Toward the Normalization of Guns and Policing In Schools: Comparing School Staff Feelings of Safety In the Presence of Armed Police and Armed Educators

Background and Purpose

In response to school violence and shootings, U.S. schools have increasingly adopted security-oriented strategies including school resource officers (SROs) and arming non-law-enforcement staff (e.g., teachers, social workers; Perry et al., 2026), which may harm marginalized students the most. Existing school climate research largely treats staff as a homogenous group, overlooking pupil personnel (e.g. social workers, school psychologists, counselors) whose expertise emphasizes prevention and trauma-informed care (Capp et al., 2022). In this study we examined how different pupil personnel perceive safety in the presence of armed non-SROs compared to SROs.

Methods

Data are drawn from a national sample of pupil personnel (N=1199), including school psychologists, (n=321), social workers (n=476), and counselors (n=402). Participants reported perceived safety on 5-point Likert scales for current or future presence of SROs and armed non-SROs in their school. Analyses include descriptive comparisons, paired t-tests, multivariate regression and mixed-effects models to assess within-person differences and role-based variation. Independent variables include individual characteristics (e.g. demographics, victimization experiences), school context (e.g. urbanicity, Title I status, school climate) and psychosocial factors (e.g. anxiety, quitting intention).

Major Findings

1. Universally, SROs were viewed more favorably than armed non-SROs, though this preference varied in magnitude. Perceptions of armed non-SRO staff were less favorable overall, with most respondents reporting neutral or decreased feelings of safety. However, a nontrivial minority of pupil personnel reported feeling safer with armed non-SROs present.
2. School psychologists felt the safest and social workers felt less safe with SROs present, social workers had more critical views of policing approaches and greater emphasis on trauma-informed training in social work.
3. Multivariate and mixed-effects models suggest that these perceptions were more associated with contextual and organizational factors than with role. Specifically, staff who reported lower levels of administrative support and weaker disciplinary structures endorsed armed non-SROs more.

Conclusion and Implications

This study contributes to school safety research by centering pupil personnel and showing perceptions of armed interventions vary by organizational context, role, and broader conditions. Support for armed personnel may be less about ideological alignment and more a reflection of perceived gaps in leadership, discipline, and safety infrastructure. These results highlight conflict between professional training and workplace realities, especially for social workers.

Future research should examine how school conditions shape safety perceptions and whether improving institutional support reduces reliance on policing. Policy should provide clear guidance on approaches (e.g., policing) that risk countering effective evidence-informed strategies and causing disproportionate harm to the most marginalized children at school.

Capp, G. P., Avi Astor, R., & Moore, H. (2022). Positive school climate for school staff? The roles of administrators, staff beliefs, and school organization in high and low resource school districts. Journal of Community Psychology, 50(2), 1060–1082.

Perry, A. H., Reddy, L. A., Martinez, A., McMahon, S. D., Anderman, E. M., Astor, R. A., Espelage, D. L., Worrell, F. C., & Bare, K. (2026). Do teachers feel active shooter drills work? A study of effectiveness, safety, and decisions to transfer or quit. School Psychology Review, 55(2), 258–271.