School board discusses gun policy

A proposed policy that would make Baker School District properties weapons-free zones drew opposition from two school board members who say people with concealed handgun permits should be able to carry their guns on school property.

The issue came up Tuesday night when the board met to begin a routine first reading of updated district policies proposed by the Oregon School Boards Association (OSBA).

The weapons policy, written by OSBA lawyers, would prohibit anyone, including those with concealed handgun permits, from bringing a “dangerous or deadly weapon or firearm” on district property or to school-sponsored events.

Superintendent Walt Wegener said this morning that although weapons-free policies have been in place in school districts throughout the country “for a long, long time,” the Baker School District has not had one in its policy manual.

Instead, the issue has been regulated building by building through student handbooks, which apply to students but not to staff, parents or others who come to schools.

Wegener said the district’s lack of a weapons policy came to light last year after an irate parent came to South Baker School with a knife strapped to his leg, which is legal. Several staff members felt intimidated, though, and became very concerned about the man’s actions, Wegener said.

Police were called, but school officials were told that because the man was not aggressively brandishing the knife or threatening anyone and there was no district policy in place, officers couldn’t take any action.

“There’s a federal law that regulates what buildings do, but for whatever reason it never got incorporated into the district policy book,” Wegener said. “Oversights happen.”

Board member Mark Henderson, who has a concealed handgun license, asked the board to revise the weapons-free policy to exempt people who are allowed by state and federal law to carry concealed weapons.

The OSBA-written policy, which prohibits permit-holders from carrying a gun on school property, “elevates this policy way above both the applicable Federal and Oregon State codes and statues,” Henderson wrote in comments he presented to the other board members Tuesday night.

In a highly publicized case a few years ago, in which a Medford high school teacher who has a concealed handgun permit was reprimanded for bringing a gun to school, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that school districts can prohibit employees who have handgun permits from bringing a gun to school.

However, the court ruled that the school policy does not violate state law because the policy applies only to employees, not to the general public.

Wegener said during a recent OSBA conference lawyers for the organization said the final legal challenge regarding guns in schools has been settled based on the Medford case.

Henderson noted that Utah has  laws similar to Oregon’s regarding concealed weapons in schools.

“Both states rate in the bottom 25 percent of states for violent crime,” he said. “So, I don’t think our systems are broken.”

Henderson also presented an article published in the Boulder Weekly newspaper in October 1999 in which a high school vice principal at the Pearl, Miss., High School told how he was able to keep casualties to a minimum at his school when a young man opened fire on students. The vice principal retrieved his gun from his pickup truck in the school parking lot and when he saw the shooter leaving he pointed the gun at the windshield of the boy’s vehicle. The shooter crashed the car and was taken into custody. Two students were killed.

Henderson contrasted that with the April 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in which two students opened fire and killed 12 students and one teacher while injuring 21 others. Adults there attempted to defend their school using fire extinguishers, Henderson said.

Henderson said he would not advocate requiring staff to bring concealed weapons to school.

“I’m more worried about tying the hands of our teachers so all they have is a fire extinguisher,” he said.

The first reading of the proposed weapons policy, without the change Henderson proposed, passed by a 4-1 vote.

Board member Kyle Knight cast the lone no vote.

Knight also spoke in defense of the right of concealed weapons permit holders to carry guns on school property.

“I won’t vote and approve a reading of anything that attacks gun rights in this county,” Knight said, adding that the proposed policy “needs to be completely rewritten.”

Board Chair Lynne Burroughs, who supports the weapons policy as written,  said she would like directors to talk with community members and staff to gather their views on the issue before the board votes on the second of three required readings.

“I would like to hear from the community,” Burroughs said. “That doesn’t mean I want the NRA ringing me on the phone. Talk to some people. Don’t  just come back with tales of people who agree with you.”

Wegener said today that he will meet with Baker City Police Chief Wyn Lohner as part of the effort to gather more information on the topic.

Surveys of staff also will be conducted by representatives of the Baker Education Association and the Oregon School Employees Association, Wegener said.

The policies are aimed at stopping incidents of menacing, harassment, intimidation, bullying and assault, he added.

“We don’t have a horde of people showing up with their assault weapons,” he said. “This is an update — something a lot of other districts already have in place.”