President Mead's statement on Indiana school shooting

It’s happened again. 

This time the shooting is at a middle school in Indiana.  Thankfully, no deaths have been reported, and there are two injuries  -  a student and a teacher. The alleged shooter is in custody. Once again, I am heartbroken. The family, friends, school staff and community should not have to endure this senseless violence. I am also angry.

As I’ve stated in the last email, we have to do more to protect our children and their educators from gun violence. Every student, and every public school employee, has a fundamental right to be safe and secure at school.

I am working directly with Governor Inslee and WEA members to identify solutions we can implement to reduce the threat of gun violence in Washington’s schools. That work is already under way now – student and educator interviews began this week. From the input received, we will be releasing recommendations as quickly as possible. We know students, educators and communities can not wait for additional tragedies for action to occur.

As educators, we are doing our part every day to keep students safe. Politicians at every level need to take action now. As Washington’s largest association for school employees, WEA members demand that our state and national politicians take action immediately to protect the lives of all educators and students.