Arming Teachers In The Concho Valley
By: KLST News
Updated: February 9, 2013
One week after the Christoval school district implemented the "Guardian Plan," which now allows school employees to carry handguns on campus, other area school districts are considering the same security plan for the same reasons.
The Wall district superintendent Walter Holick explained why their school has been looking into the possibility of arming it's employees.
"Tom Green county is a large county and it's hard to have officers everywhere," Holick said, "so we realize that the response time is going to be something that is very critical to our decision to whether we carry firearms in our school."
Holick says the school has all ready added extra security cameras around campus and has upgraded their current safety plans in case of an emergency.
He says that for rural schools such as Wall, school employees must have a way to protect their children while they wait for police arrive.
"We've got to have some method of protecting our kids that is immediate. Because in most of these cases the situation is very quick, and these people have planned it out well, they know exactly what they're doing so you don't have time for someone to have to cross the county in order to get here."
But not all schools would require arming school employees.
Texas Leadership Charter Academy Superintendent Ron Ledbetter says that for schools such as his, since police response times are much faster, the need to arm teachers isn't as great.
Holick says he will be proposing a new school safety plan to the board of trustees in the upcoming months.
The Wall district superintendent Walter Holick explained why their school has been looking into the possibility of arming it's employees.
"Tom Green county is a large county and it's hard to have officers everywhere," Holick said, "so we realize that the response time is going to be something that is very critical to our decision to whether we carry firearms in our school."
Holick says the school has all ready added extra security cameras around campus and has upgraded their current safety plans in case of an emergency.
He says that for rural schools such as Wall, school employees must have a way to protect their children while they wait for police arrive.
"We've got to have some method of protecting our kids that is immediate. Because in most of these cases the situation is very quick, and these people have planned it out well, they know exactly what they're doing so you don't have time for someone to have to cross the county in order to get here."
But not all schools would require arming school employees.
Texas Leadership Charter Academy Superintendent Ron Ledbetter says that for schools such as his, since police response times are much faster, the need to arm teachers isn't as great.
Holick says he will be proposing a new school safety plan to the board of trustees in the upcoming months.
