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Birmingham, Ala. as Marsh, the principal of Phil- lips high school, was performing one of those unpleasant non - educational chores which occasionally plague school administrators. A group of intruders wandered in . move them outside. “One of them doubled back “and there I was looking into the bar- rel of a .38.” Marsh hit the floor as a bullet crashed into a nearby water cooler. Recounting the confrontation pocket ever since as a reminder. - way, we would too,” he says in a cheerful, unemotional voice. He be- volver to school, x * x action. Ensley high school princi- pal Robert Lee Lott’s life was threat- ened several times after he had a student arrested for pushing dope. So he started carrying his Smith and in his briefcase. his pistol to work and locked it in his «4 car trunk during school hours. A stu- dent adviser at Phillips high carried _ i a .22 - caliber revolver in a belt hol- { -Ster just before school holidays. i] eg bon. These and other similar revela- NE DAY last spring, Billy Thom- off the streets, roamed the corridors ~~. for a while, and became belligerent —- when Marsh and his aides tried to |: through a side door,” Marsh recalls, — these days, Marsh fingers the flat- _ |} .. tened slug which he has carried in his © “We decided right then that if the outsiders were going to play that . ‘ Justification for administrators or’ gan taking his own 32 - caliber re- ‘pals, advisers and teachers who either | Hs WASN'T an unprecedented re- ~ _ of Education banned all lethal WeAap- ua- Wesson .38 - caliber pistol to school . Another principal routinely took . A Mixed Reaction i in Alabama ae bee’ Teachers Who Carry Guns tions etartied Birmingham, raising . the question whether there ts any. teachers having guns in the schools. :.. dent Wilmer S. Cody found 13 princi-': ; dle a conflict situation,” says Cody, . who has been superintendent here routinely or occasionally had carried * ‘ weapons, On January 22, the Board’. might have someone out of naivete or ‘Ignorance using a gun in school,” *% * i ' 1 2 ‘ ons from school grounds unless Cody. i x specifically authorizes them. cae ie eH e['VE NEVER heard of a case. pistol - packing principala A month where the staffs (of schools) : . ago, Alfred N. Green, boy’é' adviser at _ were armed,” gays William Henry, an ‘’’ Ensley high, was having an argument . : Official of the American Association .' . over discipline with a student im his of School Administrators... So! systems and discovered most don't:. .the telephone, . have any gun - toting policy. Excep- Green, who said-he was pushed tions were Atlanta and Norfolk, | hard sgainst a wail, told officials he .ing it as a warning. The student !. . Yeceiving threatening telephone calls. both began bringing pistols, "which: authorize certain officials to * "It worrted me’ because it raises « ~ the question of whether you can have An investigation by superinten. ’ people carrying guns who can’t han- ' ’ Ing security guards because . since October. “I'm worried that we - ' x ae . the plight. of the principals has - expressed. “There has been a curious ” "T WAS JUST such a hazardous mis. absence of public furor,” hap that prompted disclogure of the. intendent Cody, who has had only - . pals. “IT can understand why they . office. The youth became angry and . . Sewbeie ot id: an ews opened his desk drawer and took out his gun. He said he merely was show- claimed Green pointed it at him. Ensley principal Lott, who is Green's boss, says he wishes “the In- cident hadn't happened” and wishes that neither he nor Green had to have guns at the school. But it had seemed the best way to prepare for unwanted : trouble after his experience with the Qe. School dope - peddler. ‘ye It was last spring and, after twice | 4: discipling the boy, Lott had him ar- | rested. Shortly afterward, he began from a young man believed to bea / nonstudent friend of the arrested: 4 youth. Tt was then that Lott and Gréeoy oe a a LOTT nor any of thw’. others raised the question of hir- because they be- Hieved the incidents were too infre- quent and they don't like the idea of Re uniformed men patrolling school cor- ridors. They preferred to handle the cases lyes, Public reaction has been mixed, There were very few indignant out- - bursts. Considerable sympathy ‘for . says super- four phone calls un the subject. * A sampling of students registered .- unequivocal approval) of their princi- - ‘carry guns,” declares Rodney Pultum, : ta 17, a Phillips senior. “You've got : some kids from outside who are al.” ways coming here to raise trouble,” . : i Warhiangtan Post ee TE ae