The Gainesville City School Board held its first reading Monday for a proposed policy that would place armed security guards on its campuses.
The policy would allow the system's superintendent to appoint volunteers to be allowed to carry weapons while on school property. Any other school system employees would not be allowed to carry weapons, and those appointed to carry would be subject to annual background checks and required to undergo weapons and use of force training.
No one spoke on the policy during the public comment portion of Monday's meeting. Superintendent Jeremy Williams said the school system has received good response to the proposed policy.
"The feedback, not only from the board, but from the community as well, was good," Williams said after the meeting. "What it does is it allows us to make sure that when it comes time to arm our security guards, we've got a policy backing it up."
Williams also said the system is conducting interviews for a manager position that would oversee those security guards. The full draft of the policy is available on the school system's website.
A second reading will be done in September before the policy is approved. Public comment will be available before that reading.
