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CODY — The Cody School District is one vote away from a policy allowing qualified and vetted employees to carry firearms in school buildings.

At Tuesday night’s board meeting trustees voted 5-2 to move Policy CKA to a third and final reading. The final vote will likely come at the April board meeting.

As in the first reading, trustees Stefanie Bell and Tom Keegan were the lone no votes. Before voting no Bell proposed a major change to the policy which would’ve restricted it to noninstructional, contracted employees in the district and all employees at the rural schools.

It would have encapsulated just 36 people, far less than is covered under the policy as written, which allows any contracted employee, including teachers, to apply along with all rural school staff.

That amendment failed 4-3, with chair Kelly Simone joining with Bell and Keegan in voting for it.

After that vote failed, another amendment by Bell to look into more school resource officer funding was moved to a future discussion where trustees were supportive of setting up a task force to dive into the issue.

Then trustees moved the lightly-edited policy to a third reading.

“My first duty is safety. In loco parentis is something teachers take very seriously, and Policy CKA is a very good tool for that,” trustee Scott Weber said as he voiced his support.

Weber has been strongly in favor of the policy from the beginning, along with trustee William Struemke, but others were more conflicted. Simone and trustee Jenni Rosencranse specifically talked about wrestling with the issue for months.

“I would fully support the school resource officers, that would be my preference, but I understand funding is an issue,” Simone said. “And until that funding mechanism becomes feasible and sustainable, I’m going to support permitting concealed carry for a select group of scrutinized and vetted volunteers to provide means for protection and defense of innocent life.”

While Bell again spoke to her preference for the policy mostly for the rural schools, Keegan came out strongly against the policy period.

“I don’t think more guns will make us safer,” he said. “Until we talk about gun control we’re not looking at the real problem. This is just further proliferation of guns.”

After a barrage of public comments at the last meeting, just four community members spoke during the discussion period Tuesday.

Woody Wilkerson thanked the trustees for working on the policy.

“You’ve made a great policy that will address this in a safe and responsible manner, and it’s time to pass it,” he said.

Rebecca Patrick said the community was united in working toward safety, only some had different preferred methods.

“I ask that you please vote no, but I appreciate the sentiments of those for this,” she said.

In addition to public comments, trustees also acknowledged receipt of a petition in favor of the policy carrying the signatures of 661 Cody residents.

Local group Wyoming Rising-Northwest spearheaded creation of a petition with 368 signatures in opposition to the policy which was delivered at February’s board meeting.

A scientific school district survey showed the community heavily in favor of the policy.

Policy CKA was initially written in the fall under the direction of school board counsel Scott Kolpitcke but has been heavily amended over the months. It was made possible by the Legislature’s vote during the 2017 session to approve a bill allowing districts to choose whether or not they wanted to allow concealed carry under certain conditions, including a minimum 24 hours of initial training.

Nearly every meeting since the fall has included discussion of the policy and many work sessions have gone long into the night with trustees working through specific language. Trustees have also discussed specifics with Cody Police chief Chuck Baker and Park County Sheriff Scott Steward on multiple occasions.

At its core, the policy and regulations allow employees under contract with the school district, i.e. teachers, administrators – along with classified employees at the rural schools with board discretion – to carry a concealable firearm on school property if they can pass background checks, a psychological suitability exam and 24 hours of initial training, among other steps.

The policy was initially scheduled to have its first reading in January, but that vote was delayed to February, at which point trustees voted 5-2 to pass it to second reading.

Earlier this month Uinta County, drawing from Cody’s policy, became the first district in the state to approve a policy allowing school personnel to concealed carry.