According to Fox News, there are now at least 40 districts in Ohio that are allowing teachers with conceal-carry permits to carry a concealed weapon while on the job.

The increase of teachers carrying concealed-weapons is a heightened response to the culture of fear created after the influx of school shootings in recent years.

Ohio is a state that is taking a more active stance on allowing teachers to carry weapons in the classroom, providing them with sponsored training as well.

In the FASTERsaveslives.org program, teachers who recently participated in a the program were "taught not only about gun safety and use, but were taught paramedic skills and how to react to active shooter situations, according to WKRC in Cincinnati. Teachers and administrators trained side-by-side with local cops and paramedics at the Tactical Defense Institute in West Union, located in Adams County,” said Fox News.

In other words, teachers in many Ohio school districts are receiving a form of combat training to help subdue attackers in order to facilitate students being able to flee a classroom.

Supporters of the rigorous training believe its the next step to make schools a safe place in this day and age.

“'Safety of our kids should not be a controversial issue. This is not about guns,” Jim Irvine, also with FASTERsaveslives.org and the Buckeye Firearms Foundation, said."

“'For nearly 60 years, not one student has died from a fire. That is due to a redundant, overlapping approach to safety,’” he said, according to the article.

One of the school districts participating in such a measure is Sidney, Ohio, which serves 3,500 students and adopted the policy after the elementary school shooting in Newtown, CT.

Teachers in Sidney have since been trained with bulletproof vests and handguns in an attempt to keep its schools safe.

"Nearly 40 teachers in Sidney volunteered to be part of a first-response team, in which they were trained and provided with bulletproof vests as well as handguns that are kept in biometric lock safes in various locations throughout each of the district's seven schools. It is part of a multi-layered approach as the schools also have buzzer-only entrances and armed security, comprised of ex-law enforcement officials, on duty during school hours,” the article said.

Ladd Everitt, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, told Fox News these kinds of measures are “sad” and send the wrong message to young people.

Still, FASTER says at least five other states have reached out to them with interest in receiving similar training that Ohio teachers are being exposed to.

Read the full story.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

11/17/2015