Updated

A rural school district in Ohio is drawing attention with its plans to arm a handful of its non-teaching employees with handguns this year — perhaps even janitors.

Officials say four employees in the Montpelier schools have agreed to take a weapons training course and carry their own guns inside the district's one building.

Superintendent Jamie Grime (GRIM) said Friday that "it's kind of a sign of the times."

The Toledo Blade reported that the employees were janitors. School officials would tell The Associated Press only that they were employees who don't directly supervise students and volunteered to carry a gun.

The move comes as districts and lawmakers across the nation weigh how to protect students following the December school massacre in Newtown, Conn.