LPOSD to look at gun research

SANDPOINT — School board members plan to target the prospect of arming school staff for enhanced security at the trustee meeting tonight.

While the agenda item is purely informational and no decisions will be made, Lake Pend Oreille School District Superintendent Shawn Woodward said trustee chairman Steve Youngdahl will present his research regarding armed school staff. The presentation will be the first major consideration by school trustees of the controversial issue since it was originally proposed in December 2012 after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

The meeting takes place 6 p.m. tonight at Southside Elementary School.

According to Youngdahl, he was tasked with the responsibility to research other school districts’ approaches to armed guards or staff members. Throughout the process, he worked closely with Woodward in compiling the information. Youngdahl said his first impulse was to wade through complicated statistic bureau and government reports, but it turned out that many school districts and local media outlets have made the information relatively easy to acquire.

“There’s a lot statistical data from public reporting out there,” he said. “The information is readily available.”

 Enhancing school security through armed staff members was originally proposed by the Bonner County Republican Central Committee shortly after the Sandy Hook shooting. A resolution written primarily by committee member Danielle Ahrens calls for the arming and training of select staff determined by the school board and was adopted unanimously Dec. 18, 2012. Legal backing for the resolution comes from Idaho statute 18-3302 (D) (4) (f), which states under the prohibition of firearms from school property that “a person or an employee of the school or school district who is authorized to carry a firearm with the permission of the board of trustees” is exempt from the law.

The presence of an armed individual in an LPOSD school isn’t entirely without precedent. A school resource officer from the Sandpoint Police Department is a common sight at Sandpoint High School. However, in that case, the district has no authority over the officer’s training and equipment. That would be entirely new territory for the district if such a measure were to move forward.

“I know the board is going to give this a lot of thoughtful consideration,” Youngdahl said. “There’s nothing more important to us than student safety.”