The Lake County School Board voted this week to allow armed administrators in schools.
Under the plan, known as the Guardian Program, eligible administrators who volunteer and meet training requirements will be allowed to carry guns on school campuses and serve as armed responders to active shooter situations.
The school board’s decision came after an informal poll revealed that 30 administrators are interested in going through the program. Teachers and other employees would be excluded from participation.
School Board Chairman Stephanie Luke was joined by board members Marc Dodd and Bill Mathias in supporting the measure.
“Evil exists and we have an obligation to protect our kids,” Mathias said.
Luke agreed.
“When I think of my son or daughter sitting in a classroom and the SRO (school resource officer) defense has gone down… there’s nothing I wouldn’t want anyone on that campus to have to keep my child safe,” she said.
Board members Sandy Gamble and Kristi Burns felt differently and voted against the measure.
“I’m very concerned about the potential for unintended consequences,” Burns said.
Gamble raised questions about liability.
“I have mixed thoughts,” he said. “No matter what you do, you’re not going to make everybody happy. I’m not sure this is the right way.”
Superintendent Diane Kornegay supported the program, saying she would prefer to have a certified law enforcement officer in every school and will continue to work toward that goal. But the state didn’t provide enough funding and the district doesn’t have the money to have them in place by the beginning of the school year as required by law, she said.
Kornegay has been meeting with local police departments, city managers and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office to seek ways of sharing the costs, but many of those agencies are strapped for cash as well. Plus, law enforcement agencies are finding it difficult to hire enough officers to meet the growing demand as 67 school districts scamper to place officers before the new school year begins.
“This board was painted into a corner,” Dodd said. “The Legislature knew very well what they were doing. They made sure we would be forced into this position.”
Currently, the district has at least one officer or deputy in every middle and high school in Lake County, but none in elementary schools. To enhance student safety at every school, the new law gives districts three options:
- Use certified officers placed through local law enforcement agencies,
- Create a district police department staffed with certified officers, and
- Allow armed school personnel through the Guardian Program.
School board members believe a combination of options 1 and 3 provide the best solution available.
“Whether one agrees or disagrees with the Guardian Program, we must comply with the law and without the needed funding and the people to fill positions, we must consider every available option,” Kornegay said.
The board also voted unanimously to ask Lake County commissioners to place a referendum on the ballot this year for approval of a 0.75 mill ad valorem millage tax. If approved, the $16 million raised would go toward student safety through the hiring of more social workers, counselors and nurses, along with in-house alternative education programs, in-school suspension programs and some “school hardening” measures to make buildings and classrooms more secure.
The Guardian Program is an extension of the Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program, which was established in the aftermath of the deadly February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida. Feis was an assistant football coach and security guard at the school who threw himself in front of students to protect them from gunfire during the Feb. 14 shooting that left 17 students dead and 17 others wounded. He died of a gunshot wound after being rushed to the hospital.
