School district may authorize guns for plain clothes security

Oct 31, 2006 11:58 AM

The Clarke County School District in Athens, Ga., is considering allowing high school security supervisors to carry guns on campus, The Associated Press reports.

School resource officers, or uniformed police officers assigned to the district's middle and high schools, already carry weapons, as does Frank Platt, the district's security director.

But under the proposed policy change, recommended by the Clarke County Board of Education's Policy Committee, campus security supervisors - certified officers who wear plain clothes when at schools would be authorized to carry guns.

Georgia law allows certified school security staff to carry guns if authorized by a local board of education.

Clarke County school officials began considering the policy after a series of shootings at schools across the country in recent weeks, says Jim Simms, executive director of district services.

The school system already has seven uniformed school resource officers who monitor middle and high schools, six of whom are from the Athens-Clarke Police Department; one is a Clarke County sheriff's deputy.

Allowing supervisors to carry guns would most benefit high schools, which have the district's largest campuses, Simms adds.

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