CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System has decided not to implement changes allowed in a new law that lets teachers and faculty members conceal carry a weapon in schools.

The legislation signed by Gov. Bill Lee allows teachers to be armed on school campuses if they’ve been trained and go through a number of other qualifying steps, according to a WKRN, Channel 2 report. Supporters say it’s mainly for school districts that don’t have law enforcement on every campus, and school districts have the right to opt out.

Many districts, including Davidson, Memphis-Shelby County, Knox County schools have said they won’t allow teachers to carry, according to WKRN. Now, CMCSS has joined the list: No teachers will be armed in schools.

‘Teachers should be allowed to teach’

During this week’s School Board meeting, Director of Schools Dr. Jean Luna-Vedder, announced her decision.

“As I know all of you are aware, legislation was recently passed in the state of Tennessee the permits flexibility for school districts to allow for the arming of teachers,” Luna-Vedder said Tuesday. “While this legislation may be needed in some districts in Tennessee, CMCSS has been fortunate to maintain a strong partnership with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies.”

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She explained that CMCSS currently has an armed School Resource Officer in every schools with more than one in some of the larger schools. In total, CMCSS employs approximately 60 armed SROs across the district.

“Our community has hundreds of law enforcement officers and deputies patrolling throughout the county,” Luna-Vedder told the board members. “We are in a much better position than many smaller and more rural districts across the Tennessee.

“There seems to be a strong consensus that teachers should be allowed to teach, and trained law enforcement personnel should be allowed to focus on school security in counties where it is already readily available,” she said.

Luna-Vedder said that during the quarterly security meeting on May 6, school district leaders met with Sheriff John Fuson and other law enforcement officials and discussed the issue of arming teachers. The new law establishes the sheriff and the director of schools as the authorities to oversee any potential implementation in each district.

“Because of the strong partnership between CMCSS and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office with the presence of highly trained and armed SROs in every school, Sheriff Fuson and I are in agreement that CMCSS will not be implementing the new law for our schools.”

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