Ohio Supreme Court Rules School District Unlawfully Armed Teachers With Insufficient Training

Hundreds of Ohio Teachers, as well as Teachers’ Unions, Safety and Education Experts, Law Enforcement, and Cities of Columbus and Cincinnati Filed Briefs Urging the Court to Affirm That all Armed School Staff Must be Rigorously Trained 

BUTLER COUNTY, Ohio – The Ohio Supreme Court affirmed today that longstanding Ohio law requires comprehensive training for any school employee who carries a gun in school.  The decision affirms a ruling by the Ohio 12th District Court of Appeals, which ordered the Madison Local School District to halt its armed teachers program which required as little as 24 hours of training. The lawsuit was brought by a group of Butler County parents with children in the school district, who are represented by attorneys from Everytown Law, the litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, and Columbus-based attorney Rachel Bloomekatz.

“Today’s ruling comes as a relief,” said Erin Gabbard, one of the parents challenging the policy. “Like any parents, we just want our kids to be safe. The Madison school board armed minimally-trained staff, one of whom even failed the accuracy test multiple times. Once this ruling is implemented, parents will at least know that the teachers who carry firearms in our schools are properly trained, as required by state law.”

During the lawsuit, Madison Local School District Board members acknowledged adopting the district’s armed staff and training policies despite no board members having law enforcement qualifications or expertise, and without research or investigation beyond cursory internet searches.  Discovery also revealed that the District’s actual practices in screening armed personnel differed sharply from the descriptions that the Board used to sell its policy to the public.  In fact, the Board even approved an armed staff person who twice failed the basic shooting qualification test administered during training. 

Numerous groups filed amicus briefs in support of the parents, including two Ohio teachers’ unions, hundreds of Ohio teachers and school staff, law enforcement experts, the cities of Columbus and Cincinnati, professors of education from The Ohio State University College of Education and other Ohio universities, and a legal expert on statutory construction. 

“As the Ohio Supreme Court recognized, Ohio law mandates that armed teachers receive extensive training before carrying guns in classrooms, and the FASTER training regime implemented by Madison Local School District was woefully insufficient,” said Rachel Bloomekatz. “Today’s ruling will protect students, teachers, and staff in Ohio from the risks posed by inadequately trained staff carrying guns in school.”  

“Ohio’s training standards for armed teachers exist for good reason, and there are no shortcuts to meeting them,”said Alla Lefkowitz, director of affirmative litigation for Everytown Law. “When a state sets standards to protect schools, parents shouldn’t have to take legal action to get their district to comply. At long last, Ohio parents will now have the assurance that if teachers have access to guns inside the district’s classrooms and schools, they have undergone the training required by Ohio law.” 

In upholding the 12th District Court of Appeals ruling, Chief Justice O’Connor wrote that “A person might be hired as a teacher, but when that person agrees to go armed while teaching, his or her duties expand to encompass additional duties akin to those normally performed by special police officers and security guards.” As a result, the court concluded “that R.C. 2923.122(D)(1)(a) does not clearly constitute a legislative grant of power for school boards to authorize their employees to go armed so long as the employees undergo whatever training a board might deem advisable.”