The original resolution, states the board believes that “the safety of their students and staff is paramount” and that “approved administrators, teachers, and school support staff with appropriate training are capable to defend and protect students and that such protection is essential in creating and preserving a proper learning environment.”
Other language in the resolution includes:
- Trained, armed staff would be allowed as long as Tecumseh’s school board notifies the public and pays all fees associated with the training and submits a list of authorized personnel to the Ohio School Safety Center.
- Approved personnel who meet the requirements of the law would convey or posses deadly weapons or dangerous ordnance into a school safety zone.
- The superintendent would create procedures for qualified people to be trained and approved by the Safety Committee, and would submit a list of authorized personnel to the Ohio School Safety and Crisis Center, “which shall not be disclosed and shall not be considered a public record.”
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
A few people spoke at Tuesday’s meeting, expressing their agreement and concerns about arming staff.
Sam George, who has lived in Bethel Twp. for 52 years, spoke from the perspective of a former paramedic. He mentioned a 1958 Chicago school fire where 90 students died.
“It has been 66 years and no deaths since. How did they do that? What did they do? Well, they educated everybody within the building,” George said. “They put automatic fire alarms in, smoke detectors and sprinklers. They’re fighting from within,” he said.
George said if and when there’s a violent situation, people call 911 because police have the tools needed to control or eliminate the threat.
“In the event the school resource officers are not in the building, five minutes could travel. It could be the arrival time of the police officer based upon the time the dispatcher receives the phone call and dispatches the police officer ... Do we really want to wait? Or do you want to have somebody from within that is trained with the proper tools? Let’s take a lesson, learn from the fire deaths and apply it here,” he said, saying he supports the arming of staff 100% and hopes others will as well.
Robin Morris, a Park Layne Elementary teacher, talked about her concerns and questions, but said that having resource officers that show their faces and know the kids, makes them feel safe.
“My first biggest concern is guns in school. If you are talking about trained staff, what does that look like? Who are we talking about? Are we talking about one gun that can serve somewhere tucked far safe away for one person that is trained to get to it in a situation or are we talking about staff that have their concealed and carry and they have a gun with them?” she said.
Morris said she is advocating on behalf of teachers and staff so their voice can be heard as well.
“I just want us to really take some time and think about that and what that looks like, what that entails and how that will come about. Are the staff members going to have any kind of discussion about that, or is that completely a board decision?” she said. “I just want to make sure you know that we know specifically what we’re talking about when we talk about training people, and how that would look, and I feel like the staff should have some input in that or at least some type of discussion before it’s just decided upon.”
Kerry Cassell, who is employed by the district and is the teacher’s union president, said she read about arming staff for the first time in this meeting’s agenda.
“I just want to know why now? We’ve had conversations many, many times over the years, and the board and administrators have always been opposed to arming teachers. I don’t understand why now in November on a random Tuesday all of the sudden we need to pass a resolution to arm our staff,” she said.
Cassell said the teacher’s union is going to send a letter to demand to bargain over this issue “because it’s a change of working conditions for our staff.”
“My concern is the reality of the resolution is there will be teachers who no longer feel safe coming to work and that’s not OK. We will have families that no longer feel safe sending their kids to our schools, and that is no longer OK,” she said.
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