Letters to the editor

Reaction to the latest school board meeting

To the editor:

At its last meeting, the Mat-Su Borough School Board, with one member dissenting, passed a resolution supporting a State Senate bill, the Safe Schools Act, that would allow designated school staff members to carry concealed handguns in schools. But at the same meeting, the Board stated its opposition to a Senate bill that would allow students 16 years and older to consent to behavioral and mental health services and another bill to allow the Board of Education and Early Development to prepare guidelines for mental health education.

It’s head-snapping. Are we to understand that now an English teacher or a counselor or a librarian might be allowed to pack a Glock, but not be allowed to assist students in distress find the help they need, help that some students cannot get at home as the recent Michigan case made vividly clear.

Leave it to students to notice absurdity. At the meeting student Ben Kolendo said, “The metal well-being of our students significantly impacts the overall safety of our school environment. If students have access to comprehensive information and supportive services, the necessity of the Safe Schools Act would diminish.”

No one could say it better.

Judy Donegan,

Palmer