Grandview R-2 School District residents are invited to a Sept. 21 public hearing to share their views about whether some of the district’s teachers and administrators should be armed.
Right now, Sunrise R-9, a school district south of De Soto that enrolls students in kindergarten through eighth grade, is the only district in Jefferson County that has armed teachers and administrators who also serve as school protection officers.
Most of the other school districts say they rely on school resource officers (SROs) – either Jefferson County deputies or municipal police officers stationed at various school campuses.
Grandview is scheduled to hold its public hearing about the possibility of naming school protection officers at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, at Grandview Middle School, 11470 Hwy. C at Hwy. Y, west of Hillsboro.
“The big thing is we want to hear opinions from our constituents, for or against,” Superintendent Matt Zoph said. “We want people to show up and let us know what they think.”
The district is collecting information, Zoph said, to determine whether to enlist teachers and administrators to become school protection officers.
Under a 2014 state law, school boards can name teachers and administrators to that position, authorizing them to carry concealed firearms or a self-defense spray anywhere on district property so they can respond to active shooter situations.
“If we did do it,” Zoph said, “we’d want to make sure everybody knows that there would be extensive training that goes before.”
School protection officers first must undergo an extensive training session and then additional annual classes and quarterly firearms tests.
All school protection officers, Zoph said, would be volunteers, with the idea of providing an immediate reaction to an active shooter on campus.
He said he’s not sure how the idea originated for his district.
“It might have been a board member, but I’m not positive, but the big thing is our location – how far away we are from any police response. In our case, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in Hillsboro will take a minimum of 15 minutes before they get to us.
“If you look up active shooter stats from around the country, in the first 30 seconds of an active shooter situation, eight people on average are killed. It goes up to 12 in the first minute. After seven minutes, the average is 36 people killed. And we’re looking at 15 minutes at least before help arrives. What are we going to be able to do with our one SRO (school resource officer, a member of the Sheriff’s Office who is stationed during the school year on campus)? Is one armed response enough? It doesn’t seem as if the math would be in our favor.”
As the state law is now written, only administrators and teachers may be used as school protection officers. 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 onto Gov. Mike Parson’s desk.
Zoph said the Grandview district has teachers and administrators who have agreed to volunteer.
“I haven’t asked the entire staff yet. I asked key people, people whom I thought might be willing, and I haven’t found anybody to tell me no,” he said. “Now, I don’t think everyone will be willing to do this, but I believe a portion of our teaching staff would.”
He said the district would pay for all training, both the initial class and ongoing sessions.
“I know this is a controversial subject. Our board wants to know what our community thinks. I know on the board itself, some are for it, some are against it. Most say they would take the wishes of the community into consideration.”
Zoph said he wouldn’t risk a guess about how the meeting might go.
“We’re eager for an open discussion on the issue,” he said. “Our community has been great. They passed a ($7.2 million) bond issue that is paying for safer entrances at all three buildings (in addition to other security measures). But the question we want to ask is, are we doing everything we can to keep our students and staff safe?”
He said if the board decides to proceed with approving and naming school protection officers, it likely would do so at a meeting later this school year, with initial training typically taking place over the summer and the program fully implemented for the 2024-2025 school year.
What other districts do
The Fox C-6 School District has three SROs through the Arnold Police Department and another through the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
“They’re the only employees allowed to carry weapons,” said JP Prezzavento, the district’s chief technology and communications officer.
Officials with the Northwest R-1 School District said the only people allowed to carry weapons on the district’s campuses are its two SROs.
The Windsor C-1, Jefferson R-7, De Soto, Crystal City, Dunklin R-5, Festus R-6 and Hillsboro R-3 school districts all said they do not have school protection officers.
“We have not considered that,” Hillsboro R-3 Superintendent Jon Isaacson said. “We have two SROs from the Hillsboro Police Department. We are blessed due to location,” with the city’s Police Station and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office both nearby. Districts like Grandview and Sunrise are on isolated islands.”
Sunrise’s experience
Superintendent Armand Spurgin said the Sunrise district has started its sixth year using employees as school protection officers.
“Everybody has the perception that everybody who comes in the door is issued a firearm,” he said. “That’s not how it works at all. All of our staff members involved in our program are selected by me and the board.”
Spurgin said an incident six years ago convinced board members that action needed to be taken to improve security.
“One of our former students showed up and wanted into our building,” he said. “We didn’t allow him in, so he started kicking the door down. I was able to run him off, but board members asked me, ‘What would you have done if he had a gun?’ and I had to say, ‘I don’t know. We need to figure out what to do.’
“It will take 30 or 40 minutes for the good guys to get to us. That’s just the facts.”
Spurgin said he knew of districts in southern Missouri that had taken advantage of the state law to recruit school protection officers.
“The response has been absolutely positive,” he said. “On occasion, someone will tell me that it’s something they have some issues with, but I tell them I’m open to any other options if they can give me one. I just want the safest school I can have. Nobody’s come up with a better option.
“And the teachers, they said they were all for it. Now we have people there who can help protect us, be a stopgap until help can get here.”
Spurgin declined to comment about how many employees are school protection officers.
“It’s more than one, but it’s not everyone,” he said. “And throughout the years, it’s pretty much been the same people.”
Spurgin said the district contracts with Shield Solutions LLC of West Plains for its training.
“They do the initial training, and you have to pass at a 90 percent margin. Anyone involved has to submit to drug testing and psychological testing at (the company’s) request. The yearly additional training you also have to pass at a 90 percent margin, and you’re also subject to drug and psychological testing.”
Spurgin said those who pass the Shield Solutions training are, in effect, employees of both the school district and that company.
“The state school district insurer (the Missouri Unified School Insurance Council) doesn’t issue policies on active shooter events,” he said. “The moment one of our trained employees pulls a gun out for defense on school grounds, they in essence become a Shield Solutions employee. That’s why they can compel them to take drug and psychological tests.”
Spurgin said the district pays the company about $19,000 a year.
“That’s about half the cost of what one SRO would cost,” Spurgin said. “And while an SRO would have training in a number of different areas, our people have continual training on active shooter situations, which is what we are looking for.
“Don’t get me wrong. SROs are great. The Sheriff’s Office deputies are great. The conservation agents in this area are great, and the (Missouri State Highway Patrol) is great. Whenever they’re in the neighborhood, they have an open invitation to stop by our school and have lunch. They can have office space to fill out reports. We like having their cars in the parking lot.”
Anyone driving through the Sunrise campus parking lots won’t fail to notice signs that let visitors know some staff members are armed.
“All the research on active shooters says that they’re looking for soft targets, for places that won’t fight back,” Spurgin said. “These signs let them know that we’re not a soft target, and hopefully, they’ll reconsider.”
Zoph said he’s not sure whether Grandview R-2 would order similar signs.
“I don’t know whether we would post signs like Sunrise does. I know it’s not a requirement to do that. I don’t think we’d want to hide the fact that we have school protection officers, but I don’t know if we’d post signs.”