GUILFORD COUNTY – High Pointer Carlvena Foster sided Thursday with several Guilford County Board of Education members who want a review process for stun-gun incidents.

A sheriff’s deputy used a Taser stun gun on a 15-year-old girl recently at Ragsdale High School. The school resource officer used the weapon on the girl after she threatened two faculty members and assaulted the officer, according to the Guilford County Sheriff’s office. Because the girl is a minor, authorities haven’t released her name.

“We should evaluate the use of Tasers in our schools. There have been plenty of fights at Andrews High, and no students have been tased,” Foster said. “A lot of this goes to the skills of the officers. They should have negotiation skills.”

Officers at several schools in High Point don’t use stun guns, Foster said. SROs are assigned to almost all district high schools and many middle schools.

Stun guns disrupt the nervous system and cause muscles to contract. The five-second, 50,000-volt shock causes a stunned person to “freeze up.”

Board member Deena Hayes offered a motion to create a school board review process that could follow an internal police incident review.

“I don’t feel comfortable with police policing themselves,” Hayes said.

The board delayed action on the motion after Hayes said she wanted to research the issue and review possible committee subpoena powers.

Board member Garth Hebert of High Point suggested that strict reviews could deter experienced officers from taking SRO jobs because they could twice risk losing their jobs following a stun-gun incident.

“Fewer officers will want to do the job and less qualified officers will take them and we’ll have more problems,” Hebert said.

Board member Darlene Garrett suggested training school counseling staff to handle heated situations.

“Tasers are a death risk,” Garrett said. “We should train our counselors on how to de-escalate these situations.”

Amos Quick, board vice chairman, also said he is against officers using stun guns.

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