Mount Vernon’s Knox County Career Center Schools has staff trained in carrying firearms.

The school district is one of 22 across the state, as well as one Christian school, where the staff has been trained in the use of firearms.

“We have a very extensive safety plan in our district and this is just one small part of it,” Superintendent Kathy Greenich said of staff members at the school carrying firearms, according to WKYC. “We feel like we should take advantage of anything that is available to use to protect our students and protect our staff.”

Knox County Career Center Schools, headquartered at 306 Martinsburg Road in Mount Vernon, oversees 443 students in grades 9-12. It has 65 classroom teachers. 

The decision by the district to allow staff to receive training to carry firearms came after Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 99 into law in 2022. 

“This is a local choice, not mandated by the legislature, nor by the government,” DeWine said at the time, according to Ohio Capital Journal. “Each school board will determine what is best for their students, their staff and their community.”

The revelation of the district staff being trained in firearm usage comes after a trans person killed six, including three students, at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. The shooter in that incident was a 28-year-old disaffected former student who was killed by police officers. Later identified as Audrey Hale, the New York Post reported Hale had the plan to target another school but did not execute it due to the school's tight security.  

Since 2001, Ohio has experienced five school shooting deaths in 11 shooting incidents at schools, according to Ballotpedia. The most recent school shooting incident occurred in Toledo in October 2022, when three were injured in gunfire outside of a football game.

The worst of those was in 2012 at Chadron High School, according to Reuters. Three were killed and three were injured in the shooting that occurred in the school's cafeteria.