Concerned Citizen Sam George stands in front of Tecumseh High School. George has spent the past 18 months researching the best possible response to an active shooter scenario at Tecumseh. His presentation to the Tecumseh Board of Education last month sparked the interest of Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly and the Board President of Sidney Local Schools.

On June 28, Bethel Twp. resident Sam George presented the BOE and meeting attendees with the results of 18 months of research he gathered regarding school shootings and the measures schools have taken to prevent such events from happening. George told BOE members that his visit to Sidney City Schools provided him with perhaps the best template of a program Tecumseh Local Schools could use locally to improve school safety.

The safety program, approved by the Shelby County Sheriff, arms the school from within using a volunteer “Armed Defense Team” made up of qualified trained staff and a school security officer. The firearms are stored in biometric safes with only these trained individuals having access.

Several community members, some of whom are retired military personnel, told Board members they agreed with George and the ideas he presented. “We need something like this,” said one person, “For instance, I just walked right on into this building tonight—there was no one there to (screen) people to make sure everyone in the building stayed safe.”

A special meeting of the Tecumseh Local Schools’ Board of Education (BOE) took place on July 6. It brought together Clark County Sheriff, Gene Kelly, and Sidney City Schools’ BOE President, Bill Ankey, to join the continuing discussion about the security of Tecumseh’s buildings in the event of an active shooter.

In previous school security discussions, it was suggested Tecumseh work with the Clark County Sheriff’s office and try to get reserve deputies into each of the district’s six building. Kelly believes such a plan is “not doable” for a variety of reasons.

The biggest hurdle Kelly says he has is his deputies’ overall unwillingness and lack of desire to commit to working in such positions. “We have over 4000 extra-duty jobs a year that we struggle to fill. My reserve officers get paid $25.00 an hour, but I still have problems getting deputies to take on those kinds of jobs...sometimes we’ve had to beat on a deputy’s door and give them a direct order to get them to show up to work...That’s the generation today, they want to make good money and work as little as possible”

A second problem Sheriff Kelly mentions is that Clark County deputies’ bargaining units (Union) prevent non-Union members from doing Union-protected work.

“I had two reserve officers who used to serve papers (for the court), a job most of the (full-time) deputies don’t like. But a grievance was filed with the bargaining unit anyway. So I’m now prohibited from having anyone who is not a sworn, full-time deputy take a patrol car out and do anything a full-time deputy would do...Thus a full-time deputy would have to be assigned to secure the schools, (otherwise) I would get a grievance and likely get stuck in expensive arbitration.

According to Kelly, it is impossible to add one more thing for the Sheriff’s department to do, considering the amount of overtime and the minimal staffing he has in the jail, courts, and on the road.

“I don’t know how we could take on anything else...it’s a different world in Shelby county. I don’t know if their deputies are union or not. But here (in Clark County), I can’t be a part of (a plan) with reserves and retired deputies. I’m even having a hard time getting retired deputies to work as part-time bailiffs...it’s just the difference from one community to the next.

In response to past suggestions about having staff carry guns in the schools, Kelly said state law mandates that no firearms may be carried onto school property and he could not authorize guns being allowed on campus.

Kelly says that ultimately, it’s the BOE’s decision, “It costs over $100,000 to get a deputy up and running...(and) I cannot swear anybody in as a deputy sheriff unless they’re fully certificated from the state of Ohio...and if they were to assume bargaining unit work, we would have a grievance and a lot of money would go into arbitration and I would lose.”

Kelly says that in the long run, Tecumseh is getting a “great bargain” in that all school safety measures currently in place are provided by the county. “I’m doing everything we can. We’re adding an additional deputy, there are two DARE officers...five deputies just assigned to the schools. I’ve applied for a COPS grant to add an additional deputy which would give us 4 ESOs. That’s not enough for every building. but, when there have been incidents at Tecumseh, the district has had my entire team out there...When I need it, I can get it, and you receive it.

Sydney BOE President, Bill Ankey, explained how Sidney City Schools implemented an unique emergency security plan after the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy in 2012.

“After Sandy Hook, our staff started asking for tools to prevent something like that from happening here. So Superintendent (John) Scheu spoke with Sheriff (John) Lenhart and asked what could be done to keep kids safe.”

After public meetings, and with the full support and cooperation from the Shelby County Sheriff’s office and (initially) the Sydney Police Department, the Sydney City School District came up with an emergency plan that uses reserve officers in every building and trains staff members to join an in-school emergency response team. The team has access to school-owned firearms in the event of an active shooter.

“(Firearms) are kept in biometric safes throughout the buildings. The only way to open those safes is with a registered fingerprint. Even though we have the guns available, the primary concern for (the team) isn’t to be the first one to (engage) a shooter...we just want to be able to protect our kids.”

Ankey says he also feels “blessed” that Sidney hasn’t had the trouble Kelly says he would have in getting deputies to work in the schools; even though the Sydney district’s reserve officers only get paid $16.00 an hour. “We hire the (reserve) deputies as aides, and they really do work as aides. They tutor students, help in the classrooms, and do other things to help. They really enjoy it, plus it gives the students a positive image of law officers.”

According to Ankey, there is a waiting list of people who want to join the school district’s emergency response team, a reflection of how the team and plan came about in the first place.

“The creation of our plan was staff-driven. Staff members wanted tools to keep their kids safe, so they stepped up and this is what we came up with. Time is not on your side if there is a problem. I don’t know what (the Clark County Sheriff Department’s) response time is all the way out here, but something can happen within minutes, even seconds. Our plan may not be the best in the world, but at least we have something in place that can help protect our kids immediately.”

Tecumseh BOE member, Corrinne Scott asked Sheriff Kelly how it was possible that Sydney’s plan did not counter the state law he had mentioned that banned firearms from school property. Ankey answered that the State Attorney General has empowered Ohio’s school boards to decide locally whether or not they would allow guns into their schools. Kelly verified Ankey’s explanation, stating that his primary concern had been figuring out the expense to the district if Tecumseh would enact an emergency plan of its own.

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