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LCSD1 Official: No Plans to Arm Teachers

In the News

This article originally appeared on Wyoming News . To view the original article, click here.

CHEYENNE – Laramie County School District 1’s safety and security administrator affirmed Monday night there are no plans to arm teachers heading into the new school year.

The confirmation was given by Todd DePorter at a work session to inform LCSD1 trustees on current safety strategies and other plans on the horizon. Trustee Rich Wiederspahn asked the administrator whether he saw a need for it in the state’s largest school district after receiving many inquiries from stakeholders.

“I feel confident with the law enforcement response here with the Cheyenne Police Department and Laramie County Sheriff’s Office, that I don’t know if we need to address that just yet,” DePorter said.

There are pros and cons on both sides, DePorter said, but it comes down to the situation and location. He said he has also spoken with law enforcement officials, who shared their concerns with identifying a shooter, and it may be more complicated if there are multiple individuals with weapons in the building.

Despite no intention to allow educators to carry weapons on school property, the safety and security administrator showcased the many other safeguards already in place.

There are proactive measures aimed at reducing threats and vulnerability, such as promoting a positive school climate and culture, or social-emotional learning and restorative practices. Officials also implement threat recognition, assessment and management systems that track behavioral issues among students throughout their time in the district. If they see a student could become a threat, law enforcement and parental guardians can be called in to intervene.

Trustees were assured district officials are making sure those systems are consistent throughout the district, so an administrator can have a complete history of the child’s record, or access to outside counseling information with the parents’ permission. The rights of the student would still be maintained, and trustee Marguerite Herman was told if police were to ask for counseling or personal records from law enforcement, it is protected by FERPA.

DePorter said although the word “threat” is included in these assessments, he stressed the word “behavior,” because they’re trying to help the student adjust.

This was considered an important factor to trustees.

“Personally, I think we have a lot of behavioral issues in our district,” said trustee Christy Klaassen. “I get told by different administrators and teachers, saying kids just seem to be more violent, or more quick to fly off the handle than they did 20 years or 10 years ago.”

She was told there are multi-tiered systems of support at the academic and behavioral levels, which include programs such as Sources of Strength and addressing student readiness.

Proactive measures aren’t the only ones emphasized by the school district. Physical security, effective lockdown capabilities, reliable emergency communications and effective response plans were all discussed by DePorter.

There are eight school resource officers available throughout LCSD1, and he pointed to online systems such as RAPTOR, Alertus and Safe2Tell as important ways to keep students protected. These provide services for visitor management, drill compliance, beacons for faculty when a lockdown goes into effect, and a reunification process for parents and students after an emergency.

“The school district, through all the schools, has the ability to lock down a school within seconds based on the technology we have,” he said.

Moving forward, there are more updates under consideration by the district. DePorter said they hope to have a control center to monitor the security system, develop threat assessment teams, find security ambassadors and advocates, as well as continue to partner with local agencies.