I want to hear from you!
I am introducing legislation to address student safety in
our state. This Wednesday, I will be holding a news conference with
stakeholders to discuss the Student
Safety and Protection Act. It is a simple concept that will make our
students safer, tomorrow!
My legislation is not a mandate to arm teachers. It simply gives
grant funding to school districts that choose to participate. They can send any
interested staff to be trained to respond to an active shooter threat. The
training could include de-escalation, firearms training, and psychological
evaluation. Again, this is completely voluntary, but when seconds matter,
having an armed and trained staff on campus can make all the difference.
I am proposing that we provide funding to the Criminal
Justice Training Commission, the organization that trains our police, to
develop a voluntary program to train teachers and administrators to protect our
students. There are already schools in Washington that are doing this at their
own expense.
We protect our banks, politicians and celebrities with guns,
but we put up a "gun free zone" sign on school grounds to “protect”
our students. That is unacceptable.
I want to hear from you. If you are a teacher, administrator
or school staff, or know someone who is, please have them call my
office at (360) 786-7660. Leave me a voice mail or send me an audio
file with your thoughts. You can remain anonymous if you'd like, but I'd like
to share these with the media at our news conference.
STAY CONNECTED!
Due to election year restrictions, I will be limited in how I can communicate with you about what is going on in Olympia. Please be sure to subscribe to my newsletter if you already haven't. You can also unsubscribe at anytime by clicking here. Feel free to share this with others that live in our district.
It's an honor to serve as your state Senator. Please don't hesitate to reach out to my office with any questions or concerns about your state government.
Sincerely,
Phil Fortunato,
Your 31st District State Senator
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