Parma Schools Will Allow Armed Staff This School Year

Senate Bill 215 is the latest law loosening gun restrictions in Ohio. In April 2021, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 175, the “stand your ground” law, making Ohio the 36th state to no longer require people to retreat before using a firearm in self-defense. Credit: (Adobe Stock)

Trained staff in Parma City Schools will be authorized to carry guns on school property this upcoming school year after the Parma City Schools Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution July 20. The move, which is a first for Parma, comes after Ohio passed similar legislation last October.

“We find it only prudent to provide selected staff members with the ability to arm themselves as one more deterrent to violence,” said superintendent Charles Smialek in a statement.

The names of armed staff members, who will be required to undergo training, instruction and curriculum, will be shared with the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s School Safety and Crisis Center but will not be made publicly available to avoid informing anyone who could be “selecting sites in which to enact a tragedy,” according to Smialek.

Last year there were at least 177 incidents of gunfire on school grounds resulting in 57 deaths and 149 injuries in the United States, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that has tracked American gun violence since 2013. In Ohio alone, the organization recorded nine incidents of gunfire on school grounds that led to one death and three injuries.

Smialek says that, in order to be armed in schools, staff members will have to be approved by the board and train with police.

“It’s very important to note that our Board of Education holds final discretion in actually deciding who to allow to carry a firearm on our premises,” Smialek said. “We will discuss each potential scenario in executive session, as allowed by Ohio Revised Code.”

Last year the Streetsboro City Schools’ Board of Education similarly voted to allow staff to carry guns on school property. Although Parma City Schools has not armed staff before, it does hire police officers to serve as school resource officers, or SROs, at some middle and high schools.