Norfork (Ark.) school security officers can carry firearms
NORFORK, Ark. November 22 2018 – Seven employees at Norfork School District are commissioned school security officers who carry their concealed weapons while school is in session. If they’re teachers, they put their guns in a safe while in the classroom.
Those employees were trained by the Arkansas State Police. The school also has two school resource officers.
Superintendent Mike Seay said, “The original decision to kind of beef up security came from the school shootings we’ve had throughout the United States and concerns that we had about our vulnerability here at Norfork schools.”
And now those seven employees will be able to carry at other school events.
“All that we did is we added an additional policy to our board policies to allow our CSSOs to carry their weapons at extracurricular activities and at ball games,” Seay said.
Those armed school security officers are not required to attend nor will they be compensated if they attend those extracurricular activities.
Seay said, “Many of our officers have children in school here. Many are sponsors or principals. And so they’re here for most of the activities anyway.”
Some parents said it puts them at ease.
Jesslyn Acklin, a parent of a student, said, “I think it’s a positive thing because our kids are safer and we as parents are safer and it’s good for our kids.”
Others said they’re a bit on the fence about employees carrying.
Sherry Manes, a grandparent of a student, said, “I’m all for keeping our kids safe, and if that’s what they think it’s going to take. I do have mixed feelings about it. I don’t think we have to worry about any of our students here, but you know there’s always a chance that someone could take advantage of that situation. So that’s my only concern.”
The new policy states the commissioned officer can only draw their weapon if someone poses a significant threat at a sporting event.
Seay said, “Our thinking on that was to just provide safety to our kids every part of the day. We’re just as vulnerable at basketball games and extracurricular activities as we are during the school days. Probably even more.”
If a school security officer wants to carry at a sporting event, they will also have to notify law enforcement officers assigned to work at the sporting event and show their license.
