Students across Utah recently went back to school for the fall semester. Whether they knew it or not, many of them returned to hallways patrolled by a new kind of security.
The School Guardian Program, implemented for the first time this year under House Bill 84, requires an armed guardian to be present in every public school while students are in the building.
These guardians are anonymous to students, teachers, and parents. Their identities are known only to select school administrators and law enforcement, and the law goes as far as keeping their identities off public records, meaning their names and participation cannot be released under Utah’s Government Records Access and Management Act.
During a House floor debate for the bill, Rep. Ryan Wilcox, the bill’s sponsor, described the program as a proactive state effort to keep students safe at school.
“Let us not kid ourselves," he said, "in the event of a disaster with someone targeting one of our schools — our most innocent constituents — it's about the gap time. Even in a best-case scenario, you're talking several minutes before somebody can be there to intervene.”
Wilcox stressed that guardians would be activated only in an emergency.
“Otherwise nobody knows they're there," he said. "They are only activated when someone decides to attack our children at the school. The rest of the time, they are just doing their regular jobs.”
Steve Dunham, the director of communications for the Washington County School District, said guardians are chosen from staff who are already present during the school day, although teachers, principals, and other educational staff are excluded.
“They already have responsibilities," he explained, "either for the students in their classroom or the building as a whole.”
The guardians volunteer for the role and receive a one-time $500 stipend, Dunham said. He added that teachers can also participate in similar training and become “educational protectors,” though they are not given the official title or responsibilities of guardians.
Emma Bracken, a senior at Logan High School, said she finds it comforting that the guardians are people she knows, even if she doesn’t get to know their identities.
But while she thinks the program isn’t a bad idea, she can't help wondering, "Why not just add policemen instead that have already been trained?” Especially, she points out, when her school already has “policemen.”
What Bracken was referring to are School Resource Officers (SROs), sworn law enforcement officers who are assigned to work in schools. Dunham explained that an SRO isn’t always stationed at every school.
In some cases, one officer has to cover multiple campuses, which means traveling between them. He said guardians help fill that gap by ensuring someone is always on-site and trained to respond to an armed threat.
While students like Bracken see the program as a potential reassurance, some teachers have questioned its effectiveness.
One Canyons School District teacher, who asked not to be named out of concern for her job, shared that her school had to ask multiple times for volunteers to fill its guardian program.
“Putting this role on someone who is reluctantly doing it is dangerous," she said. "The staff… shouldn’t feel the need to potentially risk their life just to have their school be in compliance with Utah state law."
She shared that while she had grown up using guns for hunting and recreation, the frequency of mass shootings in recent years has made her less comfortable around them — and more skeptical.
“I do not think that the school guardian program will be effective,” she said.
To comply with the anonymity requirement, the Washington County School District agreed to provide a written statement from one of its guardians, who described training with Sergeant Killpack of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department as “rigorous, intentional, and highly rewarding.”
The guardian said the training included classroom instruction, a fit-to-carry assessment, firearm training, shooting qualification, both practical and scenario-based training, and state certification.
“Importantly," the guardian said, "the training does not end with the start of the school year but will continue throughout the year.”
Still, the responsibility weighs heavily.
“I want our community to understand that volunteering to serve as a school guardian was not a decision made lightly. This program has been implemented with great care and thoughtful planning," the guardian said. "More than anything, I hope guardians will never need to use their weapon, but their presence offers an important layer of protection and peace of mind for our entire school community.”
But for students like Sadie Jackson, a senior at Green Canyon High School, who has never handled a gun herself, the program provides anything but peace of mind.
Her stance is simple: “Guns shouldn’t be in schools.”
And to that, Dunham said, “There have already been armed staff around them, and they may not have known... The whole idea is that their day will continue as normal.”
