Keeping kids safe in Sidney schools

SIDNEY, Ohio (WDTN) - Parents,  teachers and local law enforcement all met at Sidney's Board of Education Office Thursday night with the common goal of keeping students safe in school.

One by one people talked about what they think needs to be done to protect students.

"I wanted to be involved in implementing concealed carry in our school district.  We're also very involved in our community and our school.  We feel very strongly that we don't want to have an inner city school here.  I don't want metal detectors in the school," says parent Joshua Wethington.

"We don't want just anybody having a gun.  We want a person, an armed guard at least someone, to have a gun, not teachers.  Teachers they have a heart, they have a family.  They don't need to be killing people," comments Toni Nelson.

Superintendent John Scheu says the district wants to be proactive.

"We believe that to pretend, what happened at Sandy Hook could not happen at Sidney City Schools, is unrealistic.  We feel that we need to solicit input from parents.  We have a school security committee that is weighing all different options," explains Scheu.

But, school administrators weren't the only ones involved in this discussion, so was the Shelby County Sheriff and the Sidney Police Chief.

"Obviously this is reactionary to the recent events with the tragedy in Connecticut but it's ongoing.  Whether it's an analysis of what plans are already in place, whether it's making sure that the school knows what our response is going to be and we know what their practices or procedures are, it's a true partnership," says Chief Kevin Gessler.

The security committee will now meet to put together plans to present to the school board sometime this spring.