INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s state schools superintendent signaled her opposition Wednesday to a plan that would require public and charter schools to have an employee armed with a loaded gun, saying such decisions should be made by the individual districts rather than mandated by the Legislature.
Glenda Ritz, a Democrat who took office in January, said she didn’t know about the proposal before a Republican-controlled Indiana House committee added it Tuesday to a Senate-approved bill aimed at starting a school security grant program. The armed employee proposal would have to clear both the full House and Senate by the Legislature’s April 29 adjournment deadline to become law.
Leaders of the Indiana School Boards Association and the Indiana State Teachers Association also said they didn’t believe the proposal was well thought out.
Supporters of the requirement say it would lessen the vulnerability of schools to violent attacks such as the December elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., in which 20 students and six teachers died.
The plan, however, is facing questions over whether people not trained as police officers should have such responsibilities and the potential costs school districts would face to ensure a trained armed person is present during all school hours.
Ritz said local school officials should make decisions about what security steps are needed, including whether to hire police officers or have them assigned to school buildings.
“I’m not for or against any type of officer that’s placed in a school district,” she said. “I think that’s up to the school district to make that local decision and the state of Indiana should not be mandating that.”
The bill would require a person designated as the school protection officer — whether a police officers or employee such as a teacher or principal — carry a loaded weapon and be at the school at all times during regular school hours. The protection officers would have to meet training standards set by a new statewide school safety board, but the bill doesn’t specify any training minimums or include any funding to pay for training or other expenses.
Frank Bush, executive director of the Indiana School Boards Association, said any teacher, principal or counselor who takes on such duties would already have full-time duties in the school.
“There’s no guarantee that the person that gets trained is going to be there every day on the premises with the firearm to be able to provide that kind of protection,” Bush said. “So it seems more logistically important for a school to have the money to go out and employ a full-time person for that kind of work that’s trained in law enforcement.”
Legislators cited the opportunity to hold costs down by avoiding the hiring of police officers at all schools as a reason to open the security position up to current employees.
The provision’s sponsor, Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, said having an armed person in the school would be the best defense against an attack.
“We are introducing firearms into schools, absolutely,” Lucas said. “But when the lack of firearms gives us the tragedies that we’re experience right now, to continue down the same path, to me, would be the true crime.”
Indiana law makes it a felony for someone other than a police officer to possess a gun on school property, although school districts can authorize school employees to have guns on school property. Bush said he didn’t know of any Indiana districts that currently allow teachers to have guns at school.
A National Rifle Association-sponsored report released Tuesday recommended all schools across the country arm at least one staff member after a 40- to 60-hour training program. Lawmakers in more than 20 states are considering allowing armed school employees, but no states now require armed employees in schools, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The lack of specifics on training, selection of the employees and funding in the Indiana proposal worry Brenda Pike, executive director of the Indiana State Teachers Association, which represents more than 45,000 teachers and other school workers. She said such a step doesn’t address issues such as mental health and bullying that often are tied to violence in schools.
“You have to consider is that enough training to even be able to deliver on the promises,” Pike said. “There’re just so many unanswered questions and so many layers of this issue that haven’t been explored yet.”
