Tamaqua school gun policy still on table

A week after the Tamaqua Area School Board’s security committee decided to rescind a controversial gun policy, the board made it official at Tuesday night’s meeting.

“With the new senate billing that went through, it was determined that the best thing to do was to write a new policy that would cite chapter and verse, the new law,” said school board Director Nick Boyle.

“The spirit I believe is still there, and I don’t think anything has changed as far as the general spirit of 705.”

But don’t be surprised if there is a new policy surfacing in the near future.

“705 is basically gone, it would not be able to stand up the way it was written,” Boyle said.

“That’s why we just go back and create a new policy that cites the new law. We’re going to move extremely fast on this, because we’ve already wasted enough time. My goal would be to have this done by November.”

The board announced that it plans to install a “commission” which would include 12 members consisting of first responders, faculty members, school board directors and parents. The board plans to select this group by next month’s board meeting. Meetings held by the new commission will be open to the public, but it will not be allowed to participate.

“We’d have a very narrow focus,” Boyle said of the new commission. “That narrow focus would be how to stop an active shooter.”

Arming the staff at Tamaqua has been a topic of discussion for over six years.

In January 2013, the Tamaqua school board unanimously agreed to have its education committee “develop a policy for the district that allows certain staff members to be trained in handling firearms.”

The board enacted that policy, named 705, in September 2018, “authorizing administrators, teachers or other district staff who undergo special training to carry firearms and use deadly force while performing school duties.”

The Tamaqua Education Association filed a complaint two months later. Parents and grandparents also filed a suit in Schuylkill County court, with the assistance of CeaseFirePa. There has been an intense legal battle over the policy since then.

The policy has drawn attention throughout the state and the nation.

The decision to scrap Policy 705 came two weeks after Gov. Tom Wolf signed Senate Bill 621, “which clarifies existing law to mandate explicit and more robust training requirements for armed school security personnel and further prevent the arming of untrained nonsecurity personnel, including teachers,” according to his office.

At least for now, there is no policy to arm staff at the Tamaqua Area School District.

“The utmost importance here is the legitimate safety of the students, not a cosmetic safety of the students,” said school board President Larry Wittig after last week’s meeting.

“Not something that makes adults feel good about it. To that extent, we’ll be working very hard to make sure our solicitor agrees with the direction we’re going and we’re taking guidance from him and a lot of other input as well.”

The next board meeting is scheduled for Aug. 13.