Calcasieu Parish School Board employees authorized to carry firearms are being offered the chance to have training to deal
with an armed intrusion.
The staff at Louisiana Shooters
Unlimited, a non-profit firearms training school in Lake Charles, has
offered this 40-hour
National Rifle Association training course to employees free of
charge. However, whether the board decides to go through with
this is undetermined.
“I think it’s totally ridiculous; most schools have sheriff’s deputies, and I’m all for that,” said Bill Jongbloed, District
6 board member. “We have to be prudent here. I’m not in favor of arming teachers, and we don’t want to go overboard where
the next thing we’re arming everyone in town.”
In his letter to board members, Matthew
Courtney, the founder and lead trainer for the training school, said
the course was
developed to improve employee skills, mindset and awareness while
decreasing risk to students or other faculty. Courtney also
built upon La. Revised Statute 14.95.2 C. (3) which allows “anyone
with written permission of the principal” to carry a firearm,
writing this could “more forward to implement plans to protect our
children without delay.”
Training staff consists of NRA instructors and training counselors who have a military background. This is the first kind
of free course Courtney has offered since he started the organization in 2006.
Courtney, a former Sulphur High School teacher, said he has been aware of emergency response plans that have not been thought
out, and by having school employees armed, this would be an unexpected deterrent for intruders.
“One of the biggest reasons we’re supporting an initiative that would allow employees to be armed rather than having more
deputies and security guards there is that potential assailants really wouldn’t know who is armed,” he said. “The biggest
hope is that it works as a deterrent so that no one tries to make an attack on Calcasieu Parish schools.”
Board President R.L. Webb said he would speak with Superintendent Wayne Savoy about the program. Webb said for school employees
to carry firearms on schools campuses, a series of evaluations and strict procedures would have to be followed to see if a
person were even qualified for this.
Courtney understands policies would have to be set up for both employees and students and that using a gun would be a last
resort tool for defense.
“If a person wants to take training for
personal and private purposes, I support that,” District 12 Board
Member Joe Andrepont
said. “This is something that would definitely need more
discussion, but I don’t think as a system we’re there yet. We haven’t
even discussed expanding the safe officer program yet.”
In addition to providing training, the
school has offered to help create plans for employees and security to
easily manage
campuses to respond if there is an unauthorized intrusion. After
employees are trained and a plan put in place, schools would
then rehearse the response plans.
“We want to start out with some very
basic situational awareness type things because having a firearm isn’t
going to do you
any good unless you can effectively respond to it,” Courtney said.
“We’re prepared to train folks so we can really reduce
the chances of a tragedy happening here in Southwest Louisiana.
Our goal is to make it safer for our children; there’s nothing
that’s more important than that.”