MILLBURY – School shootings have become so common that officials at a little school district like Lake
have them on the agenda.
School security, which could include arming some trained staff members, will be the main topic of a Jan.
24 special board meeting.
At Monday’s organization meeting, the board set that meeting for 10 a.m. and a Jan. 31, 7:30 a.m.
workshop. There will be no regular meeting this month.
Tim Krugh, who will continue as board president this year, said after the meeting that a speaker from
Buckeye Firearms Association, a non-profit group, will attend the Jan. 24 meeting.
"We want to see if there’s anything we can do to improve the safety of our student body," he
said.
Staff members who go through an "extensive and intensive" training could be allowed to carry a
firearm to school, Krugh said. He added that this is becoming a trend in Northwest Ohio.
Research, he said, shows that arming staff is about the only way to minimize carnage if there was a
school shooting. Most of these attacks take place within 8-10 minutes and, even with a police department
one mile down Ohio 795, a staff member with a gun would be more effective at taking on an active
shooter, Krugh said.
Whether staff would participate, or if there would be enough, has yet to be determined, he said. There
would need to be three or four staff members at each building for the program to be effective, Krugh
said.
"From what I’ve learned … the training we’re looking at is more intensive than even law enforcement
goes through, as far as dealing with an active shooter," he said.
According to the Buckeye Firearms Association website, Faculty/Administrator Safety Training &
Emergency Response, which provides "active killer" training to Ohio teachers and
administrators, was launched in December 2012.
On the agenda at the Jan. 31 Lake board meeting will be salary schedules for administrators and possibly
reinstating all-day, everyday kindergarten, Krugh said. The program was cut in 2012 when Lake went
through financial problems.
Also at the meeting, the board kept the regular meeting night as the third Wednesday of the month, but
moved the start time to 6 p.m. In June, the board will meet on the fourth Wednesday and there will be no
July meeting.