Two months after Omaha Public Schools got police to stop carrying electric shock gloves in its buildings, the neighboring Millard Public Schools district has decided to keep them, CNN reported. Parents there are pushing back.
"The kids there are scared," said Katy Eilers, whose 16-year-old son attends Millard North High School. Her son has a heart defect and autism, and she worries a shock could hurt him.
Millard Superintendent John Schwartz declined CNN's request for an interview. In a public statement, the district argued that taking the tool away could put students, staff, and officers at greater risk of injury. Rachel Murphy, the mother of a seventh grader, said leaders made their position clear at a September school board meeting. "They basically said, 'I know some of you are interested in talking about this. Here's our stance: We're keeping them,'" she told CNN. The three mothers CNN spoke with said Millard did not tell families about the gloves until after the controversy in Omaha.
Officers in the Omaha area have used the gloves on students at least five times since 2022, according to CNN. Bellevue police reported three shocks, all at Bellevue East High School, in January 2023, April 2023, and January 2025. Omaha police used them twice in 2026: first at South High School in January, then in May on a middle schooler in a program for children with special needs. Bellevue police, who have carried the gloves for more than four years, refused when Omaha's superintendent asked them to stop.
The devices are called G.L.O.V.E.s, short for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, and are made by Kentucky-based Compliant Technologies. The company says the maximum shock is 380 volts, and its manual advises against using them on "small children," CNN reported. Chief executive Jeff Niklaus called the gloves "safe and effective" and said they are "tested for 35 pounds and up." "We have a high success rate and a low injury rate," said John Stuck, a Bellevue police captain who trains officers on them. CNN also reported that California has banned the gloves.
Millard had 23,253 students in 36 schools in 2024-25, according to federal data. Omaha Public Schools had 52,524 students in 112 schools. Three of the six seats on Millard's school board are on the ballot in November, and parents told CNN they plan to keep raising the issue.
Three advocacy groups, Voices for Children in Nebraska, Education Rights Counsel, and the ACLU of Nebraska, urged families in August to ask their districts about use-of-force policies and agreements with police. "Children should not be subjected to electric shock as a tool for school discipline," the groups said in a joint statement. allk12 covered Omaha's decision in August, in Nebraska's largest school district bans police from using shock gloves on students, and explains the role of school resource officers separately.
Sources
CNN: Electric shock gloves were used on students. Now Nebraska parents want them out of schools (October 23, 2026)
KVIA (CNN Newsource): Moms try to get electric shock gloves out of their kids' schools
Voices for Children in Nebraska, Education Rights Counsel, and ACLU of Nebraska: Joint statement on use of electrified gloves in schools (August 17, 2026)
Enrollment from allk12's analysis of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data, 2024-25.
