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Local experts weigh in: Should teachers and administrators b

108 views · Published 16 November 2015 · 4:04 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: LOCAL 12 · 2015 · News & Politics

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CINCINNATI (Rich Jaffe) -- Viewers continue to react to Local 12s story about arming teachers and school staff. The story showed teachers and the superintendent of a school working side by side with law enforcement to take down an active shooter, inside a school. Its is a real hot button issue. The training has powerful impact on the participants. The issue is one that every school district must deal with on an individual basis. Hamilton County sheriff Jim Neil, watched Local 12s story intently, along with Major Charlene McGuffey. The sheriff's reaction to the idea of teachers and school administrators being trained to meet force with force in their own schools was clear and immediate. Sheriff Neil said, Im in support of this training. Im in support of this program. Briefly retired from law enforcement, before becoming sheriff, Neil actually worked as a part-time teacher. While he didn't carry his duty weapon with him in the school, it was always close. Your first line of defense folks is you. This is a fine example of teachers and school administrators that want to take a stand against violence and be prepared to protect themselves and people under their care. It's long overdue. Local 12s story focused on teachers and administrators going through active shooter training in their own school. They are trained by instructors from the Tactical Defense Institute and it's paid for by the Buckeye Firearms Foundation. Everyone has a concealed carry license and has been through an intensive program. Local 12 News also showed the story to the safety program coordinator for Cincinnati Public Schools. Daniel Daum, CPS safety coordinator, said, We don't advocate right now teachers being armed in our buildings. We leave that to the experts. We train our staff how to respond and safeguard these kids. Cincinnati Public is unique. There is one armed Cincinnati police resource officer in uniform in each high school. There are no SRO's in the middle or elementary schools, but they do have unarmed security teams. CPS officials also periodically use metal detectors on students. Classrooms have phones and offices have lockdown and emergency 911 buttons. Daum believes that thanks to location, in an emergency law enforcement could quickly saturate a scene with officers, Yes, I understand time is critical but we feel we have the best system right now, if such a horrific event happens in one of our buildings. Sheriff Neil said, The likelihood of something happening is gonna be when we're not there. So they have a line of defense until we can get there to support them. The troops are coming folks but we might not be there when the conflict starts. It's important to point out here that virtually all the school shootings have involved suburban schools not city schools like Cincinnati Public. Most of the people Local 12 News talked with agreed that response time, which is critical, in rural or suburban school systems would be much longer than what you could expect in a city school. Eight or nine minutes has become standard, Daum said he thought Cincinnati police would be on the scene in 3 or 4. There are many different ways to look at this issue. If you are a parent, student or affiliated with a school system in any way we are very interested in hearing from you. CLICK HERE to join the discussion on Local 12s Facebook page. On both Facebook and Twitter, Local 12 News is asking the question, should teachers and administrators be trained and allowed to carry guns in schools? So far about 70 percent favor the idea.   Follow Rich Jaffe on Twitter @rajaffe, and LIKE him on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @Local12 and LIKE us on Facebook for updates!

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