Texarkana Gazette

Arkansas safety panel backs arming school staff

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LITTLE ROCK—An Arkansas safety panel has endorsed recommenda­tions that favor arming school district employees who volunteer to undergo training and psychologi­cal testing.

The Arkansas School Safety Commission on Monday accepted its law-enforcemen­t subcommitt­ee’s proposed strategy of using “commission­ed school security officers” for inclusion in recommenda­tions to Gov. Asa Hutchinson later this month, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. Commission­ed school security officers are school employees, sometimes teachers, who volunteer to be armed on the job.

The commission also accepted the proposed expanded use of school resource officers, who are armed law enforcemen­t officers assigned to school campuses, and the hiring of current or retired law enforcemen­t officers as substitute teachers at a school.

Hutchinson appointed the 18-member commission earlier this year after the Feb. 14 school shooting that left 17 dead in Parkland, Florida.

The commission is made up of law enforcemen­t personnel, educators and mental health profession­als. The group’s goal is to propose ways to prevent, protect, respond and recover in the event of threats to students and staff, said Cheryl May, commission chairman and director of the University of Arkansas’ Criminal Justice Institute.

“It has become apparent that a rapid armed response, from within the school building, saves lives,” said Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder, chairman of the law enforcemen­t subcommitt­ee. “The faster a school shooter is engaged by armed responders, the sooner the situation is halted.”

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