State leaders are responding to Wednesday’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Broward County authorities say 17 people were killed.
South Dakota lawmakers passed a school sentinel law in March 2013 in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
The program allows employees, hired security personnel, or volunteers to have a gun on school property. Local school districts decide if they want to have a sentinel program. State law requires all sentinels to undergo training, and local law enforcement must approve the plan before it goes into effect.
Governor Dennis Daugaard says South Dakota’s program is available for districts to consider.
“Well, I think it’s certainly a step a school can take. I think it’s noteworthy that in some the reports I read about the Florida shooting, there were law enforcement officers present at the school at the time, is what I’m told. Now, if that’s accurate or not, I’m presuming that it is. So, the presence of a sentinel may or may not have an impact on such an incident in South Dakota. But certainly, it’s an option that is available to local school districts and something I know at least one school district has utilized and maybe others that I’m not aware of," Daugaard says.
The Tri-Valley School District in Colton was the first in South Dakota to approve a school sentinel program. Last August, the Northwestern School District in Mellette became the second to do so.
Senate Majority Leader Blake Curd of Sioux Falls says the program is a resources schools should use. He says officials’ thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of the shooting.