Over the past half-year, House Bill 99 has received amendments and updates to the original bill. But on Thursday, Nov. 4, during its fifth hearing in the House Criminal Justice Committee, more than 80 people still objected while 13 spoke in support of the bill that would arm teachers and staff in schools.
Madison Local Schools Superintendent Jeff Staggs was one of the 13 testifying Thursday in support of House Bill 99. Staggs, the former superintendent of Newcomerstown Schools in Tuscarawas County, said that whatever the policy states, any armed staff will go above and beyond any minimum standard. His former school allowed for armed personnel, and he said he was one of those staffers.
“One more day without this program puts the lives of students in danger and that’s unacceptable,” said Staggs. “You can (require a minimum of) 100 hours, I’m going to do 200 hours. ... [J]ust like the standards we teach every day, we go above and beyond, we teach above and beyond, and we make our teachers go above and beyond. Standards are just that, a standard. But to excel, and be the best, you must go above and beyond.”
Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell
said in his northeast Ohio rural county, after reviewing case studies, his county’s response times, and realistic active shooter factors, “I just don’t think that the typical law enforcement response is enough.”
“I truly believe having conceal-carry staff sprinkled throughout the buildings is the best security,” he said. “Having only one uniformed school resource officer only makes that officer or deputy an easy first target.”
Credit: Provide
Credit: Provide
Ohio Rep. Thomas Hall, R-Madison Twp., is the primary sponsor of the bill, and said a substitute was adopted two weeks ago “after many months of discussion with interested parties.”
“We are all focused on the safety of our children and staff in schools all across Ohio,” he said. “(On Thursday), we heard passionate testimony from people on both sides of the issue. We will continue to work through the legislative process on this crucial bill.”
Hall said his bill is the clarity needed as requested by the Ohio Supreme Court when justices ruled 4-3 this summer that if school staff and teachers are armed by their districts, they’ll need the same level of training as law enforcement officers, which is more than 700 hours.
According to the majority ruling, though state law does not specifically address a board of education’s authority to arm teachers and staff, state law mandates any authorized armed people in a school must be either a 20-year law enforcement veteran or have gone through peace officer training.
The two statutes that outline who is allowed armed in a school “are unambiguous and do not conflict with each other, we must apply both statutes as written unless and until the General Assembly directs otherwise by legislative action,” according to the ruling.
Hall’s bill would allow authorized teachers and school staff to carry guns on school property, inside buildings, or at school events. The amended bill would require the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission to recommend rules for the initial training to the Ohio Attorney General, and they must include rules governing 18 hours of general training, and includes two hours of handgun training. It also requires additional training two hours of annual training. The bill prohibits exceeding set hours of training.
The amended bill also eliminates the basic peace officer training requirement, overruling the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision.
Hall said he’s hopeful the bill will move out of committee in the coming weeks.
But there are still many who say it’s not ready.
Columbus police Commander Robert Meader testified as a private citizen Thursday, and among his opposition was the level of training required of teachers and school personnel before they would be allowed to carry a firearm inside a school building. It’s not adequate, he said.
“This Committee must recognize that arming teachers and other school staff introduces safety risks into schools,” he said Thursday. Meader said a rookie police officer is taught early that every situation always involves a firearm, their firearm, and “undeniably, the presence of a gun creates serious safety risks for each person involved or nearby.”
“Arming school teachers and staff also introduces inherent serious safety risks, with the risks falling almost entirely on children,” Meader said. “In the last five years, there have been more than 90 publicly reported incidents of armed adults mishandling guns at school.”
Five years ago this past February, Madison Jr./Sr. High School was one of 15 school-related shootings in 2016. A 14-year-old shot two classmates, and two other classmates were injured.
Melissa Cropper, with the Ohio Federation of Teachers, said her organization would rather see more funding allocated to public schools which “would allow more school districts to hire appropriately trained School Resource Officers, without watering down current law.”
“In April, when we previously testified in opposition to HB 99, we identified some simple and common-sense changes that would mitigate the very dangerous risks this legislation poses,” she said. “We are disappointed that the substitute bill did not address a single area of concern, but instead actually made the bill more reckless.”
She said the bill needs to include minimum standards surrounding transparency on if teachers and staff are carrying (not identifying which ones), a program developed by OPOTA and oversight, and psychological testing so parents, teachers, and staff have confidence in the program.
Indian Valley Local Schools Superintendent Ira Wentworth supports the bill, but said an armed staff program isn’t for every district.
“I don’t believe that this decision is right for every community, but we believe every community should have the right to decide for themselves,” he said.
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