(Spirit Lake)– A policy technicality had the Spirit Lake School Board Monday evening re-visiting action it took during a special meeting in August pertaining to school safety. It allows the Superintendent to designate up to 10 staff members, none of them teachers, to carry guns. Among other things, those designated would be required to undergo extensive, certified, professional training. A policy provision prohibiting the board from taking such action at a special meeting resulted in it coming back for formal action at Monday’s regular monthly meeting. The board heard concerns from a couple of patrons, including Kate Mendenhall. She says allowing some staff members to be armed could have the opposite affect…
School Board President Teresa Beck responded to the concern, saying that while arming some personnel isn’t an ideal situation, she feels it’s the best possible option currently available, adding that in such situations, response time is of the essence…
The board voted five to nothing to officially adopt the policy, emphasizing it will likely be subject to revisions and updates as time goes on.
The board also voted unanimously to revise a policy allowing members to adopt new policies outside of regular monthly meetings. The former policy banned such action from being taken at special meetings.
The board also approved a policy revision pertaining to emergency plans and drills, with appropriate age level training for various scenarios.
