Page 60 - Time Magazine-November 05, 2018

‘We don’t need
more teachers

with guns in
the classroom. I

believe what we
need is more

resources, more
counselors to

support our
kids.’

THE TEACHER

An eight-year teaching veteran,
Josue Tamarez Torres was
named one of three Dallas
public schools’Teachers of the
Year last school year. He says
the reason he wanted to be
a teacher in the first place—
“changing students’ lives”—still
resonates. But as he prepared
math lessons for his fourth-
graders this fall, he found it hard
to dismiss the specter of school
shootings.“I am constantly
thinking ...‘Is my school going
to be the next school where a
shooter comes in?’”Tamarez
Torres is a gun owner himself
and says he doesn’t want to
infringe on anyone’s Second
Amendment rights. But he
doesn’t believe arming teachers
will help. Instead,Tamarez
Torres wants lawmakers to
find common ground around
issues like background checks
aimed at keeping guns out of
the hands of dangerous people.
“I’m just making sure that our
kids are protected,” he says.
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