The National Education Association New Hampshire has formed a coalition to look at school gun violence.
The union of educators, which has 17,000 members, says the coalition will be made up of educators, first responders, and mental health experts. The plan is to also have input on possible changes to legislation.
New Hampshire NEA President Megan Tuttle said the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida, spurred the forming of the coalition.
“You know, we don’t want one of these horrible tragedies that’s been happening across the country to happen in New Hampshire,” Tuttle said. “And so the end goal, really, is how can we combat that school violence so that the children in New Hampshire and the educators in New Hampshire all feel safer going to school.”
The NEA has also publicly denounced the idea of arming teachers with guns, a sentiment Tuttle echoes.
“I became a teacher 18 years ago and I went into teaching so that I could teach kids not to bring guns into school,” Tuttle said.
Several school walk-outs and protests against gun violence have occurred throughout the state since the school shooting in Parkland left 17 dead.
