Warning: Union Grove Staff Armed

UPSHUR COUNTY — A new sign outside the Union Grove schools serves as a warning to would-be disrupters: Employees in the Upshur County school district are armed and trained to �use whatever force is necessary” to protect students in the district. That’s according to KETK and the Longview News-Journal. The sign went up last week as the district put into effect the policy approved in January when the Union Grove school board enacted a policy to allow select, licensed and trained teachers and administrators to possess a firearm on campus.

On Monday, school superintendent Brian Gray would not disclose the number of staff that have undergone concealed handgun training but said the staff members who are armed are also taking classes in hostage negotiation and tactical firearm defensive training. He said all had also undergone psychiatric examinations before being approved to carry a weapon on campus. Community members wholeheartedly supported the move.

Union Grove ISD, a 2A school district with 761 students in rural Upshur County, was the second district in Texas to enact such a policy. The first was Harrold ISD in 2007. Gray said to date about 40 Texas schools have moved in that direction. �Our community wants it,� Gray said.

�The worst thing we can do is nothing,� Union Grove school board Vice President Rusty Dyar told the News-Journal in January. Union Grove ISD is not in an incorporated city and therefore does not receive active police service from a city. The district is served by Upshur County Sheriff�s Office, based 12 miles away in Gilmer.