High court: Armed Ohio school employees require training

Three justices dissented, saying they believed Ohio law does allow the arming of teachers without the extra training.

“If the General Assembly had wished to prohibit nonsecurity personnel, like teachers, from carrying weapons while on school property without the required training, it could have done so and may still do so,” wrote Justice Pat Fischer.

A bill pending in the Ohio House would exempt school employees from the training requirement.

Parents maintain the state appeals court made the correct decision, saying state law is clear that schools can’t permit the arming of employees who don’t go through police officer training.

The parents “are concerned about the tragic and fatal accidents that could befall their children when armed school staff have insufficient training and are carrying firearms all day, every day, in their children’s classrooms and on the playground,” attorneys for the parents said in an October court filing.

They noted that the parents don’t oppose gun rights and that several are, in fact, gun owners.

The district maintains current law doesn’t require the extensive training sought by the parents.

If the appeals court ruling is upheld, “no school district can exercise the right to arm its staff unless it turns teachers into police officers, or police officers into teachers,” lawyers for the district argued in a September filing. “This is both entirely impractical and demonstrably wrong as a matter of statutory construction.”