Five weeks after the tragic fatal
shooting at a Florida high school, North Carolina lawmakers gathered Wednesday
for the first convening of the Select Committee on School Safety. Their
initial focus was to review existing resources available and safety-related measures
already under way in our public
education system. They will use this information as a baseline to
possibly begin devising legislation and appropriations that can help to improve
security at schools across the state.
House Speaker Tim Moore appointed the House Select Committee on School Safety only days
after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. On
Wednesday, he told committee members their task is a difficult but vital
one. "Threats to our schools are an appalling reality that we have
to confront," Moore said. "You in this committee are being tasked
with making decisions on behalf of the children who might feel scared to go to
school. Students are asking their loved ones if they're safe — if their classrooms are a place that they can learn and be free
of fear. We owe it to our students in North Carolina to make schools a space
where students and educators can excel and not have to worry about other
matters."
State Superintendent Mark Johnson also
addressed the committee before formal presentations began. “We owe it to every
student to have the opportunity to go to school, work hard and succeed,” said
Superintendent Johnson. “Part of that is also making sure that when they go to
school, they go to a safe, welcoming environment.” Local and state law
enforcement and government officials spent much of the morning updating lawmakers
on efforts already in place to make schools safer, such as panic buttons in
school offices, law enforcement having access
to school floor plans, and implementation of a school safety system that
enables students to send anonymous tips about school safety concerns from an
app they download on their mobile devices.
"Keeping schools safe is not a one-size-fits-all proposition," said
Kym Martin, executive director of the North Carolina Center
for Safer Schools, which was created in the wake of the December
2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. "There's
not one single measure you can put into place that will magically transform a
school into the sanctuary for learning that our students deserve."
Elliott Smith, acting special agent in charge of the State Bureau of Investigation,
said a gun safety group has reported that a school shooting has occurred on
average once a week, across the U.S. in the past five years. On Tuesday, a high
school student in Maryland allegedly shot two of his classmates before
exchanging gunfire with a school resource officer that
ultimately resulted in a fatal shooting of the gunman. Bomb threats Tuesday
locked down some schools in Wake Forest and also led to an evacuation at
Halifax Community College.
Jim Deni, a psychology professor at Appalachian State University and president of the North
Carolina School Psychologists Association, told lawmakers they need to provide
more mental health support, noting that about 20 percent of people have mental
health problems and that school counselors and psychologists are overwhelmed. "We
have to have a balanced approach between psychological safety and physical
safety," Deni said.
Legislators heard from students such as Riley Barnes, Clayton High School's junior class president, who asked
for more support for the SPK UP NC app, which has been piloted in some NC school
districts. The app allows students to anonymously report school safety
concerns. Barnes told
lawmakers "to take the necessary measures to ensure the safety that my
peers and I are entitled to. It is an undeniable fundamental right that
precautions are taken to ensure that I do not go through my school days in
fear," Barnes said. "My high school career should be spent worrying
about the SAT, college applications and what prom dress color I want and
juggling my AP
classes."
The committee ended the meeting by compiling a list of ideas it should study further,
including allowing armed security guards who aren't police officers at schools,
reviewing the mental health system and a statewide rollout of an anonymous
student tip line app. The next committee meeting has not yet been
scheduled; however, future meetings will be reflected on this General Assembly web
page.
A link to the committee website and materials from this week’s presentations can be found here.
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