Even for those who are legally permitted to carry a concealed handgun, more than half of Oregon’s public school pupils attend districts where school board members have prohibited students from bringing firearms on campus.
Portland Public Schools, Beaverton School District, and Tigard-Tualatin School District are among the districts that have implemented this policy.
One major exception is the Sherwood School District in far southeast Washington County.
Students in Sherwood are currently advocating for change in their district.
Senate Bill 554, passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2021, gave school districts the authority to prohibit firearms on campus, even for those who held concealed carry permits. About 54% of Oregon kids attend a school with this policy in place as of July 2024.
Trevor Tsui, an activist and junior at Sherwood High School, recently called a gathering to increase public pressure on the district’s school board after his prior statement before the board failed to take any action.
About fifty students left their classes to express their dissatisfaction during that December walkout.
Tsui stated, “We won’t give up just because they say no, even though the Sherwood district has been unresponsive.”
The Sherwood school board chair was contacted by The Oregonian/OregonLive to speak with them about the matter.
Harmony Carson, the chair, declined, writing only: I appreciate your email. The Sherwood school district will not be participating at this time.
According to Tsui, that is typical.
According to him, the majority of the board views this as a left-wing issue, and they feel that getting involved would mean entering politics.
Samantha Russell, a student at Sherwood High, urged the board to approve the ban at a January meeting.
I wouldn’t pick up a gun in the girls’ restroom if I saw one. However, Russell informed board members, “I can’t speak for my classmates and the rest of the people in my school.” At school, I want to feel secure. I watch news stories of kids killed in school shootings almost every week, and it only makes me more concerned for myself and my peers.
Additionally, some educators said they would support such a legislation. Raychell Rohrwasser, a visual arts teacher, wrote to the board to express her concern and shock that people in the county where we live are permitted to carry concealed weapons into our buildings. Given the prevalence of gun violence and mass shootings that occur every day, she is baffled as to why Sherwood would permit such a practice. Kindly act quickly to amend this policy.
Last winter, former Sherwood Superintendent Jeremy Lyon informed board members that all staff members, with or without a concealed carry permit, were already forbidden by district policy from bringing firearms onto school property.
However, Tsui claimed that because the policy only covers employees and not guests, it falls short.
According to Tsui, pupils do not feel protected at school despite this regulation for Sherwood personnel.
The K-12 School Shooting Database, which is updated on a regular basis by David Riedman, a Ph.D. student at Idaho State University, shows that although shootings at or near the nation’s 115,000 schools are still statistically extremely rare, they have increased over the past 20 years. According to the database, there were 330 shooting occurrences at or near schools in 2024 as opposed to 124 in 2019.
Tsui stated that he plans to continue applying pressure.
According to Tsui, law enforcement and school officials will not be impacted by this regulation. Reducing the likelihood that a gun may end up in the wrong hands is the aim in order to maintain school safety.
In addition to working for the school newspaper, Victoria Gardu o-Tran is a student at Portland’s Benson High School. Her first piece for Youth Voices is this one.
