Shawnee Mission parents question school districts purchase of semi-automatic rifles
According to district records, in September 2015 the district ordered eight Smith & Wesson semi-automatic rifles for the seven district resource officers and one supervisor, whom Douglass oversees, on the district police force.
The purchase cost the district $5,671.04. Douglass said the most recently purchased rifles are typically kept securely in district police officers’ cars. The school resource officers based in schools and employed by the city or county have also kept semi-automatic rifles securely in their cars as most patrol officers do, Douglass said.
Some viewed the investment as excessive at a time when teachers have classroom needs and administrative salaries have swelled. Many couldn’t remember being informed or aware of the purchase in 2015.
“It’s pretty offensive to me as a taxpayer to feel like you don’t have any voice and you are being excluded from decisions that could harm your child or kill them,” said Melissa Patt, the parent of three students in the Shawnee Mission School District. “What else could we be spending our tax dollars on and getting the same safety results? Or is there evidence that it’s worth it?”
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