Justices hear arguments on school gun policy
The Ohio Supreme Court is set to decide a challenge to a Southwest Ohio school district's policy allowing specified staff to carry firearms on school grounds.
At issue is whether Madison Local near Middletown in Butler County and others can set training requirements for staff carrying firearms on school grounds, or whether those designated to do so must complete peace officer training outlined in state law.
Oral arguments took place Tuesday, less than a week after a different court voided Madison Local's firearms policy. In a decision Thursday, Butler County Common Pleas Judge Greg S. Stephens determined school district officials deliberated on the firearms policy in private, contrary to the state's open meeting laws.
But the open meetings case did not address the matters before justices – namely, the training requirements for employees to carry firearms on school
Role of armed school staffers questioned
Two portions of state law are central in the case. One exempts designated school employees from potential criminal charges for carrying concealed firearms on school premises, provided districts have adopted policies that allow it. A separate provision requires peace officer training for those carrying firearms in schools in the scope of their duties.
Attorney Matthew Blickensderfer, representing the school district, said the phrasing in the latter section of state law focuses on officers and other dedicated security personnel, though Chief Justice Maureen O’connor questioned whether that would include teachers in some districts.
“In many, many of the schools in Ohio, (an) algebra teacher that is armed is the security onsite,” she said. “... Then how is that algebra teacher not described in that clause of the statute?”
Blickensderfer said, “In our view, the line that the general assembly has drawn is between those employees ... whose job duties (primarily) involve being armed versus those employees who do not but may be authorized to be armed.”
And Justice Sharon Kennedy offered, “You’re still a teacher, you’re not a police officer, you’re not a security guard. You are just a concealed permit holder that’s allowed to bring your gun into the building.”
Deputy Solicitor General Kyser Blakely, participating in oral arguments on behalf of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost in support of the school district, said legislators worded the law to leave training requirement decisions to school districts, not to mandate officer training for teachers and other staff authorized to carry firearms.
Blakely added that peace officer training includes sessions on vehicle crashes, domestic violence, human trafficking and other issues beyond firearm safety.
“It would be really surprising if the General Assembly had wanted school districts to allow teachers to carry firearms but only if they became police officers,” Blakley said.
O’connor said it wouldn’t be the first time legislators passed a law that “needed some cleanup afterward.”
Rachel Bloomekatz, representing the plaintiffs, said state law covers anyone who is armed in a school while on duty, not just security positions.
“The statute by its plain text is not limited to just security positions or similar or full-time security positions…,” she said. “It just says other position… in which such person, that employee, goes armed while on duty.”
Justice Patrick Fischer asked whether teachers and other school employees authorized by school boards to carry firearms were required (or had a duty) to do so.
What’s next
In 2018, the Madison Local school board unanimously adopted a new policy allowing a handful of staff to carry firearms on school grounds. Specified “approved volunteers” had to be district employees with valid licenses to carry concealed firearms and completion of 24 hours of active shooter training, among other requirements, according to court documents.
The policy came after a February 2016 school shooting in the district’s junior/senior high school cafeteria.
A group of parents subsequently filed suit, seeking a court order to require school employees carrying firearms to complete an approved basic peace officer training program, governed by the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission.
Butler County Common Pleas Court sided with the school board and Superintendent Lisa Tuttle-huff. An appeals court ruled state law required completion of the state peace officer training.
It could be several months before the Ohio Supreme Court makes a decision in the case. mkovac@dispatch.com @Ohiocapitalblog