Argyle ISD School Employee Carry

[texasag93]

Press Statement

The Argyle School District considers the safety of our students as our utmost priority. Given the unfortunate and tragic situations that occurred in multiple American schools over the last several years, the Board of Trustees ordered a comprehensive evaluation of District’s safety, security and emergency response policies on December 17, 2012. Following the evaluations, in recognition of concerns regarding effective and timely response to emergency situations on District property, the Board thoroughly considered all available options to increase student and faculty safety.

To gain public comments on several options, the District hosted a community forum on April 24, 2013, to present the various options available to the District. After carefully considering all options and weighing comments, concerns and suggestions from the Argyle ISD community, the Board voted on May 15, 2013 to approve the amending of Local Policy to allow armed staff and district officials. Furthermore, on August 8, 2013, the Board voted to create an Argyle ISD Police Department and further voted on October 21, 2013, to hire Chief Ralph Price as the Department’s first police chief; creating the first armed presence on Argyle ISD school property. Moreover, the Board authorized a pilot training program created to evaluate and train Board-authorized District employees to possess firearms on District property.

After a successful pilot and rigorous evaluation, on Tuesday, January 21, 2014, the Argyle Independent School District Board of Trustees voted to adopt a policy that allows the Board to authorize specific District employees to possess certain firearms on District property, at District-sponsored or District-sanctioned events, and at Board meetings. To maintain the strategic integrity of the new policy and ensure the stability and ongoing effectiveness of the new procedures, the District will not be making public the comprehensive details of the new procedures. However, the new procedures contain the following requirements and safeguards:

• District staff authorized to possess will come from a volunteer pool.

• Only District employees who have obtained and maintain a current license, in accordance with state law, to carry a concealed
handgun are eligible to be considered for authorization to possess a firearm on District property.

• To become eligible for Board authorization, employees will have passed a rigorous interview process, a complete psychological
evaluation and a comprehensive firearms and emergency response training course. The Board will authorize individual
employees to possess only after these psychological and training requirements have been met.

• Authorization votes will be taken by the Board in Executive Session and will not be made public.

• Authorized employees will be required to participate in an ongoing requalification process throughout the course of the school
year.

• The program will be overseen by the Argyle ISD Chief of Police.

• Ongoing, district-wide emergency response and active shooter trainings and exercises will be held at each Argyle ISD campus
throughout the school year.
• Signs will be erected at each Argyle ISD campus announcing the potential presence of armed school personnel.

• The Board will monitor this policy and its implementation on an ongoing basis.

[texanjoker]

Excellant. I think the key factor is the exta training, qualifications and psych test for this authrization, something the chl community doesnt want. Given the proper training more areas could open up.

[ELB]

I added Argyle ISD to the comprehensive list I made in this post: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=66105#p810414" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[chasfm11]

Excellant. I think the key factor is the exta training, qualifications and psych test for this authrization, something the chl community doesnt want. Given the proper training more areas could open up.

I'm not sure that all of the CHL community opposes extra training, qualification, etc. for specific circumstances. The NRA started an effort to identify people to volunteer in schools and I asked to have my name included. I expected and would have welcomed additional training if that program had materialized. Defending oneself in public is one thing but being in a school environment for the purpose of defending kids is another matter.

If a law is every passed to allow us to carry in church AND serve in an official capacity (user, etc) in that church, I would want and welcome additional training. If nothing else, I would not want several of us to try to respond to a threat and get into one another's way. That is something that I worry about today.

I'm very pleased to see this approach in Argyle. I would like to see the surrounding districts do the same thing. For me, one of the most important elements is removing the "gun free zone" signs and replacing them with warnings that the staff is armed. I do understand that things like alarm system signs on house that don't have them has a negligible impact on crime but I think that letting a potential creep know that he or she could get shot before they have any time to do their foul deeds may act as a deterrent in schools.

[RoyGBiv]

I think this is a good start. Would love to see less paranoia about letting already-vetted people carry, but I'll score this in the win column.

[Oldgringo]

....a complete psychological evaluation....

Good idea, eh?

[paperchunker]

....a complete psychological evaluation....

Good idea, eh?

It would be a better idea if it was required to hold any public office or government job.

[Jaguar]

....a complete psychological evaluation....

Good idea, eh?

It would be a better idea if it was required to hold any public office or government job.

That would make it a Catch 22. No one who wants the job is fit to hold the job.

[jmra]

....a complete psychological evaluation....

Good idea, eh?

It would be a better idea if it was required to hold any public office or government job.

That would make it a Catch 22. No one who wants the job is fit to hold the job.

[jbarn]

If a law is every passed to allow us to carry in church AND serve in an official capacity (user, etc) in that church, I would want and welcome additional training. If nothing else, I would not want several of us to try to respond to a threat and get into one another's way. That is something that I worry about today
.

Can you clarify? One can carry in church now. I assume you meant "usher" when you referred to a position of official capacity?

[Oldgringo]

If a law is every passed to allow us to carry in church AND serve in an official capacity (user, etc) in that church, I would want and welcome additional training. If nothing else, I would not want several of us to try to respond to a threat and get into one another's way. That is something that I worry about today
.

Can you clarify? One can carry in church now. I assume you meant "usher" when you referred to a position of official capacity?

Me too? I legally carry in church and sometimes volunteer/serve as an Usher. There is nothing official about 'usherdom' in our little church.

[jmorris]

If a law is every passed to allow us to carry in church AND serve in an official capacity (user, etc) in that church, I would want and welcome additional training. If nothing else, I would not want several of us to try to respond to a threat and get into one another's way. That is something that I worry about today
.

Can you clarify? One can carry in church now. I assume you meant "usher" when you referred to a position of official capacity?

Me too? I legally carry in church and sometimes volunteer/serve as an Usher. There is nothing official about 'usherdom' in our little church.

I'm head usher and trustee chairman and carry every Sunday. I'd like to see a citizen on patrol type group being allowed that didn't fall under the security officer laws.

[Greybeard]

One of the Argyle School Board members is one of our Freedom Plan members. When he mentioned this was a possibility about a year ago, I popped off that if he thought they could pull it off, that I would do free Handgun 101 and/or CHL classes for any employee of the school district. Another "small" local school got wind of it and we set an all-time record number of CHL students packed into the DCSA classroom. They subsequently came back in pairs for shooting sessions as applicable. Quite proud of some pretty precious people there and some other accomplishments in the past several months, including Div. 3 State Football Championship in December.

[Jaguar]

The local Fox station has a good story on this.

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/24523350/ ... ted-arglye" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Oldgringo]

The local Fox station has a good story on this.

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/24523350/ ... ted-arglye" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Positive article...for a change.