The Grandview R-2 School District is accepting applications from staff members interested in being designated as a school protection officer who can carry a firearm on campus. Applications will be taken through the end of this month, said Jason VanHouten, the district’s communications director.
“The board has asked staff who would like to volunteer, and we’re accepting applications now,” he said. “The training will be this summer. All of the plans and procedures will be put together by that team after that training, working, of course, with the local law enforcement.”
VanHouten said the program will be implemented at the start of the 2024-2025 school year.
The Grandview Board of Education agreed in December to approve a program to designate a number of staff members as school protection officers and to use Shield Solutions in West Plains to provide the staff members with firearms training.
Superintendent Matt Zoph said the board has not yet approved a contract with Shield Solutions because the district is waiting to see how many staff members are interested in becoming SPOs. So far, interest has been high, he said.
Zoph said it will cost the district $9,000 for one staff member to complete the Shield Solutions training program or $35,500 for six staff members to go, adding that he is confident that more than six employees will be trained for SPO positions.
According to district documents, the training program will include a 40-hour, weeklong course where staff members are instructed on how to move and shoot a firearm and work as a team with the school resource officer. SPOs will complete 24 hours of training with Shield Solutions yearly after the first year and will need to complete an annual mental assessment and drug test.
“Personnel have to go through (Shield Solutions’) process, the background check, the psychological check,” VanHouten said. “We’re trying to find the best fit for the positions. It’s pretty in-depth training. You don’t want anybody willy-nilly doing this.”
VanHouten said the SPOs will be completely voluntary, and only a few people on campus, like Zoph and the school resource officer, will know which staff members have been designated as SPOs.
“You have to really have the desire and the ability to carry out a position like this,” VanHouten said. “It’s not something we take lightly.”
In addition to Grandview, Sunrise R-9, a school district south of De Soto that enrolls students in kindergarten through eighth grade, also uses SPOs.
Before staff members may be designated as SPOs, they first must undergo an extensive training session and then attend additional annual classes and quarterly firearms tests, VanHouten said.
Under a 2014 state law, school boards may name teachers and administrators to a SPO position, authorizing them to carry concealed firearms or a self-defense spray anywhere on district property so they may respond to active shooter situations.
Grandview officials held multiple meetings and discussions with community members to ensure SPOs were right for the district, and feedback from the discussions was positive, VanHouten said.
As the state law is now written, only administrators and teachers may be used as SPOs. A proposed change in the Missouri Legislature this year would have expanded the definition to include any school district employee, but that bill didn’t make it to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk.
Zoph said the district decided to implement SPOs due to the district’s rural location.
“It’s a unique situation, being so far from the (Jefferson County) Sheriff’s Office,” he said. “The response time for emergencies, we’re looking at 15 minutes. Even Sheriff (Dave) Marshak said that, given our situation, he approved of us doing the SPO program.”
VanHouten said it’s unfortunate the SPO program is needed.
“We know that we have a need for something like this,” he said. “Most of these incidents are over in 10 minutes, and that’s before we could even get law enforcement here. It’s an issue that has a lot of emotion. You want to ensure the safety of the students and staff, patrons of the district, but at the same time, you hope that you never have to use this program. It’s there if you need it; you just hope you never need it.”