Indiana school districts are undergoing intense security upgrades following attacks at schools in Parkland, Sandy Hook and Noblesville that left scores dead. Every school district in the state is working on ways to protect children and secure schools.
Investigators at 13 WTHR are reporting that some educators may have access to guns to help protect students in the event of an active shooter.
Jay County Schools have created their own three-layer strategy that aims to keep children safe. Part of the strategy involved working with gun safe manufacturers to introduce biometric gun safes in the school. The safes will give educators access to firearms in the event that an active shooter enters the school.
School officials outline the problems facing school, with a key factor being time. The majority of shootings last just five minutes, ending before police are able to make it to the scene. The statistic of a casualty every six seconds in a school shooting has led the school district to implement strict safety measures and upgrade security.
Teachers and staff members can “shoot to kill” in the event of a school shooting.
School officials have hidden biometric safes around the building in an effort to protect children when budget cuts have left them no other option. Officials claim that they do not have the resources to hire police officers for every building.
The schools claim that until they have the resources for police officers in every building, safes are the answer that has been chosen. Indiana’s school district studied how security upgrades in Ohio school districts were implemented and decided that adding biometric safes was the safest, most cost-effective option.
Gun safes will be in all of the eight school buildings and will be monitored by cameras. Alarms, fingerprint access and anchored to concrete, the safes will be safe from student access.
School leaders put in a call for a secret team of volunteers that would be able to access the guns. Officials received 48 responses in two days. All of the volunteers will undergo background checks, psychological screenings and drug tests to ensure that they’re the right choice for access to the safes.
Intense firearms training will be provided, spanning over a course of 27 hours. Training will include active shooter training and will be conducted along with local police.
Schools will also have entryways revamped, outfitted with video surveillance and all visitors, including parents will have to go through a security check at the front office. Instant background checks will be conducted on anyone with a driver’s license.