CHAMPAIGN (AP) – School officials in a central Illinois town are considering training a handful of administrators as auxiliary police officers and letting them carry concealed handguns at the local high school.

The idea being considered at Washington Community High School is, like many campus-safety plans being discussed nationwide, a response to the December shootings that killed 20 children and six educators at an elementary school in Sandy Hook, Conn.

But it’s illegal in Illinois to carry concealed weapons, so the proposal suggests a way around the law: Making a few administrators part of the police force, Washington police Chief Jim Kuchenbecker said.