In 2017, West Liberty-Salem High School in Salem, Ohio, joined the list of schools that have experienced a shooting. The only visible scars are bullet holes in a bathroom wall, but the psychological trauma still lingers.
“Later on, they got the good news that nobody died, but their brain had already experienced that traumatic experience,” said principal Greg Johnson.
In that bathroom, Johnson and fellow principal Andy McGill rushed to help a student who had been shot twice, with the shooter just feet away. McGill was able to talk the shooter, another student, into putting the gun down.
Following the shooting, the pair led the drive to implement new security measures, including bulletproof glass, better window exits and a school resource officer — but they chose not to arm any staff or teachers.
Across the U.S., 15 states allow school personnel to carry guns on campus, according to nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety. Over the last year, the number of school districts in Ohio that allow staff to be armed quadrupled, with 14% of the state’s districts now participating, according to the Ohio School Safety Center.
About 50 miles south of Salem, just outside Dayton, the Mad River Local School District has given guns to about 20 of its teachers. Their identities are confidential as part of the district’s policy.
Chad Wyen is the superintendent at Mad River, and the only armed member of the staff whose identity is public. His firearm is in a locked cabinet that’s unlocked by a code. It was Wyen’s idea to have guns near teachers in a safe, rather than on them — a strategy to prevent unauthorized access.
“So typically, there’s a live round in the chamber. We have to be prepared,” Wyen said.
He says guns in classrooms serve as a measure of assistance for the single resource officer for eight schools across the district.
“There’s no way our police can get there in time to stop it, and that’s why we chose to go down that path,” Wyen said.
Luckily, he says, they’ve never had a student bring a gun to their campuses, and most parents are grateful for the added layer of protection.
One teacher, whose identity is being kept concealed by CBS News to comply with the district’s safety measures, said she recognizes the possibility of a shooter being a student that she knows.
“At that point in time, that student’s not my student. They are now a murderer, and I am stopping a threat. And that’s to save other lives,” the teacher said.
When asked about opposition to arming school staff, she said, “I understand why they have that belief and I understand their concerns with guns. I had similar concerns before I was comfortable with guns. It’s just a tool to protect yourself or to protect other people.”
And if it came down to it, she said she would be “willing to die for a student to protect them.”
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