TONTOGANY – There is no paid law enforcement in the village and that is a concern to one Otsego Local Schools Board of Education member.
Mark Tolles said the district should utilize available tools, including arming teachers, to keep students safe from terrorists.
Acting Superintendent Kevin O’Shea told the board at its meeting June 29 that he wanted to dispel rumors that the district will allow teachers to carry guns once trained.
Ohio House Bill 99 allows school personnel who pass a basic firearms training program to carry firearms on school property, upon the school board’s approval.
“Our current policy at Otsego, unless it’s law enforcement … no one is allowed to carry a firearm on our campus,” O’Shea said.
Even if a teacher goes through the training and wanted to carry a gun, it still will not be allowed without board approval, he said.
The only exceptions are for the school resource officer and the armed guard who services the ATM machine near the Commons. That guard is escorted into and out of the building.
“No one should be allowed to conceal or carry a weapon on our campus,” O’Shea said, adding that there are no plans to change that policy.
Tolles said the policy needs to be changed.
Legislation is giving us the tools to protect students, he said, drawing a comparison to what happened in Uvalde, Texas, where 21 people were killed by a gunman at an elementary school.
They didn’t have a local police department, they had a sheriff’s office, he said.
Tolles said deputies with the Wood County Sheriff’s Office are at least 10 minutes away if they are at the station in Bowling Green.
“I think we have to look at this realistically. These people who are coming to schools and doing the shooting, they are terrorists. And we need all the tools we can use,” Tolles said. “We don’t have a police department in Tontogany and that’s a concern.”
O’Shea said there was no support from the unions to arm its members and the legislation “does not address some key concerns that we have.”
Board President Brad Anderson asked to see the policy prior to the next board meeting.
Also at the meeting, the board:
• Heard Treasurer Steve Carroll announce that Nexus pipeline has settled and will pay 68% of the initial appraised value. The district was receiving 38%, he said.
The district should get a check this fall for payments owed then another one in October 2023.
“It’s hard to guess at this point,” he said about how much to expect.
• Heard from Ben and Kellee Downard, of Weston, who asked the board to move the bus stop for their daughter, who has asthma, 10 feet to get away from parents who stand there and smoke while waiting with their children.
Kellee Downard said she received no help from the transportation department, which caused her and her husband to attend the board meeting.
“I’m not sure how we got to this, when to me, it’s an easy adjustment,” she said.
Anderson confirmed the couple didn’t want to add a stop but move a second stop in the area to a safer location.
He said he would look into the request.
Tolles asked whether smoking is allowed at bus stops.
O’Shea said there is no smoking on buses or school property, but the district can’t regulate the bus stop.
• O’Shea announced school students will again get free meals during the upcoming school year as legislation passed June 24 to continue the policy.
• Accepted the retirement of teacher Pam Heyman, effective June 30, and the resignation of school counselor Jennifer Wronkovich-Clark, effective end of her 2021-22 contract.
• Approved supplemental varsity contracts for Ryan Carter as head boys’ soccer coach, Delaney Esper as head high school fall cheerleading coach, Tom Ferdig as assistant varsity football coach, Brandon Fitch as high school cross country coach, Curt Hartman as assistant varsity football coach, Adam Lewis as assistant high school cross country coach, Nathan Luce as head girls golf coach, Isaac Puffer as head girls soccer coach, Matt Rohn as assistant varsity football coach and Sierra Sedlak as assistant varsity volleyball coach. Matt Rohn will serve as weight room supervisor.
