School districts across the country are looking at various programs to prevent or mitigate the threat of school active shooters. Arming teachers is a very controversial proposal but as mentioned in this article some Ohio suburbs are currently training and arming select teachers.
The West Carrollton school district which is a suburb of Dayton Ohio and about an hour’s drive from Cincinnati is the latest school district to allow trained staff members to have access to firearms within the school. The state guidelines require a minimum of 24 hours of training.
I am not endorsing or opposing this program but as a former member of law enforcement I believe that 24 hours of training is substantially less than what should be required and would be necessary to understand the various aspects of handling a weapon in a stressful situation when you have a risk of injuring students and staff.
This would not be at the top of the list of recommendations that Ivy Plus Associates would suggest but we commend the district for thinking out of the box to address this serious and terrible threat. Ultimately additional training and further policy thought are seriously needed.