Lewisville ISD is not considering guns for emergency resolutions

by Chris Roark of Star Local News

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"I think our teachers are there to educate and not to panic and put themselves in that type of position," said Board Member Kathy Duke.

LEWISVILLE — While several school districts across the country have considered arming teachers with guns following the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. on December 12, Lewisville ISD won't be one of them.

During Monday's LISD Board of Trustees meeting, Dr. Kevin Rogers, chief operating officer, updated the board on several emergency planning efforts the district has made in recent months.

In January, seven LISD officials and 21 representatives from area police and fire departments met to discuss emergency plans.

Among the topics was allowing teachers to carry guns. Proponents of the idea have said that could have saved lives when a gunman shot and killed 26 students and staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School last year.

Local officials, however, said that is not the answer.

"We certainly have our belief that that's not what we want to be doing," Rogers said. "It is very important that every police chief unanimously said it is not their belief that that's not the best action to take. It was good for us to get a concensus on what we already believed."

LISD won't bring the idea to the table like other area districts have, such as Arlington ISD and Cleburne ISD.

"I think our teachers are there to educate and not to panic and put themselves in that type of position," said Board Member Kathy Duke.

Rogers said there was also discussion at the meeting about coordinating large emergency drills with multiple agencies.

He said the district is looking into creating a position for a safety and security coordinator to manage all of the security cameras, student resource officers and other components, rather than having multiple departments oversee those.

Representatives also talked about streamlining communnication between the district and local police and fire departments and establishing more long-term relationships.

Rogers also upated the board on several emergency efforts LISD has made in the last few months, including providing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to every marching band in LISD and giving AED drills with district staff members.

Every campus has received National Oceanic and Atmospheric (NOAA) radios in case of bad weather. Mobile communication hot spots have been purchased in case wireless technology goes down, campuses can still access the Internet. Hard wire telephones have been installed in every campus and facility in case mobile devices aren't functioning.

All principals have been asked to complete a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) training.

The technology department is upgrading and consolidating all of the district's security cameras.

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