GUILFORD COUNTY – County leaders set their focus Wednesday on stun gun policies and the cost of school safety.

Several Guilford County Board of Education members don’t want school resource officers to carry stun guns and several county commissioners say paying $2.9 million for the 39 assigned officers may be too much.

“We decided to continue using the officers this year, but that will be discussed again during the budget talks,” Amos Quick, school board vice chairman, said during a special joint meeting in Greensboro.

Those talks will start next week when law enforcement chiefs from High Point, Greensboro and Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes’ office meet with the school board.

“We want to have discussions about costs with these agencies and what we get for the money,” said Superintendent Mo Green. “We have no decision on what we will do.”

Stun guns disrupt the nervous system and cause muscles to contract. The 5-second, 50,000-volt shock causes a stunned person to “freeze up.” Local officers use the Taser stun gun. Some school board members say officers should use other methods to deal with bad behavior because the weapons can be lethal.

“Parents have asked us to do something,” said Sandra Alexander, an at-large school board member. “We are not in favor of using Tasers. Why is it necessary to move to a higher level of lethal weapon?”

Stun guns are safe when properly used in dangerous circumstances, Sheriff Barnes and High Point Police Chief Jim Fealy said during a panel discussion in High Point in September. Barnes said stun guns are safer than pepper spray.

High Point police officers have yet to fire a stun gun at a student, said school board member Carlvena Foster of High Point.

“The officers know the students and their problems,” she said.

“I have confidence in the training of these officers,” said Commissioner John Parks of High Point.

The state pays just one third of the annual salaries and equipment costs for each school resource officer.

“It could be cheaper to hire security guards who don’t have a police car. All the SROs have police cars assigned to them,” said Board of Commissioners Chairman Skip Alston.

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Tasers

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Incidents: Deputies have used stun guns at schools on four occasions in the past two years. A sheriff’s deputy used a Taser on a 15-year-old girl at Ragsdale High School last year 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 have not released her name.