ASHLAND — The Ashland City Schools board of education approved a resolution that will allow county school resource officers to carry weapons on school grounds at its regular Monday meeting.
Under the newly-passed resolution, any person “designated in writing by the Superintendent” who also meets certain training requirements — in this case, county school resource officers — can open or concealed carry a weapon on school grounds.
A “big part” of the resolution was to allow county school resource officers to concealed carry, interim superintendent Steve Paramore said.
The resolution passed via a new section of Ohio law put in place last year by House Bill 99, which allows school districts to arm teachers and staff if they go through 24 hours of training or if they have gone through peace officer training.
Paramore said he’s aware people might think the district would allow staff or teachers to carry weapons after the district passed a HB99-related resolution, but he emphasized it is only for county school resource officers.
“This just speaks in terms of allowing the school resource officers in the county to also be able to operate in our buildings in a very dire situation,” Paramore said.
“I’m gonna tell you that all entities in this city and in this county will respond. And I just want to make sure that we legally can have those individuals operate in our buildings.”
The board also approved the purchase of 253 new Wi-Fi access points and a five-year license to manage them for $178,943 at its Monday meeting.
$110,230.27 of the district’s purchase will be reimbursed by the FCC’s E-Rate program, a feat that was made possible by district technology coordinator Phillip McNaull and his department, Paramore said.
Board member Zack Truax also praised the employees responsible for record keeping and getting the district through the federal reimbursement process.
“Federal reimbursements, you just don’t hold your hand up and (say), ‘I would like a reimbursement,’ and they say, ‘Oh, here you go.’ There’s a lot of hoops to jump through for federal reimbursements and grants,” he said.
