The Powell school district moved a step closer last month to finalizing what concealed carry will look like for staff.

The policy, which outlines the responsibilities of staff members who carry and potential consequences for their mishandling, was approved for first reading with one notable change suggested by trustee Dusty Paul during the July 16 meeting. 

Policies go through two to three readings before they are passed into policy.

Paul requested the addition of language that would address staff who wish to use lock boxes for their firearms, something that had been previously discussed during a past work session.

While lock boxes are allowed under the recently passed law, some concerns were discussed about the bill’s wording regarding the storage devices.

Concealed biometric containers or lock boxes, are allowed “within the direct control of the person at all times,’ HB-172 reads.

The board had previously discussed in May how the wording within the bill had triggered some concern about “direct control implied.”

Park County School District 1 Superintendent Jay Curtis clarified with Paul that allowing lock boxes would mean the employee would carry the weapon concealed to their lock box and carry it out concealed at night. Leaving the weapon in the box overnight “would be in violation of the law that says it has to be basically within direct control.”

Paul also mentioned at the July meeting how the board had previously discussed language that would dictate the type of lock box an employee would need to purchase if they chose to go that route.

Curtis said rather than dictating the box they must purchase, they could have parameters the boxes must meet.

While the wording will likely be seen in a future draft of the policy, a second draft has not yet been published. 

The July draft outlined the definition of open carry and concealed carry and explicitly bans open carry. It also stipulated employees who wish to carry in property or facilities owned or leased by the district are subject to state and federal law as well as rules and regulations adopted by the board of trustees. 

Employees who fail to comply with laws, policies, rules, regulations or are negligent in handling firearms are subject to disciplinary action that could include termination.

Students are not allowed to carry on campus and are subject to disciplinary action that could include expulsion.

“I guess the thing that I would also just remind you of is that the nature of this policy is simply to allow the district the opportunity, should someone be irresponsible with the use of firearms on any of our campuses, we have the ability to do something about it,” Curtis said.

The wording is boilerplate to most policies involving employee infraction, he added.

“I think that this is pretty much just simple common sense,” Curtis said. “It doesn’t prevent [concealed carry] or provide any barriers to our people. It honors our employees rights in the same manner that our public has — this doesn’t take anything away from our employees.”