Many Green County parents are comfortable with their children’s teachers carrying guns at school with a few exceptions.
A bill written by Sapulpa Republican Representative Mark McCullough passed the House Public Safety Committee on Wednesday. It would allow school teachers or administrators to attend a basic police course academy for reserve deputies provided by the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training. The basic course provides about 240 hours of training.
The individual school districts would be responsible for the costs associated with the training, and McCullough says he intends to push for state funding to start the program.
Joey Johnson, a father of a 5-year-old attending a Sand Springs school and a former law enforcement officer, told FOX23 he is OK with his son attending a school where teachers can better protect him, but he wants more than just CLEET training for teachers and administrators.
“I think with the proper training and a psychological evaluation for each person who wants to carry is necessary,” said Johnson. “I also believe it should be a concealed carry.”
He says he understand some parents might feel differently and would even move their child out of a public school that could soon allow teachers to carry guns, but says he also knows violence is possible anywhere, whether the teachers carry guns or not.
“I think about what happened at Sandy Hook every day,” said Johnson. “It’s always in the back of your mind whenever you hear something like that. Your kids are always something you think of.”
FOX23 talked with the Superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools about the bill. Dr. Keith Ballard said:
“I am opposed to the concept of having armed teachers in our district. It is an unfunded mandate that districts cannot afford. It is not an acceptable solution. Not one of my teachers has told me they want to be armed. The bill is not even well thought out. We cannot just put it on schools to pay for something like this—the bill does not fix the problem.”
FOX23 will follow the bill as it makes its way through the legislative process.
