PARMA, Ohio — The plan to allow select staff members to carry a weapon at Parma City School District was expected to be voted on at the Parma School Board at Thursday’s meeting, but on Thursday afternoon, a district official told News 5 that the item was removed from the meeting agenda.
News 5’s Remi Murrey first told viewers about this proposal when the district announced the plan in July.
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Superintendent Charles Smialek told News 5 that the language caused a lot of confusion for parents and the community because he says the district gave very few details about who would be allowed to be armed.
“We thought that if we kept this a mystery and that would be a deterrent in itself, and we learned very quickly that we were sacrificing district transparency,” said Parma City School District Superintendent Dr. Charles Smialek.
It's a concern parents have expressed to News 5.
In August, News 5’s Remi Murrey spoke with Nadine Jamison, and she told her she needed to know more specific details about the plan.
News 5’s Remi Murrey reached back to her, and now that the district has clarified, Jamison said she feels a sense of relief.
“I'm definitely someone that believes if you're going to arm someone in a building with children, then that should really be a police officer's role. I'm just much more comfortable with that, so I was happy to see that information, and it be completely detailed and outlined,” Jamison said.
Other parents like Angela Revay have supported the district's decision from the very beginning.
“As we've seen with events that have occurred across the nation, response time is critical,” said Parma City School District parent Angela Revay.
Smialek said the district will not specifically reveal who will carry a weapon, only telling News 5 these people will be from their security team.
“They've gone through the class that's identified by the state of Ohio, so they've completed that, but they will also complete ongoing training, so we've actually wrote into the policy that every quarter, so four times per school year they're going to go through ongoing training,” Smialek said.
The agenda item that was set to be voted on Thursday was removed from the agenda and returned to the Parma Board of Education committee for discussion and return at a future board agenda and meeting, according to Megan Cooney with the district's communications office.
