Widow boosts guardians

The widow of a hero football coach killed during the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School earlier this year joined people training to protect students in potential active shooter situations through a program named for her late husband.

Melissa Feiss arrived at the Burnham McCall Training Center in central Florida Wednesday morning to shake the hands of the men and women working to become armed school safety “guardians” in honor of her husband.

Aaron Feiss, an assistant football coach at Stoneman Douglas, died protecting students when 19-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz opened fire in the hallways and classrooms of the Parkland school on Feb. 14. The shooting left 17 dead and more than a dozen injured.

The Aaron Feiss Guardian program, spearheaded by the Polk County Sheriff ’s Office, is a response to a new state mandate requiring an armed officer, or so-called safety guardian, at every campus.

At least 130 citizens were training at different locations in central Florida this week, according to ABC Action News. Applicants were required to pass background checks as well as psychological exams to be allowed to continue into the training process.

Minister Stephen Bolden said he joined the program because of his family.

“I have three small children in the school system. My wife is a teacher,” he told CBS. “I want to make sure that those children have the safest, bestquality education.”

Each trainee is to take a six-week course, which includes firearms training, precision shooting, and both virtual and live active shooter scenarios. Only the candidates who score high enough on both the tactical and written exams will be placed at a school. They’ll be required to pass a final written exam with a score of 85% or higher.

In the end, the sheriff ’s office hopes to place 90 trained and qualified guardians at elementary schools in Polk County while middle and high schools will rely on an armed school resource officer.

Guardians will earn $30,000 a year.