STOW: Active and retired police officers from the Stow and Munroe Falls police departments will be permitted to carry concealed weapons on school grounds at after-hours events.
The Stow-Munroe Falls Board of Education unanimously approved the measure this week with the full support of Superintendent Russ Jones, who sees the decision as a positive step to elevate security in the district.
“The Stow-Munroe Falls Board of Education is committed to student and staff safety,” Jones said in a written statement. “To that end, we have adopted a number of safety measures, including a strong police presence in all of our buildings on a daily basis, the training of 100 percent of our staff members, and eventually students in the ALICE response training, and re-visiting all of our current safety measures.”
ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) is becoming a more standard practice nationwide. It gives students procedures to follow in the event of a crisis such as a school shooting.
“Allowing off-duty officers to carry their weapons to events at our schools provides an additional layer of protection in case a crisis should occur,” Jones said. “I wish to thank Chief [Louis] Dirker from the Stow Police Department and Chief [Rick] Myers from the Munroe Falls Police Department for making this option available to us.”
Officers will alert school officials when they carry a concealed weapon. These weapons will be allowed only at school events.
