The Weston County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees discussed a proposed policy to govern employees carrying concealed firearms on school property, but took no final action and directed staff and legal counsel to draft a district-specific policy for further review.

The discussion centered on liability and insurance: legal counsel told trustees that, as written, the district’s umbrella insurance will not cover employee-carried firearms unless a named individual is listed on an insurance rider. "The only way to cover it is with the rider, and we have to have a name on that," said Abby, the board’s legal counsel. She told the board that a policy requiring employees who plan to carry to register with the superintendent would enable the district to provide the rider the insurer requires.

Board members debated how prescriptive the policy should be and what it should require. Superintendent Brad LaCroix and several trustees said they favored a narrowly written policy that would require disclosure for insurance purposes but avoid extensive additional requirements that could open the district to litigation. "I think a simple policy saying you have to follow what's set forth in state statute. You need to disclose to x, y, and z that you are carrying a concealed weapon, so we can provide liability insurance," Abby said. Some trustees favored including training, lockbox requirements and other safeguards; others warned that highly detailed requirements — for example mandatory psychological evaluations — could invite legal challenges and would be difficult to administer.

Trustees discussed training, testing and scope. The draft policy the board reviewed (copied from another district) included an initial training requirement of at least 32 hours of live-fire handgun training plus 24 hours of scenario-based training using nonlethal training firearms, with at least 24 hours of annual refresher training. That training language prompted repeated questions about feasibility and whether nonlethal alternatives should be treated differently. "If you leave it one policy, I think that covers you a little bit better than...splitting it," Trustee Billy said, arguing for a single policy covering both lethal and less-than-lethal options. Trustee Tyler and others cautioned that adding nonlethal options can complicate future use-of-force liability.

There was also concern about confidentiality and operational detail: some trustees worried about how to store or protect the names of employees who register, and whether a failure to report would be grounds for discipline. The board discussed potential drug-testing requirements and the legal and practical limits of imposing psychological testing.

Rather than adopt a policy, trustees set a process. Legal counsel said she would circulate the Wyoming School Boards Association draft policy she had forwarded and a shorter policy drafted by Gillette that the board had reviewed. The board asked that members send suggested edits to the superintendent and counsel by June 27; the matter will be revisited at the July 16 board meeting. The chair asked staff to prepare a digest of the relevant statute material (members mentioned reviewing Wyoming statute "21-3-1_26 through 1_31" in committee).

No formal ordinance or rule was adopted at the meeting; the board's direction was limited to reviewing comparative drafts and returning with edits and questions. Trustees emphasized they were split on whether to adopt a policy at all and that the primary near-term goal was to identify what the district’s insurer would require to provide an individual rider for liability coverage.

The board’s next meeting is scheduled for July 16, when the item will appear again for discussion. Legal counsel said she also would obtain comparable policies from similarly sized districts and a WSBA draft for the board’s review.

Ending: The board left the question open and assigned follow-up: legal counsel and the superintendent will produce a draft and statutory summary, trustees will submit edits by June 27, and the item will be relisted for discussion on July 16.