Some teachers at a tiny school district in Texas are now packing heat — and educators won’t hesitate to “take out” an armed student if necessary, the superintendent said Monday.
The Grand Saline Independent School District, located about an hour east of Dallas, is now in its second week of carrying concealed guns on campus, Superintendent Micah Lewis told The Post.
“Every time there was a school shooting, me and the board talked about it again,” said Lewis. “If some crazy came in here, could we minimize the damage by being armed?”
The district, which includes an elementary, intermediate, middle and high school, joins some 300 other school districts in the Lone Star State to allow some educators to walk around armed, according to Lewis.
Grand Saline’s school board voted months ago to enact the so-called Guardian Plan following three years of discussions, the superintendent said.
District employees who are interested in becoming guardians must apply for the program and go through a screening and training with the Texas Department of Public Safety, Lewis explained. They must complete 40 hours of training initially and additional hours on a continuous basis. The staffers must also have a license to carry.
No one knows which teachers or staff members are armed — and Lewis says that’s intentional. The guardian keeps possession of the firearm at all times and the weapons are not stored on campus.
“One of the guardians said to me, ‘Can you believe that we’re to this point? When I went into education 30 years ago, I never thought this would happen,’” recalled Lewis.
There have been 103 school shootings since 2018 — and 34 were reported last year, according to Education Week.
The guardians understand they could be one day faced with the dilemma of potentially shooting an armed student.
“We’re educators. I hate that we have to do that, but again, you weigh it out. Do you take this student down if he’s mowing people down?” Lewis said.
“It’s an easy answer. You take one to save many.”
Grand Saline ISD is comprised of 1,170 students, who live in a conservative community, which overwhelmingly supports arming educators, Lewis said.
“Ninety-five percent of people here support this,” he said. “The only people who have not supported it are outsiders.”
