School Guardian Program: State security chief explains Utah’s newest approach to security and safety

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — With school starting next week, many Utahns may be wondering about the new School Guardian Program that is bringing armed personnel into schools to protect against active threats.

State Security Chief Matt Pennington, who oversees the new program, spoke with ABC4 about how it is being implemented, as well as explaining why he believes it will increase safety and security in Utah’s schools.

The School Guardian Program, introduced during the 2025 Utah Legislative Session, went into effect on May 7 of this year. This program was established as an update to the 2023 School Security Act, which created the position of state security chief and the School Security Task Force.

“The guardian program is really an armed personnel requirement, so everyone tends to focus on the guardian; however, there’s three options that the schools can utilize,” Pennington explained. “They can partner with a local law enforcement agency to provide a school resource officer, they could look into private armed security … Or they can go with the school guardian.”

Pennington explained that schools can choose whether to implement the school guardian program, but are required to have armed personnel in the school. They have the option to partner with law enforcement and bring in a school resource officer, contract with private armed security that will go through school guardian vetting and training, or have a current school employee volunteer to become a school guardian and go through that vetting and training process.

Utah State Law requires that any school employee who volunteers for the program does not include a principal, teacher, or any other employee who spends most of their time in a classroom interacting with children. The only exceptions to this rule are if the employee’s school has fewer than 350 students or the employee is at a school with adjacent campuses.

“The reality is in Utah, you’ve been able to carry a firearm with a concealed weapons permit for about 30 years now … So you’ve had schools with guns and employees carrying guns in a concealed manner for a long, long time,” Pennington stated. “The other reality is, when you look at data and planned attacks, on at least K through 12, it’s about 40% of the time in those instances, you have an adult trying to intervene in that attack.”

The school guardian must undergo an initial training, followed by biannual live-action simulations and annual firearm safety training as long as they serve in the position. They must also obtain a concealed carry permit, undergo a “fit to carry” assessment, and be certified by the county sheriff’s office.

“If you already have educators who are carrying a weapon, and you have educators who are willing to intervene, if or when an attack happens, why not train them and give them some tools and resources to do it more effectively?” Pennington said.

Schools across the state are working to become compliant with the new program. Pennington says that while there’s likely not 100% compliance yet, every county is working toward it. Roughly 300 school resource officers are already in schools, other schools have contracted with private security, and the remaining have an employee who is or is working toward becoming certified.

Although schools are working to comply with the School Guardian Program, Pennington stated that there have been some concerns and pushback from school districts.

“You have some [districts] that obviously have concerns when I start talking about, you know, a school employee being the armed response element, and that’s when we remind them that one, if that’s the only option they decide to go, they are gonna go through some ongoing training that’s required in the law,” Pennington explained. “But two, they don’t have to go with that option, they can certainly partner with a local agency and get a school resource officer, or they can contract out to private armed security.”

Despite some of those concerns, Pennington believes that this program will make schools safer, and the presence of state-certified armed personnel in schools will work as a final barrier against a worst-case scenario.

“What we do know when you talk about planned active attacks — we’re north of 600 post-Columbine now since the FBI started tracking it — is what tends to stop that attack is an armed confrontation,” Pennington explained. “Having the guardian in place for a rapid response element within the school to confront an attacker, what we do know again, looking at the data historically, is that the attacker tends to at least stop hurting innocent people and either focuses on whatever that confrontation is or oftentimes just stops altogether.”

As the state security chief, Pennington not only oversees the School Guardian Program, but also works alongside the State Security Task Force to identify threats to schools and try to prevent things before they happen.

Pennington shared that there is a lot of speculation and misinformation about school safety plans, but the School Guardian Program is intended as a final line of defense, and other projects and programs are working to prevent an active situation before it happens. Tips and threats are investigated by law enforcement and school officials daily, alongside support from behavioral assessment intervention teams.

“Just understand it’s a comprehensive approach. First and foremost, we would like to intervene ahead of time, so the Safe UT app has been really beneficial here in Utah,” Pennington stated. “Most of this legislation and what we’re doing from a physical standpoint, or the guardian or armed personnel requirement, is if the worst case scenario happens and somebody slips through the cracks … is that there is a quick response element to shut that down.”