Trained teachers and staff will carry guns in Marsing and Homedale schools after trustees in both districts unanimously approved policies last week.
The armed staff policies are modeled after one in the Kimberly School District, which rolled out its program last year. The policies are all identical, word-for-word, except for the districts’ names.
“This Policy is only to aid Homedale School District in deterring, detecting, and denying some type of active shooter incident from occurring on school property,” Homedale’s policy reads.
Approved staff members carrying a firearm will “be responsible to defend, using deadly force, if necessary, their zone of responsibility.”
The Homedale and Marsing school boards must now approve individual staff members to carry a concealed firearm on campus. Criteria for approval include:
- Possession of a current Idaho Enhanced Concealed Weapon License
- A recommendation from the superintendent
- A physical and psychological assessment
The board can deny permission for any reason and will review staff members’ grants of permission annually.
Once approved, employees must complete at least 40 hours of training.
“Training will include engagement on the range with a certified instructor in live fire situations that require ‘shoot, don’t shoot’ decision making and other dynamic scenarios,” the policy says.
District leaders said they heard mostly positive feedback from community members.
“Every community member that I’ve talked to … has been super positive, saying we should’ve done this years ago,” Marsing Board Chair Jason Sevy told Idaho Education News.
On Monday, after approving the policy, Homedale held a community meeting to gather feedback. Dwayne Fisher told EdNews he only heard positive feedback.
Trustees in both districts had been considering the policy for years. Marsing surveyed its employees in 2022 but didn’t act until this year.
Days after both districts approved their policies, a school shooter killed four people at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon. Megan Lambert, a Boise State University graduate and special education teacher, died in the shooting.
“With what just happened in Bend, unfortunately, it’s on the forefront of everyone’s minds again,” Fisher said. “More than anything, we’re hoping that people know our schools are not going to be soft targets.”
Both districts have begun installing signs showing that staff members may be armed.
