School Safety Part 3: Armed Teachers or Guards?
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
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After the Newtown, Conn., shooting in December, different ideas of how to better protect students in school were proposed.
In states like South Dakota, lawmakers presented bills allowing schools to arm teachers and other personnel with handguns.
Under Noble County Sheriff Doug Harp’s plan, officials would choose up to four teachers in each school to undergo firearms training and be appointed as special deputies. The Central Noble School Board voted to consider the idea.
But Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Captain Aaron Rovenstine expressed doubt.
“It kind of sounds good, and I’m sure there would be qualified people to do it in training, but there’s more in shooting situations than just knowing how to shoot a gun at the bull’s eye,” he said.
Law enforcement officers go to academy and attend training three times a year to know how to handle those kinds of situations. Just because a teacher knows how to shoot a weapon, “does that allow them to take on a threat like that?” Rovenstine asked. “That’s something that goes through my mind. I’m sure there are teachers who are used to handling a gun, been in the military, maybe former police officers in their own right, that might work out. But not every situation is like that.”
A teacher may not be trained to deal with every situation that comes up, and Rovenstine said you wouldn’t want them to misuse a weapon.
“I think it’s something to look at. I have my doubts on arming teachers ... I don’t know. It’s worth looking into, but I have my doubts,” Rovenstine said.
Warsaw Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz said, “I would say, first, we’re just grateful for the relationship we have with the Warsaw Police Department. And the City of Warsaw provides for three uniformed armed officers in our schools as well as a crossing guard on State Road 15. We have one officer assigned to the high school full time. And then we have two DARE officers assigned to Edgewood and Lakeview Middle Schools, and our DARE officers work with our eight elementary schools.”
He said WCS wants to continue to have such an arrangement with WPD and the city, even if it would mean the school system would have to pay for some of the services.
“In conversation with Mayor Joe Thallemer and Chief Scott Whitaker, they are encouraging their officers to make routine visits to all of our schools in Warsaw, either at the beginning of the day or throughout the day ... to provide an officer-friendly presence in our schools,” Hintz said.
He said there’s no discussion at this time of having armed teachers in any of Warsaw’s schools.
“A year or so ago, we reviewed our board policies, consulted with our principals, and a determination was made that we would continue to work with local law enforcement officials to help us with the safety and security of our buildings,” Hintz stated.
“I’ve thought a lot about this weapons in schools and teachers being armed and so on, it concerns me,” said Tippecanoe Valley Superintendent Brett Boggs. “I think the more people that you have with weapons, inside a school building, the greater chance there is for something bad to happen.”
John Hart, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department SRO at Valley, said he’s discussed putting together a Crisis Intervention Team with Tippecanoe Valley High School Assistant Principal Jon Hutton. It would consist of nurses, counselors, administrators and himself.
If a student would happen to be in the commons area and hear another person talk about shooting others at school, that student could come forward and report it to the team. The team then would evaluate how serious the threat is and what should be done.
Boggs said, “Certainly, when those kind of things are said in schools, you don’t take them lightly anymore.”
Hart also is in the process of putting together Violent Intruder Response Training. He hopes to start the teacher and staff training in the spring.
“I think it’s essential to have this training,” Hart said.
He’s been working on the training with Dallis Owens, KCSD school resource officer at Wawasee.
Besides arming teachers, another idea that’s been floated around to keep schools safe has been placing armed guards in them.
Boggs said, “I certainly would not oppose that. ... If the public can provide funding for that, that certainly would help deter folks from coming to attempt to do something harmful. But that’s going to be a significant commitment from the country.”
Not just anyone can be put into that position with a gun either, he said. An armed guard would have to be someone who has the training of a law enforcement officer.
“I think overall, we’ve really worked hard on school safety over the years, and we have a good plan in place. It’s something that we talk about quite often. It’s at the forefront of our thinking almost all of the time,” Boggs said. “But it also gets down to the situation where, if someone wants badly enough to hurt someone else, or to do some damage, they’re probably going to do anything and everything to find a way. We just have to make it absolutely as difficult as possible for anyone to do anything that would hurt our kids or our staff.”
“I hear some people say ex-military or ex-police officers (in schools),” said Rovenstine. “That sounds good if they want to volunteer their time maybe and keep up with their training. But it comes back to everything else – who is going to pay for all of this? We haven’t added a sworn law enforcement personnel at this department in eight years. And how much money does the federal government have to want to put an armed police officer in every school. We’ve got elementary schools and junior highs and everything else – you’re talking at Warsaw another 10 to 15 police officers. Who’s going to pay for that? The federal government is broke. It sounds good until you start thinking about it.”
Sgt. Dave Morales, Warsaw Police Department school resource officer, said, “The armed security personnel, obviously, that would entail a lot of questions, training, background checks in regards to those individuals. And obviously that... would be a decision made by the administration of the police department, the school board and the decision of the school administrators as well, whether they would feel comfortable to that extent.”
“The armed teacher is a very sensitive topic. I honestly don’t feel comfortable with it, while some people see it as a quicker response time,” Morales said.[[In-content Ad]]
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After the Newtown, Conn., shooting in December, different ideas of how to better protect students in school were proposed.
In states like South Dakota, lawmakers presented bills allowing schools to arm teachers and other personnel with handguns.
Under Noble County Sheriff Doug Harp’s plan, officials would choose up to four teachers in each school to undergo firearms training and be appointed as special deputies. The Central Noble School Board voted to consider the idea.
But Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Captain Aaron Rovenstine expressed doubt.
“It kind of sounds good, and I’m sure there would be qualified people to do it in training, but there’s more in shooting situations than just knowing how to shoot a gun at the bull’s eye,” he said.
Law enforcement officers go to academy and attend training three times a year to know how to handle those kinds of situations. Just because a teacher knows how to shoot a weapon, “does that allow them to take on a threat like that?” Rovenstine asked. “That’s something that goes through my mind. I’m sure there are teachers who are used to handling a gun, been in the military, maybe former police officers in their own right, that might work out. But not every situation is like that.”
A teacher may not be trained to deal with every situation that comes up, and Rovenstine said you wouldn’t want them to misuse a weapon.
“I think it’s something to look at. I have my doubts on arming teachers ... I don’t know. It’s worth looking into, but I have my doubts,” Rovenstine said.
Warsaw Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz said, “I would say, first, we’re just grateful for the relationship we have with the Warsaw Police Department. And the City of Warsaw provides for three uniformed armed officers in our schools as well as a crossing guard on State Road 15. We have one officer assigned to the high school full time. And then we have two DARE officers assigned to Edgewood and Lakeview Middle Schools, and our DARE officers work with our eight elementary schools.”
He said WCS wants to continue to have such an arrangement with WPD and the city, even if it would mean the school system would have to pay for some of the services.
“In conversation with Mayor Joe Thallemer and Chief Scott Whitaker, they are encouraging their officers to make routine visits to all of our schools in Warsaw, either at the beginning of the day or throughout the day ... to provide an officer-friendly presence in our schools,” Hintz said.
He said there’s no discussion at this time of having armed teachers in any of Warsaw’s schools.
“A year or so ago, we reviewed our board policies, consulted with our principals, and a determination was made that we would continue to work with local law enforcement officials to help us with the safety and security of our buildings,” Hintz stated.
“I’ve thought a lot about this weapons in schools and teachers being armed and so on, it concerns me,” said Tippecanoe Valley Superintendent Brett Boggs. “I think the more people that you have with weapons, inside a school building, the greater chance there is for something bad to happen.”
John Hart, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department SRO at Valley, said he’s discussed putting together a Crisis Intervention Team with Tippecanoe Valley High School Assistant Principal Jon Hutton. It would consist of nurses, counselors, administrators and himself.
If a student would happen to be in the commons area and hear another person talk about shooting others at school, that student could come forward and report it to the team. The team then would evaluate how serious the threat is and what should be done.
Boggs said, “Certainly, when those kind of things are said in schools, you don’t take them lightly anymore.”
Hart also is in the process of putting together Violent Intruder Response Training. He hopes to start the teacher and staff training in the spring.
“I think it’s essential to have this training,” Hart said.
He’s been working on the training with Dallis Owens, KCSD school resource officer at Wawasee.
Besides arming teachers, another idea that’s been floated around to keep schools safe has been placing armed guards in them.
Boggs said, “I certainly would not oppose that. ... If the public can provide funding for that, that certainly would help deter folks from coming to attempt to do something harmful. But that’s going to be a significant commitment from the country.”
Not just anyone can be put into that position with a gun either, he said. An armed guard would have to be someone who has the training of a law enforcement officer.
“I think overall, we’ve really worked hard on school safety over the years, and we have a good plan in place. It’s something that we talk about quite often. It’s at the forefront of our thinking almost all of the time,” Boggs said. “But it also gets down to the situation where, if someone wants badly enough to hurt someone else, or to do some damage, they’re probably going to do anything and everything to find a way. We just have to make it absolutely as difficult as possible for anyone to do anything that would hurt our kids or our staff.”
“I hear some people say ex-military or ex-police officers (in schools),” said Rovenstine. “That sounds good if they want to volunteer their time maybe and keep up with their training. But it comes back to everything else – who is going to pay for all of this? We haven’t added a sworn law enforcement personnel at this department in eight years. And how much money does the federal government have to want to put an armed police officer in every school. We’ve got elementary schools and junior highs and everything else – you’re talking at Warsaw another 10 to 15 police officers. Who’s going to pay for that? The federal government is broke. It sounds good until you start thinking about it.”
Sgt. Dave Morales, Warsaw Police Department school resource officer, said, “The armed security personnel, obviously, that would entail a lot of questions, training, background checks in regards to those individuals. And obviously that... would be a decision made by the administration of the police department, the school board and the decision of the school administrators as well, whether they would feel comfortable to that extent.”
“The armed teacher is a very sensitive topic. I honestly don’t feel comfortable with it, while some people see it as a quicker response time,” Morales said.[[In-content Ad]]
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