Cherokee schools to train 45 staff on gunsCost expected to exceed $20,000

As many as 45 Cherokee School District staff will undergo firearms training at a facility this summer. 

The Cherokee School Board on Monday authorized the staff members to undergo the training administered by Petersen Firearms Training near the Iowa Great Lakes. 

Under the terms of the vote, the district agreed to pay $1,000 per day to rent a building in Fostoria and train groups of 12 staff members for five days each. If all 45 members who want to carry firearms on school grounds do participate, the district will incur $20,000 in costs, not including the rental of the Fostoria facility and the concealed carry permit classes. 

Supt. Kim Lingenfelter told the school board she was unsure what the training would cost because she was not certain whether all 45 school board members would complete their concealed carry training since a permit is required to be admitted to the training program. Lingenfelter declined to speculate when asked by board member Angie Anderson for a cost estimate the school district could ultimately bear.

“Depends on how many return permits because that’s not mandatory,” Lingenfelter told Anderson. “They attended the informational session. Are they ready to take the next step? I don’t know how many will.”

Without publicly discussing Petersen’s fees, the board voted 5-0 to authorize up to 45 staff members to undergo the training. (Lingenfelter was later able to specify the firearm trainer’s rates in an email to the Cherokee Chronicle Times.)

The amount of staff wanting to carry weapons is believed to be the highest in the region — and possibly all of Iowa. The only other school district in a 100-mile radius to approve weapons training for staff was Spirit Lake, which authorized 15 staff members to carry weapons on school grounds. Lingenfelter said last month that an additional 15 staff members expressed interest in firearms training after listening to information sessions in Cherokee presented by Ed Monk, a mass shooting researcher and firearms trainer from Arka-nsas. 

It is not clear what training the Cherokee School District staff members will receive during the five scheduled days. The district has declined to specify what the training would entail.

In November, Lingenfelter said interested staff would submit to a 40-hour training program and a psychological evaluation that would be reviewed by an oversight committee. Petersen has declined to discuss the particulars of its program.