By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The St. Maries, Idaho School District, located in Benewah County at the confluence of the St. Joe and St. Maries rivers southeast of Coeur d’Alene Lake, has okayed teachers to carry guns on campus and in classrooms following a 4-0 vote to finalize the policy.
Under the policy described by the Spokane Spokesman-Review, in order for a staff member to be approved to carry on campus, he/she must have an Idaho enhanced concealed carry license, go through a background check and 40-hour firearms training course which includes de-escalation and threat assessment instruction, and they must be screened and interviewed by local law enforcement.
St. Maries is the largest city in Benewah County.
MyNorthwest noted that School Board Chairman Seth Stoke said none of the volunteer teachers or staff who are armed will be identified.
“They can assume that everybody is armed,” he said. “The whole idea is not knowing who is carrying.”
The plan is in reaction to a rise in school shootings over the past 25 years. MyNorthwest pointed to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics, which said “there were 1,453 school shootings from the 1997–1998 school year to the 2021–2022 school year.
“The most recent five school years have had a substantially higher number of school shootings than the prior 20 years,” the group said.
Firearms carried by staff must be personally owned, and either carried or placed in a district-approved lock box at all times.
The Spokesman-Review noted another development in school security is also in the works. The school board approved a three-year agreement with Panacea NW Region Corporation, a school security consulting firm based in Hayden, which is north of Coeur d’Alene. Panacea NW will conduct emergency response training with school district staff and parents.
The Spokane newspaper said a majority of residents in the community support the armed teacher program, while school staff is “about evenly split.” Some staff reportedly support having an armed school resource officer with the Sheriff’s Department on campus instead. Such an officer was hired last month, the Spokesman-Review reported.
