Another layer of protection to further ensure the safety of students and staff will be in place for the upcoming school year at Fort Stockton ISD.

The school district unanimously passed the guardian plan at their regular meeting on July 26. The plan enables teachers/staff to possess a firearm on district property under state guidelines and by board approval.

According to the revisions of the Safety Program/Risk Management Emergency Plans of Fort Stockton ISD, only a district employee who maintains a current license to carry a handgun, in accordance with Texas state law, shall be eligible for authorization to possess a firearm on district property.

Authorized employees will receive specialized training in crisis intervention and management of hostage situations.

Employee participation is voluntary and shall not be a requirement for any position of employment with the district.

A district employee who is a handgun license holder but has not been specifically authorized by board action under the policy shall not be permitted to possess a firearm on school property.

“That specific section (of the revision) iterates that if the board were to move forward with the guardian program, that it’s not the wild west and grants permission to everybody or just because you work in the district,” FSISD Superintendent Dr. Gabriel Zamora said before a vote took place on the plan.

Specific details of the plan were not revealed because of the private nature of the information.

“Some of the details, if you look at this policy it’s general in nature, some of those details shall be discussed in closed session regarding the emergency operation procedures,” Zamora said. “Specifically, reasons for that is, if we were to divulge what we plan on doing it gives the enemy a notice of what some of our gameplan is.”

The district received interest from over 40 staff members to possess a firearm according to information provided at Tuesday’s school board meeting.

“We’ve already met with some individuals today that provide training for the staff for license to carry, which is the first step,” Zamora added. “You have to have a license to carry a gun before you can become a guardian. There are individuals that are looking to serve the district in this capacity.”

Employees who are authorized to possess a firearm under the approved policy will have the authorization revoked if they are placed on administrative leave or are no longer employed with the district.

In addition, the superintendent will have the ability to revoke employee authorization to possess a firearm at any time.