Armed guards coming to Lakeland

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

RATHDRUM — The Lakeland Joint School District will take its first step this summer toward an aggressive plan to improve school safety by hiring its first armed guard.

The district employee's top priority will be Athol Elementary, which has typically taken law enforcement longer to respond to of all the schools in the district. However, the guard could also assist at Twin Lakes or Garwood elementaries if needed, said Assistant Superintendent Lisa Sexton.

"We held two town hall meetings and taxpayers have said, 'If we have to pay for armed guards, we will pay for armed guards,'" Sexton said.

She said patrons, staff and the district's safety task force concluded action needs to be taken so schools are not "soft targets" without armed security personnel present. She said it took 22 minutes to respond to one recent 911 call made at Athol Elementary.

Sexton said the district's ultimate goal is to have an armed guard at each of the district's 11 schools in addition to the two school-resource officers who are currently co-funded by the district and Rathdrum and Spirit Lake police departments for schools within the boundaries of those two cities.

The three elementary schools in the district outside those cities don't have an SRO. While those areas are in the Sheriff's Office jurisdiction for patrol, it does not have a deputy dedicated as an SRO at the schools.

"The (existing) school-resource officers will not go away," Sexton said. "They build positive relationships with the students."

Sexton said SROs will also work at evening events, read to students and educate kids on topics such as self-defense and cyber-bullying. Armed guards, meanwhile, will monitor the perimeter of the schools, main entrances and playgrounds at recess throughout the school day.

The school district has $42,000 for the first armed guard position from a supplemental levy that was approved by voters last year. The district will have to add funding to make it a position with benefits, Sexton said. It hasn't been determined if the district will ask patrons for funding for one or two additional armed guards in next year's two-year supplemental levy.

Sexton said the district approached the Kootenai County Commission four times about cost-sharing for an SRO at its three elementary schools outside Rathdrum and Spirit Lake.

However, after commissioners asked for more cost details and expressed concerns about setting a precedent with other schools in similar situations during the district's latest inquiry in April, the district decided to go the armed guard route.

Sexton said arming staff or teachers was also discussed at the staff level, but that idea didn't advance because of brain research and gun mishaps at districts that have gone that way.

"We hired teachers to teach and we want them focused on teaching," Sexton said, adding that research indicates people perform better if they focus on one major task at a time. "If they're also focused on safety of the building, then they're not focusing on what we hired them to do. The board was very much in support of armed guards because their sole job is security."

Sexton said that for every patron who advocated for arming staff, there was at least one patron who adamantly argued otherwise. She said it appears patrons are pleased with the district's latest direction on security.

Sexton said the district's safety task force is working with police departments in both cities on the armed guard initiative, including the job description. She said the goal is to hire the armed guard before the start of school in the fall. Gun-free zone signs in front of schools will be removed this summer and replaced with signs at applicable schools that indicate armed personnel will be present.

"We want people to know that, should someone (be a serious threat) on the grounds, they'll be confronted with someone who has lethal force," Sexton said.

In light of the series of school shootings in recent years, Sexton said the move toward armed guards is a "new frontier" for the district.

"School safety has always been a part of my job, but this year it was a huge part of what I did," she said.