or have been assumed by schools because we recognize needs that are not being met anywhere else that must be met for the health and well-being of our children.

Our core mission is to prepare students to be both academically and socially prepared for the next stage of their lives. This goes well beyond reading, writing and arithmetic. We feed our students two meals, and sometimes more, every day; we have clothing and food banks for students and their families; we provide a wide range of health services – including vision and dental care; we provide mental health therapy; apprenticeships; advanced career and technical training; and a wide range of college level and college credit-bearing courses.

Not unique to Des Moines, but felt more acutely here, are a dramatic increase in poverty, food insecurity, mental health needs, trauma, and non-native English speakers.

One of the least appreciated and undervalued professions in the country is teaching. Tragically, this diminution of educators increases as our work becomes even more difficult. Our teachers have nearly impossible jobs. The demands on today’s teachers stretch way beyond a mastery of their course content, planning lessons, and grading papers. Today’s teachers must be culturally proficient, flexible in differentiating their lessons as well as their classroom management, adept at supporting language development and, because of years of inadequate funding, serve more students in their classrooms.

I will not ask them to take up arms.