School Staff will be Armed!

[cTEKs]

The local news paper, to my office, had the following in print today. Was rather surprised to see.

School staff will be armed

Posted: Thursday, January 10, 2013 2:02 am
By NANCY JACKSON Special to The Times (The Bryan Times)
MONTPELIER, OHIO — Staff members in Montpelier Schools will soon be armed.
The district’s board of education voted Wednesday to adopt a policy allowing certain individuals to carry concealed firearms on the premises.
School staff will be armed - Bryan Times: Local News

Some additional news coverage out of Toledo, Ohio.
Montpelier School Board approves to arm certain individuals - ToledoNewsNow.com: News, Weather & Sports for Toledo, OH

Video
Video Landing Page - ToledoNewsNow.com: News, Weather & Sports for Toledo, OH

 

[marcum man]

Awesome, somebody finally is getting it right.

 

[Mark 1911]

Nice to see some people are applying common sense instead of jumping on the hysteria bandwagon, which does nothing for the safety of our kids and teachers.

 

[treanor21]

Hopefully they can be the first of many!

 

[Lunati]

They should at least make them attend a course directed towards this type of carry.

 

[cTEKs]

They should at least make them attend a course directed towards this type of carry.

Keep in mind that Ohio requires CCW training. The district would not allow anyone to unlawfully carry and looks to be hand selecting the staff that can. Personally I feel in that type of environment, the training standards should be higher... But that is just me.

"Up to four individuals will have a gun on school grounds at any given time. However, none of them will be teachers. Over the next few weeks, the school board will select those individuals, and it will be at their own discretion if they want to take advantage of the new policy.

The school will also be offering training through the Tactical Defense Institute this spring.

"It will definitely not be just hand the gun to somebody and say "here, now walk around the school." There will be a lot of training that goes into this," assured Grime."

 

[Lunati]

Keep in mind that Ohio requires CCW training. I wouldn't think the district would not allow anyone to unlawfully carry. Personally I feel in that type of environment, the training standards should be higher... But that is just me.

Exactly, training standards should be above and beyond if you are carrying in a classroom environment.

 

[Ted]

I congratulate the school board on their clarity of sight, but would emphasize that ensuring security isn't a one solution fix, but rather occurs in layers.

Training and technology utilized for situational awareness, surveillance, force continuums, access security, etc.; are all approaches to such. While such measures can't killer's desires or attempts, but can affect a killer's ability.

Bob Ploskunak, a retired Pennsylvania IA teacher at Woodland Hills H.S., has invented a locking device that can prevent shooters from entering school classrooms. The JAMBLOCK is a lightweight piece of steel, and can be slipped under a classroom door and secure it in place, preventing intruders from entering. A second invention can be used to secure double doors from being opened. Link: Active Shooter | Student Safety | Classroom Safety | Classroom Lockdown | School Safety | Student Protection | Lockdown Device | JAMBLOCK

 

[Cemetery-man]

Bob Ploskunak, a retired Pennsylvania IA teacher at Woodland Hills H.S., has invented a locking device that can prevent shooters from entering school classrooms. The JAMBLOCK is a lightweight piece of steel, and can be slipped under a classroom door and secure it in place, preventing intruders from entering. A second invention can be used to secure double doors from being opened.

All good inventions, as long as the intruder is outside. The trouble is that these threats aren't realized until they have entered the school or classroom. That is where the armed staff member will be needed and the reason we need them inside the schools.

 

[LarryC]

They should at least make them attend a course directed towards this type of carry.

You know, I have mixed feelings about the "must take special training". I carry a gun - and have for many years, I have 3 son's that carry pretty constantly and their wife's also carry. I have several friends that carry. I trust all of them with my Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren. In fact I don't know of ANY LEGAL persons with LTCH that I don't trust around any of my family members. We as a group get angry when we go to a mall or restaurant that doesn't allow us to carry our guns. These are often crowded with children. Then comes the suggestion these same people, including me, shouldn't be allowed to be in Schools with a GUN - like Oh my God they need special training -HUH? I would add this - if the school district want people that do not currently hold LTCH and that are uneducated in good gun safety and use to carry. THEN, I would agree that they should be trained - in safety, tactical training, and targeting until they are proficient with the guns they carry.

 

[wolfy]

if and when i have kids i well feel much safer knowing that some teachers have been given good training and know how to deal with nut jobs out there.

but any good defense is a good offense. schools need bulletproof windows and magnetic lock doors.

 

[ArmedProgrammer]

I tend to agree with LarryC on this: Don't ask the teacher/school employee to do anything different than we would if it was a mall or other crowded area. Consider what's behind your target etc. Would training be a darn good idea YES!. Does it need to be MANDATED - not so much. The mandate, in my opinion is intellectual masturbation designed to help Superintendents and other decision makers cover their keister. Bottom line - voluntary training - YES mandatory training - NO.

Also - Big props to this District for doing it. Minor negative for saying that it was only four and that they WOULDN'T be teachers. Only minor negative for that, though. I would just say that SOMEBODY would be armed and if you feel like trying something at one of our schools, you'd better hope you guess correctly! Nuff said.

 

[cobber]

You know, I have mixed feelings about the "must take special training". I carry a gun - and have for many years, I have 3 son's that carry pretty constantly and their wife's also carry. I have several friends that carry. I trust all of them with my Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren. In fact I don't know of ANY LEGAL persons with LTCH that I don't trust around any of my family members. We as a group get angry when we go to a mall or restaurant that doesn't allow us to carry our guns. These are often crowded with children. Then comes the suggestion these same people, including me, shouldn't be allowed to be in Schools with a GUN - like Oh my God they need special training -HUH?

Maybe teachers ought to have some training? (Or immunity.) We're not talking RKBA here, but rather a protective duty to the kids (which police do not have). Furthermore, it's not their kids, and there's this thing called tort law.

As for parents carrying on school grounds, then it seems to me you're talking RKBA, and no training unless required already by state law.

If TDI is doing the training, that's a from my point of view.

 

[Ted]

All good inventions, as long as the intruder is outside. The trouble is that these threats aren't realized until they have entered the school or classroom. That is where the armed staff member will be needed and the reason we need them inside the schools.

Thus the reason why I stated that interventions are required to be layered, or otherwise redundant.

 

[tatic05]

Thats good news, possibly. My wife is a teacher and they had their weekly staff meeting and it was in regards to lock downs. They had local LEOs there and they mentioned that it could be an option for the staff to carry in the future possibly. I am starting to like that school more and more now.

 

[True Republican]

All schools should have armed staff members. The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

 

[cTEKs]

I know of another district, close to this one and the Indiana border, that has at least one staff member carrying for over a year. Something that isn't known by most and allowed by the district. Would have been interesting to hear pubic thoughts a year ago and if they would be any different from what some would say today based on current events.

 

[bw8755]

Here's what I posted to the article I found:


Good job Montpelier.

Remember folks, after 9/11, we:

Secured our cockpits (classrooms).
Armed willing and trained pilots (teachers).
Added amed marshals (armed guard, police, faculty).

We trust these people to protect our business fliers and our vacationing families, why would we do anything less for our kids in their vulnerable place?

The classrooms should be hardened to prevent entry in emergencies. The armed teachers should only maintain the last ditch defense of their individual class in case of breech. A roaming guard or other armed faculty should only engage if absolutely safely able to, otherwise maintain a cordon for the arriving police.

 

[Ginger89]

Without a doubt I think this is a huge step in the right direction for safer schools.

 

[JetGirl]

School staff will be armed

A+