At least seven school corporations in Indiana are in the process of setting up secret "armed response teams" that train staff on the use of deadly force and allow teachers access to firearms locked up in biometric safes.
"The reality is, if you've got somebody who's entered your facility with the intent to do harm, or even kill, as heavy as that is, we want to make sure that they're met with resistance," Randolph Central School Corp. Superintendent Rolland Abraham said.
Randolph Central is one of the school corporations that approved plans this month to create armed response teams in five district school buildings. The move to train school staff on deadly force and active shooter training will have at least some of its cost covered by taxpayer dollars, a decision made by state lawmakers earlier this year.
Abraham said the training is necessary to "secure lives," noting that staff and students often "with seconds" in dangerous school scenarios.
According to gun violence prevention organization Giffords Law Center, at least 28 states allow teachers to carry firearms in K-12 schools. However, in most states, teachers need permission from the district.
Indiana's lawmakers gave districts the authority to allow teachers to carry firearms following the deadly 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting that killed 26 Connecticut residents, 20 of whom were kids.
In the time that has passed, at least four Indiana school corporations have already allowed teachers to carry or access firearms. The corporations stated a lack of police resources in schools helped to facilitate the decision.
These response training programs were expanded earlier this year when Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a state-funded firearm training for schools' staff into law. According to Indy Star, the state gave out $101, 979 for the training.
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In early September, Randolph Central's school board unanimously adopted a plan where teachers and staff may volunteer to join an "armed response team" to afford them access to loaded handguns. These handguns are to be stored in biometric safes hidden strategically throughout the school buildings.
The identity of staff members enrolled in the plan will be kept secret from parents and students.
"Team members are explicitly authorized to use deadly force to protect students, staff members, or others from what is reasonably believed to be an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury due to violence," the policy states.
It is unclear what other schools have received the grants and have chosen to adopt similar plans. According to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, state law gives public agencies the right to keep school firearm training programs and other security measures confidential.
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The grant recipients must finish at least 40 hours of training, including instruction on tactical movement while armed and gun drills for firing in high-stress environments.
In Randolph Central, members of the armed response team must also score 90% or above in handgun accuracy. Police officers in the state are required to achieve 80%.
Abraham defended the policy by citing a U.S. Secret Service report that analyzed 41 targeted school attacks. The report found that not a single attack was ended by law enforcement responding to the scene from off campus. Meanwhile, 22% of the attacks were ended by school staff.
"Most of the time the event is over before law enforcement is able to get there," Abraham added. "So that's kind of a critical security gap. And we just want to make sure that we have a line of defense between our students and our staff, and any one that would want to do them harm."
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