Colorado Springs school distrct considering arming teachers using FASTER program
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo (KRDO) -Next week, District 20 school administrators will consider arming teachers and training them through the FASTER program as a way of upgrading the safety measures and protocols district-wide.
An email statement from District 20 today says that they will be considering implementing the new policy in a study session next Thursday.
Academy District 20 is exploring options to grow and strengthen the security at all Academy District 20 schools. The Board of Education will discuss this topic, which includes the FASTER Colorado program, during its next Study Session on Thursday, Feb. 15, from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m., at the Education and Administration Center. The Study Session is open to the public and media.
- Academy District 20
FASTER is a Colorado-based non-profit program that teaches school staff how to carry firearms safely. Founder and Board President Laura Carno says her training company works with schools in over forty districts statewide that have already implemented the program. Hanover District 28 and Peyton School District 23 have publicly revealed that they have armed staff on campus, as well as Liberty Tree Academy, a charter school located in District 49.
Carno told KRDO13 that during election season, multiple school board candidates from D20 called her to ask about the program.
"These are people who support the policy and don't support the policy," Carno said while refusing to detail who those candidates were and if they were on the current board.
The conversation as to employ the program allegedly arose at a "Coffee & Conversation" between school board members and parents on Tues., February 6th.
Carno says that only about 40% of the people who go through their program are teachers. The rest of them are janitors, coaches, and other types of school employees.
"We have met a very broad swath of school employees," Carno said. "The commonality with all of them to a person, every one of them would run toward the sound of gunfire and die to protect children. We think it's better for them to run toward the sound of the gunfire with the ability, the mindset, and the tools to stop the killer."
Carno also said that before school staff even reach their classrooms, they go through a lengthy vetting process with the school board and have full background checks done. Even after that, employees are continually monitored through the training program.
"I'm not going to call it a formal vetting process, but we continue to look for red flags. Over the years, there has been a small handful, maybe three people, who've gotten through their whole school vetting process," Carno said. "And then they come to our class and we say we've got some sort of a red flag through the course of the class. We call the superintendent, board members -- whoever it is we're in contact with -- and can provide them that feedback."
Carno said that she also understood parent's concerns with implementing the new program.
"There are concerns from people who don't like this policy that somebody, a student, might get a firearm, somebody in a crazy situation that the wrong person might get harmed or injured," Carno said. "Those are all very good things to talk about."
She went on to say that those safety risks are things they train for. She also said that teachers and staff who are armed have to continually renew their training every year.
"We train very, very specifically on these things in our training classes. But what we do know is that those things have never happened in the history of our school employee programs throughout the country, not just in Colorado. No child has been injured. No staff member has been injured. No child has gotten a hold of a concealed carry," Carno said.
