Kentucky school district scraps plans to arm teacher, staff

PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) – A Kentucky school district that passed a resolution to train and arm school employees with firearms in the event of an active shooter has scrapped that plan and will instead have uniformed deputies patrolling schools.

Officials told the Lexington Herald-Leader on Friday that Pike County sheriff’s deputies will patrol the county’s five high schools when the school year begins.

The school board passed February’s proposal in the wake of multiple school shootings. School Board Chairman Justin Maynard says the school board pursued the idea of arming teachers because the district couldn’t afford to pay law enforcement officers to patrol the schools.

But the sheriff’s office placed deputies in some schools after the proposal was passed and has since offered to keep those deputies where they are at no cost to the district.