Kingsburg High School is just east of the town’s center, where Swedish flags line the streets and business owners draw on the area’s Scandinavian heritage. You can order Swedish pancakes with lingonberry jam at a local cafe or stroll through a shop filled with Swedish handicrafts and candy.

It’s a quaint place: Church bells ring in the distance and the town’s water tower is designed to look like an antique Swedish coffee pot. There’s not a lot of crime in this Fresno County town. But in light of the country’s recent mass shootings, many people here support a policy to arm school employees in the name of public safety.

“I’ll be honest, at first I had no idea it was even a possibility,” says Randy Morris, superintendent of Kingsburg Joint Union High School District. “But we delved into the legal component, and it became a reality.”

He says most folks are surprised to hear that California allows school employees with CCW gun permits to carry concealed weapons as long as there’s a written policy in place.

“They probably wouldn’t be as surprised in a state like Texas, but in California, they’re a little surprised that it is a possibility,” Morris says.

The school board votes on the policy April 11. It was created based on recommendations from various entities, including the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and the Kingsburg Police Department. The policy allows for up to five employees with gun permits to carry concealed weapons in holsters. They’ll be trained, Morris says, and anonymous.

“This isn’t the wild, Wild West,” he says. “We just want to protect children.”

He says he feels good about the policy because he’s the one in charge. He’ll decide which employees carry guns based on several criteria, including evaluations, discipline records and an interview with him.

“I can tell you, I’m not out there recruiting folks right now, but I have had folks come to me and say ‘Hey, Mr. Morris, if this becomes a reality, I am interested in the process.’ ”

Morris says there wasn’t a particular incident that prompted the school board to create a policy, just a concern that there weren’t enough measures in place to keep children safe.

“In the severe case, God forbid, that something happen where our kids or staff are in grave danger, the response time would need to be immediate,” Morris says.

The high school’s campus is open. Unlike many Central Valley high schools, there are no gates or fences. At lunchtime, students on their way to a pizza parlor talk about the policy.

“It could [make it] safer,” one student says. Another asks, “But what if at the same time, someone jacks the gun?” "What if like the teacher loses it?” another student asks. “What if the teacher shoots someone by accident?”

Parent Michele Lopez voiced similar concerns.

“We don’t know what kind of temper that teacher has,” she says. “So that’s really what my biggest fear is. I don’t know how they’re gonna react when they pull the gun out.”

She says she was surprised when the district introduced the idea. “There’s hardly ever any crime here,” she says.

But the district’s five school board members are all for it, as are plenty of parents, like Olga Frandsen.

“It’s not a gated high school so anybody can walk on campus and cause a threat. For the safety, I believe it’s a good thing,” she says. “You watch the news, there’s a lot of bad stuff happening around the world.”

At a downtown Christian coffee shop called Common Ground, manager Lori Querin gives the idea two thumbs up. She says teachers are defenseless without weapons. “By the time you get a broomstick to whack a guy or try to tackle him, he’s already shot you,” she says.

In fact, there’s enough support in this small conservative town that faculty who are against the gun policy are afraid to speak to the media. One teacher says the school is pretty much split down the middle on the policy, but those who are against it don’t want to jeopardize their jobs by speaking out.

Teachers say they found out about the policy only after the school board introduced it and it was covered by the press.

At least one other California school district has a written gun policy. Folsom-Cordova Unified School District in Sacramento allows a few staff with gun permits to bring the guns on campus. However, those guns are stored in a locked gun vault; teachers don’t wear them in a concealed holster in the classroom. The district has about 20,000 students. Kingsburg High has about 1,200 students.

A new state law, Senate Bill 707, prohibits concealed carry weapons on campus unless the superintendent gives written permission.