N-Y Schools presented w/ proposal for armed resource officer
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 11:33 am
http://www.athensohiotoday.com/news/n-y ... 1a960.html
N-Y Schools presented with proposal for armed resource officer
By AP and Messenger staff
NELSONVILLE — Nelsonville Police Department presented a proposal to Nelsonville-York City Schools to station an armed resource officer at the school complex.
Chief Jason Wallace presented the idea to the school board during its meeting last week. Supt. Mick McClelland said the school needs time to consider the proposal.
“We haven’t sat down to discuss it yet,†McClelland said. “We have considered it in the past. We’d love to be able to do it. It comes down to the finances. We’ll see what comes down the pike.â€
The proposal states that the police department would outfit, train and certify the officer. The school would be responsible for paying the officer nine months out of the year, when school is in session.
“When school is closed, we’d bring (the officer) back into our services,†Wallace said during the school board meeting. “That’s the goal.â€
It’s unclear if this would mean a reassigned officer or a new position within the department.
Nelsonville-York elementary, middle school and high school students are on the same campus.
The proposal comes as districts and lawmakers nationwide figure out how to protect students following the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., and after the National Rifle Association called for an armed officer in every U.S. school. The gunman in Newtown killed 20 students and six educators.
A rural school district in northwestern Ohio is drawing attention with its plans to arm a handful of its non-teaching employees with handguns this year, reports The Associated Press.
Four employees in the Montpelier schools have agreed to take a weapons training course and carry their own guns inside the district’s one building, which houses 1,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, school officials said. It’s unclear what type of employees are taking the course. The school would only say that they are employees who don’t have direct supervision over the students.
McClelland has previously said he doesn’t think the arming of teachers and administrators is the answer. He added that armed resource officers are plausible, but school districts would run into the issue of fitting that into already-tight budgets.
