“The latest numbers just in are 759, over 700 of them in the state of Ohio.,” says Jim Irvine with the Buckeye Firearms Foundation.

I expected several hundred people to respond to this, but not the response that we have gotten.

The classes are still being developed and there’s no timeline on when they’d be offered yet. But Irvine says the gun right group decided to offer the three-day program to educators and school employees after the deadly shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut last month.

He says it’s time districts reexamined “gun free zone” policies, because he says they leave teachers, administrators and school personnel vulnerable.

Having a policy that helps someone achieve a high body count is a bad idea. It’s a failed policy, and we need to get rid of that and put in place policies that actually work to lower our body count.

Though hundreds have signed up for the training, there are more than 150,000 educators, school officials and other personnel in the state of Ohio. And that training would not mean a teacher could carry a weapon into a school unless the district specifically authorized it.

Damon Asbury with the Ohio School Boards Association says it’s too early to tell whether districts want to go that way.

The conversation I’ve heard by and large is that ‘Just arming teachers may not be the most effective or even safest way to go about providing security.’ There’s lot of pros and cons, I’m sure, but we’ve had school shootings in settings where there have been armed guards.

But Patricia Frost Brooks with the state’s largest teachers’ union, the Ohio Education Association, says teachers shouldn’t be forced into what she calls a dual role.

We aren’t going to be there to be armed and carry a weapon and then be the academic leaders and do the teaching and preparing students for this 21st century skills.

The attorney general has said he supports having someone with experience and training posted in a school with access to a gun. But for now, Mike DeWine is talking up training his office is offering starting next week to school employees on how to prepare for, to stop, and to deal with a school shooting situation.

“I think it really comes back to what that local school wants to do and I think the courses that we’re offering, frankly, are going to help that school better understand the nature of the threat.

“I think once they get that information, they’re going to be in a better position to make, as a community, a decision about whether they want someone actually in that school who has a gun who has been trained.”

Meanwhile, the attorney general says there are still about 50 schools out of around 5,000 that have not provided his office with floor plans for their buildings and required emergency safety plans. The AG’s office contacted those which hadn’t complied after last year’s shooting in Chardon, and then again after last month’s tragedy in Connecticut.

The enclosed shelter at Hannah Park off of Clark State Road is one of two locations Gahanna officials have selected to allow firearms training if the Gahanna City Council approves. The 35 acre grounds include a play area, a baseball diamond, tennis courts and a basketball court. Director of the Parks and Recreation Department, Tony Collins says the proposal was put together after he was approached by the Boy Scouts.

“This is one more method to get people out and active in our park system. It’s a great educational opportunity, both for children and adults. Safety education is always important to us from a mission standpoint,” said Collins.

Council member Shane Ewald says he also is in favor of the program.

“Well there won’t be any firing of any type of firearm which would be a gun powder based weapon. There will be practicing with air rifles which is BB or pellet. There will not be any kind of live ammunition allowed at the parks whatsoever,” said Ewald.

The Boy Scouts will learn about the parts of an unloaded gun and how to clean it. Anyone interested in holding a firearms training session would have to file for a city permit and be certified by either the National Rifle Association or the Boy Scouts. Signs would be posted for park goers during the training. Jogger, Jerry Gerker visits Hannah park up to five times a week and has some concerns.

“I would prefer that they would try to find another facility that was similar. There’s one close to the airport,” said Gerker.

Director of Parks and Recreation, Tony Collins says park goers will be safe.

“I think that the safety situation can be controlled. I think it’s a good use of parks. It’s a good use for our citizens to take advantage of our local resources,” said Collins.

Collins adds the other location under consideration for firearms training is the 46 acre Price Road Reserve in the southwest part of Gahanna. If the measure is approved it will take effect in 30 days.

Andrew Savada of the Streetsboro Police says THESE days, when he encounters a criminal suspect or troublemaker with symptoms of mental illness, he drops the “tough-guy” approach he used to use all the time. Instead, Savada says he uses the approach he learned in crisis intervention training.

Police say this new approach has two advantage: it gets treatment for citizens who need it, and it helps keep police officers from being injured or killed.

Denison leaders blame the move on increaslingly strict state regulations.

For decades, Denison graduates who completed an education major would immediately qualify to teach in Ohio’s public schools. Starting this fall, incoming students will not have that option.

Denison president Dale Knobel blames new state regulations, “We are the victims of the education accountability movement.”

State guidelines, enacted in 1998, require colleges and universities to offer certain courses for their students to achieve teacher licenses.

The curriculum requires minimim course work in the subject the student plans to teach as well as minimum course work in teaching methods courses.

Knobel says Denison, a liberal arts university with 2,000 students cannot meet the requirements and offer a well-rounded liberal arts education.

State Education officials say the regulations are needed to ensure public school teachers not only know the subject material but also know how to teach it.