School safety top of mind in Lebanon with Ohio bill allowing staff to be armed

The new school year is right around the corner and Lebanon City Schools, like many districts across the state, are discussing how they’ll handle a recently passed House bill that allows schools to arm teachers with reduced training.

House Bill 99 was signed in June and allows Ohio schools to arm teachers or other employees with up to 24 hours of training. Each member of a school defense team would be required to meet the minimum training and have yearly criminal background checks.

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The law does not require schools to participate and schools can choose to either opt-in or opt-out. Additionally, districts that participate can choose to require more training that is outside the state required training.

Isaac Seevers, Lebanon City Schools Superintendent, told our news partners WCPO in Cincinnati that the matter of arming staff in schools will be best discussed with public input. He also said that process could take some time.

“I know I turn my kids over every day, for seven hours a day and my expectation is that they come home safe,” Seevers, a father of three, said. “It has to be something we focus on.”

Seevers said the district contracts with the Lebanon Police Department to have one school resource officer float between the district’s buildings. During a work session this week, the school board discussed the possibility of adding a second resource officer, but Seevers told WCPO that it comes at a cost.

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“We receive little funding for safety, for those issues,” he said. “We have to apply for grants to get training for people at certain times. I think that’s one of the things, as I’ve advocated for state legislatures over the past several months, this is a priority for everyone.”

He acknowledged that safety of all students is the number one priority. The district focused on access control points in each of their buildings — single points of entry, along with staff members having ID cards that can be used as swipe badge. The buildings can also be locked down at any point, but still Seevers said there is a need to think outside of the box.

“Money the district is using and having to put toward that, and not going to education in the classroom,” Seevers said. “I think if we continue to look at the issue of safety across the board we’ll have to leverage dollars from the state, or other resources. What we’ve put in school safety is coming out of the classroom.”