Local ISD Moving Forward with Plan to Arm Teachers

News 10 is reporting that a local school district is moving forward with a plan to arm some of its teachers in order to help better protect students.

The Gatesville ISD voted 7-0 on a plan to move forward with creating a plan to help better protect its students by arming some teachers during a town hall held last Tuesday.

“Those selected to carry guns would have to undergo intense training, psych evaluations and must qualify monthly on a shooting range,” said Gatesville Superintendent Eric Penrod.

Gainsville ISD has five different school campuses. Officials are stating that they want to have enough teachers armed to be able to react quickly to a school shooting incident.

"We have a ratio worked out internally to where we feel we want to be anywhere in the district at any point within 1 to 2 minutes because unfortunately, the time is 3 to 7 minutes is the typical time of an active shooter. So the district's perspective is if we can cut that down in half then we'll probably save a few lives," said Penrod.

While on a national level, schools are gun-free zones, however, the School Marshal Plan allows staffers to be armed in Texas. The Guardian Plan also allows teachers to voluntarily and anonymously carry guns with them on a school campus.

The plan is expected to be implemented by early next year.