Altoona, PA (WJAC) — The Altoona Area School District is setting the record straight, clarifying a possible new adaptation to a school policy.

School officials say they've heard concerns after other media outlets reported that the school district police officers may soon be equipped with AR-15 semi-automatic patrol rifles.

Officials are clarifying that the new adaptation would allow trained, Act 120 certified police officers in the school district to have access to the rifles in the case of an emergency.

These police officers must undergo full training before even being allowed to use the weapon.

The rifles would be stored away unless it is absolutely necessary to use them.

“They will not be carrying these around the building just ‘willy nilly.’ If there’s a situation that requires them to have this type of tool, they will have the availability to use it if there's some extreme situation that they have to have it”

The adoption to the policy is still in its 30-day review and the school board still has to finalize the policy before it even shows up on the agenda.

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