Associated Press - Armed Guard

After the disastrous events last December in Newtown, Connecticut, school protection has been a hotly contested issue approximately the nation.

In the Clarksville School District, administrators and staff have resolute to take matters into their own hands. When the school year resumes, the Arkansas school district will have more than 20 teachers, administrators and other school employees carrying hidden weapons all through the school day, according to an explanation from the Associated Press.

After undergoing 53 hours of training although the Nighthawk Custom Training Academy, a confidential training facility in northwest Arkansas, the staff members will be measured security guards.

Under Arkansas state law, approved and armed security guards are satisfactory on possessions.

The training by Nighthawk Academy is tailored for teachers to react to shooters on property and involves a variety of role-playing scenarios.

“The plan we’ve been given in the past is ‘Well, lock your doors, turn off your lights and hope for the best,’” Superintendent David Hopkins told the Associated Press. But as deadly incidents continued to happen in schools, he explained, the district decided, “That’s not a plan.”

Arkansas is a conservative state with a high percentage of gun possession and lenient gun laws. But until now, no school district has taken improvement of the law that allows school employees to be armed.

“We’re not tying our money up in a guard 24/7 that we won’t have to have unless something happens. We’ve got these people who are previously hired and using them in other areas,” Hopkins said. “Expectantly we’ll never have to use them as a security guard.”

While the public consensus seems to be in maintaining of the idea, there are some who anticipate adjusting the approach.

Arkansas Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell is opposite to the thought of arming staff and would favor to hire law enforcement reserve officers as an alternative.

A parent of an upcoming eight-grader, lists the agenda as one of the reasons she is withdrawing her son from the district.

“I think police officers are trained to create those decisions, not teachers,” Womack was quoted as saying.

The region plans on posting signs at every school to make community conscious of the armed guards, but the identities of those carrying the weapons will stay top secret.

The district is expecting to pay about $50,000 for bullets and training, along with a one-time $1,100 salary for these staff members to buy a handgun and holster, the story reports.

Those who contribute in the plan will maintain to accept usual training as well.