AG DeWine declares some school safety plans "useless"

by Chad D. Baus

The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that, while all Ohio schools meet the legal requirement of having a school safety plan, many are outdated, incomplete or useless to law enforcement.

State law requires schools to file reports on how they would handle an active killer incident or other emergency, the article observes, but there are no penalties for failing to file, and the specifics of what they must include in the reports are vague.

From the article:

"Virtually all schools are in compliance. ... Some have a great plan, but some have a plan that is not so great," DeWine said at the conference, sponsored by his office, the Buckeye Association of School Administrators and the U.S. Department of Education. He said 180 school buildings have plans that haven’t been updated in at least three years and 56 others are incomplete, missing such items as school floor plans.

DeWine said law-enforcement officials tell him that some safety plans are so long — more than 100 pages — that they are "useless to them or useless in an emergency." He said all schools should have vital information summarized in the first one or two pages that can be accessed quickly.

John Charlton, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education, is quoted as saying state law specifies that a school safety plan must be developed with input from students, parents, teachers and local law enforcement.

Last month, Newcomerstown Exempted Village School District announced that they had adopted a policy to allow come employees carry guns on school property after receiving input from a concerned parents group.

In any violent encounter, the faster you realize the threat and stop it, the better. Time is especially important during school shootings. Faster response leads to fewer casualties. Everyone agrees that safety training is important, but in active killer situation the "emergency response" must happen fast to save lives.

AG DeWine's observations about how "useless" some plans are should be all the motivation you need, as a parent of school-aged children, to get involved. Is your school district following the law? Are they asking for input about their safety plan from parents? This is a wonderful opportunity to encourage your school to adopt a safety plan that provides for a faster armed response by authorizing people to carry in the building.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.