St. Marys officials weigh arming teachers, staff

ST. MARYS - School officials on Wednesday evening outlined the district's safety plans and explained how it could potentially implement a policy to allow staff members to be armed.

A crowd of about 40 people attended the meeting in which superintendent Bill Ruane, director of operations and safety supervisor Nick Hagar, police chief Jacob Sutton and other personnel discussed safety measures already in place and Ohio House Bill 99.

A handful of audience members asked questions during the cordial meeting. One attendee voiced opposition to the idea of armed staff members while another supported it.

Ohio House Bill 99 allows local school districts to decide whether to permit certain school staff members to be armed on school grounds. However, a district safety commission has discussed the possibility of armed staff members for around five years, Ruane said.

Ruane stressed the possibility of arming staff and the potential stipulations they would require are not set in stone. No immediate action is planned, he added, largely because state officials still have to create a curriculum and iron out further details about the program.

Should the district allow staff to arm themselves, Ruane said participation would be completely voluntary and only a couple employees in each building would be allowed to carry a firearm. Not everyone who volunteers would be chosen, he said.

Staff would have to undergo a psychological evaluation and would need to have experience conceal carrying a gun in their everyday life or for an extended period of time before they would be allowed to participate in the program.

Those who are chosen for the program would have to participate in an initial 40 hours of firearms and use of force training, which is double the state requirement of 20 hours, Ruane said.

They would also have an additional eight hours of scenario training and would have to pass accuracy benchmarks at a higher standard than what police officers are required to pass, Ruane said.

Sutton noted police officers are required to have 60 hours of firearm training, which is close to what armed staff would have by the time their training is complete.

Participants would have to pass use of force, high stress and tactical training. They would also have annual trainings throughout the year in both firearm shooting and tactical situations.

Ruane said all training would be provided by the St. Marys Police Department at no cost to the district.

Participants would remain confidential, Ruane said. School officials cited confidentiality concerns when asked if guns would be considered school or personal property, how much ammunition would be permitted and how firearms would be stored. Hagar said modern handguns would be permitted.

Ruane said since authorized staff members would be volunteers and not law enforcement personnel, they would not be held to the same accountability standards if they failed to act in the face of danger.

However, Ruane emphasized staff would receive strenuous training and, in theory, be equipped to respond to an active shooter.

"Our overall thought is to have capable defenders in the buildings to shorten the timeline to violence," Hagar said. "Once the police get here we're not trying to be a SWAT team."

Ruane detailed the safety measures the school has in place, such as decorative two-way window decals on doors and windows which prevent those outside the school from looking in.

The superintendent said there is one armed school resource officer for the whole district, which is partly the reason school officials and members of the district's safety commission are discussing arming staff members.

"We only have one for the whole district. We have three buildings scattered across town," Hagar said. "He could be as slow as any other law enforcement (responding to emergencies) if he's in a different building."

Cameras and mirrors are located throughout the hallways, classroom numbers are posted on signs throughout the building as well as exterior windows, and there are two controlled access entries individuals must go through before actually entering the school.

The school district works closely with the police department, fire department, emergency management agency, health department, sheriff's office and Holy Rosary, Ruane said.

Sutton said police officers have laminated maps of the school buildings in their vehicles at all times. Teachers have the Alertus app on their phones and Navigate 360 on their Surface Pro laptops, which can be used to send or receive emergency alerts, view emergency preparedness plans, reunification plans and more.

Ruane said there are alert and panic buttons in high-traffic areas in each the school building, which can be used to call law enforcement and notify those nearby that something is amiss.

Both staff and students are trained using the ALICE model - alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate.

Several staff members at the school are trained as ALICE instructors, Ruane noted, and all staff receive the training and perform drills. All students receive age-appropriate training.

Students and their parents are always encouraged to say something if they see something, Ruane said, and added parents and students can always contact the Safer Ohio Tip Line, an anonymous reporting system that accepts both calls and texts 24 hours-a-day.

Calls or texts to 844-SaferOH (844-723-3764) are answered by analysts within Ohio Homeland Security. If action is needed, the analysts immediately forward information to local school officials, law enforcement agencies and the Ohio School Safety Center (OSSC) for action and follow up.

Night locks are placed in every classroom, which take only seconds to install and can prevent a person from entering the classroom, Ruane said.

The district has a behavioral intervention team who receive training from the University of Findlay, and a social/mental health worker. They also perform tabletop, functional and full-scale drills once a year.

Ruane said the district's safety commission, which includes school administrators, teachers, counselors and officials from Holy Rosary, the police department, fire department, EMA, health department, sheriff's office and one school board member, meets monthly.

The school board's next regular meeting is 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the high school auditorium.