North County Schools Seek Safety Solutions

North County Schools Seek Safety Solutions

The North County R-1 School District Board of Education meeting Thursday was highlighted by an agenda topic for public discussion "Public Hearing to Discuss Authorization of School Protection Officers".

Multiple attendees spoke with regard to the issue, and whether teachers should or should not be carrying firearms on school property. The speakers also expressed an interest in more being done to protect the children of the district.

A primary theme in the public comments was that the district needs more School Resource Officers. Superintendent Dr. Brandon Gregory says that this was a fact finding meeting. 

Unitec Director Jeff Cauley said, “The presence of an armed teacher may not be enough to deter an armed shooter.” He later said, “Arming teachers may divert that attention away from a more comprehensive safety measure and preventative strategies. The idea of having someone in there, is not enough sometimes.”  He went on to say, “I think if we really want to address this, we need to start reaching out to [the] legislation and say look, we need funding available. This is going to be a Fund One project. In other words, the district is going to fund this. There’s no matching grant from DESE [Department of Elementary and Secondary Education]. There’s no matching grant from anywhere that I’ve seen for this. We are going to have to fund this.”

At the close of the meeting, school board member Randy Hubbard said, “We have 6 buildings and 2 officers. That’s not adequate. We’re responsible right now to do something. Maybe this isn’t the answer. I’m sure that more officers would be the answer, but we’d have to find a way to fund that.”

“I don’t feel like we are safe. Don’t think it can’t happen here. How many times have you watched the news and parents have been on there and said, ‘I can’t believe this happened to our little school’?"

“We are not safe and we’ve done all we can do financially right now. The vestibules we put in, the cameras and everything we have been able to do was with a bond issue.”

The meeting was attended by approximately 40 members of the community, including some North County R-1 staff, and the full Board was present. 

KFMO News will continue to follow this issue, and update this story as more information is available.

Contributors: Audra Caine, Beth Stephens