Resident urges district to act on school security after recent shootings

Wayne Hartman, a resident who signed up for public comment, urged the Parkway School District Board of Education on Sept. 25 to take action on school security in the wake of recent shootings. Hartman told the board he has contacted state and local officials and said, "Let's get something going. There's a lot of ideas out there that can be done to get a security person in every school." He added that he needs numbers to move proposals forward and asked Mr. Todd, the board president, to call him with data. The comment came during the board's public-comment period near the start of the meeting. Hartman named several recent school shootings nationwide and said, "Every single time that this happens, it says, this should never have happened. Okay. What are you gonna do about it?" He described himself as "a voice of one" and urged the board—"you all are a voice of more"—to act. The board did not make a policy decision during the public-comment period and there was no motion or formal direction recorded on the transcript. Hartman specifically requested data and numbers from district staff; the transcript records him asking Mr. Todd for that follow-up. Board members did not respond with a formal action on the record in the meeting transcript. The request for data and the resident's ideas were presented to the board for future consideration; any staff follow-up or agenda-driven response would have to be confirmed in subsequent meetings or staff reports. The speaker: Wayne Hartman, a resident, spoke during the meeting's public-comment agenda item.