School board to discuss staff guns at school

“What I was hoping to do was to get some direction from the board about whether we should develop a policy for concealed carry,” Rigano said. “The Ohio Revised Code prohibits concealed carry at schools, except when it is specifically allowed by the school board.”

Rigano, a concealed carry permit holder himself, said he is in favor of the idea of teachers defending themselves, especially in light of events such as the mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., last month.

That incident, which left 28 people dead, including 20 children, has sparked many schools across the country to consider whether to allow teachers and other school staff members to carry weapons. The Buckeye Firearms Foundation reported more than 1,000 applicants for its offer to provide free firearms training for school employees.

“I don’t think it’s just about teachers defending kids, but teachers restoring their right to self-defense,” Rigano said. “At Sandy Hook, six employees lost their lives. If a perpetrator was aware he might encounter a concealed carry license holder, it might be a deterrent. There’s a lot to consider.”

Although the majority of Dayton-area school officials reported that their school board members had not publicly discussed arming teachers, Tipp City Superintendent John Kronour said his board touched on the debate at its Jan. 3 organizational meeting.

“A couple of board members talked about taking the (no guns allowed) sticker off the door at the board office so they could carry at the board meetings,” Kronour said. “That led to the talks about teachers. Now we’re getting a legal opinion about what we can and can’t do. We’ll have more discussions down the road.”

Kronour said the Tipp City school board was pretty evenly split on the topic, but that he personally was not in favor of allowing teachers to be armed.

“I’m not a strong gun-advocate person,” he said. “I don’t know if I could pull that trigger, and I’m not sure if that’s the solution — especially when you’re dealing with someone with an automatic weapon.”

Rigano said any Springboro policy would include training requirements, the securing of weapons and who would be eligible.

Also at Thursday’s meeting, the school board is expected to discuss its proposed conversion charter school, a renewal levy and the election of board officers.