"As school board members and parents, it saddens us that Governor Mike DeWine has signed into law House Bill 99 this week. Arming teachers with guns and asking them to use deadly force as part of their instructional duties with only 24 hours of training is irresponsible. In one breath, the Governor touts the new law and its minimal training requirements, while in the next he says he prefers schools hire armed resource officers for the safe protection of students. It makes no sense. This flies in the face of the Ohio State Supreme Court’s 2021 ruling requiring school staff to have at least 700 hours of training, a responsible approach to school safety. This “tool” in the toolbox, as the Governor calls it, is no tool at all. It is an invitation to the unimaginable where students and staff will be hurt or killed. When all of Ohio’s teachers unions and the Fraternal Order of Police speak out against this legislation, it should be a red flag to the Governor that there are major problems with this knee-jerk reaction law. These are the two groups that eat, live and breath this environment every day, and it is shameful that their expert voices went unheard. At a recent Candlelight Vigil remembering the lives lost in Uvalde, Texas, Reynoldsburg’s entire Board of Education, along with nearly 50 other community members, signed a letter asking state and nationally elected officials to partner with districts to improve school safety. In that letter, we were quite clear, 'Arming classroom teachers, who are already overworked, overloaded and overburdened, with carrying weapons and charging them with using deadly force as protection is not the answer.' HB99 is an irresponsible piece of legislation and the Reynoldsburg Board of Education will continue to exercise its right to adhere to Policy 1617, 3217 and 4217."