MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that teachers must have peace officer training to be armed in the classroom. The ruling comes after years of litigation sparked by policy at Madison Local Schools.

A shooting at Madison Local Schools in 2016 left four students injured, sending shockwaves through the small Butler County community. The incident prompted changes to the school district's safety policy, allowing staff to be armed after 24 hours of training. 

Parents seeking more extensive training for staff in order to open carry a firearm filed a lawsuit.

“Whenever we questioned the school board about it, we weren’t given any answers about it,” Madison Local graduate and parent Ben Adams said. “So we did our own research and came to find the training for the teachers was woefully inaccurate, or inadequate.” 

Adams said the group of concerned parents moved their concerns to a lawsuit in the interest of safety for students, which took several years to hash out. 

“It’s a big responsibility to carry a deadly weapon around in schools with so many children around and so many different circumstances,” Adams said. “So the bottom line was always to make sure this policy would be enacted in a safe way.”

On Wednesday, in a split vote, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in favor of the parents. The training requirement is 728 hours, the same as a police officer. 

Adams said it’s a huge win for concerned parents.

“Yeah, I’m relieved,” Adams said. “I wouldn’t have joined this if I didn’t feel that I was justified and right. Everyone has to follow the law. I have to follow the law, the schools have to follow the law. That’s all we asked them to do is follow the law.” 

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said this verdict makes schools less safe now, and the shooting that occurred in 2016 is a prime example of why.

“I was there in the cafeteria afterwards and you could see the blood on the floor, the blood on the tables, tables turned over where kids were fleeing and kids were shot,” Jones said. “And this was a 13-year old that had no remorse. None whatsoever and had bullets in his pocket to reload.” 

Jones’ office delivered training for the staff after the shooting and is confident in the performance of that training, but is disappointed in the outcome from the Ohio Supreme Court.

“We gave them the training for what we thought was necessary and still think is necessary,” Jones said. “They’ve been carrying a firearm for quite some time.”

President of Madison Local Schools Dave French released the following statement on the verdict:

“We are disappointed in the split decision issued by the Ohio Supreme Court.  We are pleased, however, that Justice Kennedy, Justice Fischer, and Justice DeWine, the Governor (when he was Attorney General), and the current Attorney General agreed that the Madison Local Schools’ Board of Education policy was lawful.  The Board has always done, and will continue to do, what is in the best interest of our community.  Our primary concern has been and continues to be the safety of our students, and what works for our community may not work for others.  While this policy has received a substantial amount of attention, it is just one of the many steps that the District has taken to ensure student safety.  We are considering and exploring all of our options moving forward, and hope the Ohio General Assembly considers taking action to correct this decision.”

While he’s content with the outcome, Adams said he can see the next step coming in the form of new litigation being introduced to change the law. But Adams is hopeful that if that does happen all sides and concerns will be considered. 

“If armed teachers is the way to go, then it has to be with properly trained people,” Adams said. “The circumstances that those teachers would be acted or would be requested to act under would be high stress and very low frequency. So in order to be sufficient in that and proficient it’s a lot of training.”