Columbiana Career Center Authorizes First Armed Instructor

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the number of responses from school superintendents.

LISBON, Ohio – After 12 students were killed by two gunmen at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999, methods have been sought by school districts to protect students and personnel.

Among the actions taken was passage in 2022 of Ohio House Bill 99, which allows for school personnel to be armed, with board of education approval. 

To that end, the Columbiana County Career and Technical Center Board of Education last week voted unanimously to allow one or more school employees to be armed while on the job, and authorized Damin Beadnell, a criminal justice instructor, as its first armed instructor.

Beadnell began carrying his firearm to class Friday, after an official notice of the board’s decision was announced in local newspaper classified ads as required by law.

Superintendent Jeremy Corbisello said although the career center has worked well with its school resource officer, Columbiana County Deputy Sheriff Bill McGee, since 2017, the sheriff’s department is short-staffed and McGee has had to take time off for other duties, which has left the school unprotected.

“That’s always worried me,” Corbisello admitted.

When Beadnell was hired as the center’s criminal justice instructor this year, Corbisello said, “I thought this might work out two-fold for us.”

Beadnell has been a police officer since 2015, having served with the sheriff’s department since 2018, including as its K-9 handler from 2019-2022 with his partner, Hunter, a 7-year-old Belgian malinois who is now retired.

When hired as the criminal justice instructor, Beadnell continued his law enforcement commission with the sheriff’s department as a special deputy, and Corbisello brought up the idea to the school board of allowing him to be an armed instructor.

Working with Beadnell, Sheriff Brian McLaughlin and the Ohio School Safety Center for guidance, Corbisello said a plan was devised and put before the board.

The Ohio School Safety Center was created in 2019 and is responsible for assisting school districts in preventing, preparing for and responding to threats and acts of violence.

“The board 100 percent supported it. I brought Damin to the board meeting. He’s very level-headed; he’s got a lot of experience with the sheriff’s office,” Corbisello said, adding that he is not necessarily a proponent of having just any staff member carrying a weapon in class.

He expressed reluctance in asking staff members to make a split-second decision on using a firearm to protect their students, saying that Beadnell has had training they have not. 

Corbisello said it “made sense” to move forward with Beadnell due to his background.

“We put a lot of thought into everything we did,” he emphasized.

A week before receiving approval to carry his weapon in class, Beadnell spoke with his students, telling them what was in the works and why.

“A hundred percent of the students were in favor, and most were surprised it hadn’t been done before. Most students already know I’m a police officer,” Beadnell said, adding that none of the students expressed concern or fear about him being armed in class.

His weapon is housed in a special law enforcement holster, and he has had holster retention training, both of which lessen the likelihood of someone gaining access to the weapon.

Both Corbisello and Beadnell said they have heard no opposition from parents regarding the decision.

Asked if he feels safer with his weapon available, Beadnell said, “Absolutely, but it’s more for the students and other staff than for me.”

Neither Beadnell nor Corbisello knew if any of the 11 public schools in Columbiana County have armed instructors in their classrooms, nor did the county’s Educational Service Center, which provided a list of schools and superintendent contact numbers.

Calls and messages to the superintendents in each of the districts remained unanswered except for five.

Of those, four superintendents said they do not have armed instructors, and one declined to answer, saying he wanted to protect his students and did not want that information shared. 

All five superintendents said they have school resource officers on duty.

Pictured at top: Damin Beadnell, a criminal justice instructor at Columbiana County Career and Technical Center, has become the first armed instructor in the center’s history. He is shown here with his retired K-9 partner, Hunter, who accompanies him to class each day.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.