Cobb School Board approves controversial measure to hire armed security guards
COBB COUNTY, Ga. - The Cobb County Board of Education voted on Thursday evening to allow non-certified district employees to carry guns inside school buildings at a thunderous meeting. It is a measure the board feels will step up security in the wake of several mass shootings, including the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas at the end of May that killed 19 students and two teachers.
"Quite simply, this policy gives us other opportunities to enhance and increase the number of school resource officers," said Superintendent Chris Ragsdale.
Amid protests in the audience, the board voted 4-2 to approve the new action. The language in the proposals said that employees would not be teachers and staff that are in the classroom but will be newly hired employees who report directly to the Cobb County School District chief of police.
The district will seek to hire retired military and law enforcement officers to fill the positions, Ragsdale said. Background checks, psychological evaluations, and firearms training will be required, but they will not be required to meet the Georgia Police Officer Training Standards or be POST certified.
Just before the vote, roughly a dozen protesters began to chat to "delay the vote." As the chants drowned out the board, members briefly discussed that option but eventually shot it down in a 2-4 vote.
"I’m happy that the superintendent doesn’t want to arm teachers, but I am afraid of armed individuals being around my children," said Laura Judge, who sends two of her kids to Cobb schools.
The board amended the wording of the proposal to exclude teachers and staff in classrooms from being allowed to carry firearms under any circumstances.
"I was not in favor of arming teachers, but I was in favor of exploring all possibilities of being able to enhance and increase the number of school resource officers that we have," Ragsdale said.
Those against the measure point to the Uvalde massacre, in which armed and fully trained officers delayed their takedown of the gunman.
Rich Pellegrino, of the Cobb County chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said that ex-military members are trained differently than armed guards.
"It hasn’t worked well in law enforcement because the battlefield is much different than the streets of America," Pellegrino said.
Right now, the school district had 67 police officers covering 114 campuses.
The superintendent and other board members in favor of the measure left the room when FOX 5 asked to speak with them. A district spokesperson and the superintendent did not return a late request for comment via email following the meeting.