Oklahoma lawmakers enacted legislation in 2015 that lets school employees, including teachers, carry guns on campus. The town of Okay appears to have the only district that uses the law to arm its staff.
Pete Hiseley was not the superintendent in 2015 when the Okay Public School Board signed off on school employees carrying guns. He wasn’t sure about the policy at first — but after running the district for about 9 months, Hiseley says he feels comfortable with it.
PETE HISELEY: There’s a lot of reasons. One, I have a better understanding about the multiple employees that we have trained. I understand what our policy is about. I understand that the training that they have to go through, it’s intense.
Per Oklahoma law, armed school staff must have a conceal carry permit. They’re also required to complete a 72-hour armed guard program. But Hiseley says the staff members with guns at his school are much more advanced.
PETE HISELEY: They’ve trained with Homeland Security, they’ve trained with multiple agencies, multiple days, multiple hours, at our school, and I’ve got a lot of respect for the amount of time that they’ve put in to that program.
Hisley won’t say which school employees are armed. He also says the district would never require any employee to carry a gun.
PETE HISELEY: We pretty well ask, or choose, who we want to be in that position, and in my opinion it’s our best.
Hisley says the decision to arm teachers should be made by the community and its local school board. He doesn’t think the state, or anyone else, should tell school officials whether or not employees should have guns.