Residents Offer School Safety Suggestions

School district officials recently met with law enforcement officials and area leaders to discuss school safety.

At that meeting, Trustee Ben Trotter said the district hopes the state will provide the necessary funds to place school resource officers in each of the district's 16 elementary schools.

That is estimated to cost more than $700,000 annually – a financial burden that the district might be hard-pressed to meet, officials said.

During Monday night's school board meeting, two residents offered opinions on the school security discussion.

Don Plotnik told the board Monday night that putting SROs in the elementary schools would not work.

“You have determined at least in part that a guard in each school is the answer,” Plotnik said. “This is what Mr. (Wayne) LaPierre of the NRA proposed after the Connecticutt shootings. It will not work.”

Plotnik said he and his wife surveyed all 16 district elementary schools on weekends.

“I am a military officer, I have some knowledge of firearms and planning,” he said. “This will not work to protect our children.”

Plotnik said $30 million would be needed to place school resource officers in elementary schools statewide.

“I believe Mr. Trotter came up with $45,000 per guard,” Plotnik said. “We have 16 schools - that's $720,000 We have 660 elementary schools in Carolina – that's $30 million it would cost to do that, and it won't work. A man with a rifle could do away with that guard and the school in a flash.”

Weldon Clark said additional school security need not be prohibitively expensive.

Clark says he had an attorney friend versed in firearm laws.

“With express written permission of the school board or the superintendent and a CWP (concealed weapons permit, a school official at each school can provide armed security,” Clark said. “That's a lot less expensive and a lot quicker.”