A Texas school board passed a policy Monday that will allow educators to carry guns within the school district.
The Keller ISD school board voted 4-3 to adopt a state recommended “guardian” program, which allows approved faculty who undergo 50 hours of training to carry a handgun on campus. Educators who wish to carry on school campuses must also have a License To Carry and pass a psychological evaluation as a part of the “guardian” program. (RELATED: ‘This Is Out There’: Texas School District Fights Fentanyl With Narcan In the Nurse’s Office)
“More than likely it’s probably going to be 10 to 15 minutes before police arrive,” Micah Young, Keller ISD School Board Member, said. “At what point do we put the opportunity into our favor?”
The school district sent out a survey ahead of the vote with 848 responses voicing their disapproval of the program, according to WFAA News. Board members called the survey responses “insufficient” and the results “inconclusive.”
“I love all my teachers, but I see stories on the news sometimes of teachers having a bad day and taking it out on their students with a weapon in the mix,” Purnima Basistha, a student within the school district, said according to CBS DFW. “It just makes things really unpredictable.”
Memorials for the victims of the Robb Elementary School mass shooting are displayed at City of Uvalde Town Square on May 29, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas. 19 children and two adults were killed on May 24th during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School after man entered the school through an unlocked door and barricaded himself in a classroom where the victims were located. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
As of July 2021, at least 400 school districts in Texas have implemented the “guardian” program, according to the Dallas Morning News.
The decision by the Keller ISD school board comes after the Robb Elementary School shooting in May which killed 19 students and two teachers. Video showed law enforcement waited for more than an hour outside the classroom before taking action.
The Keller ISD school district did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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