Schools can't go it alone on Safety

The Uvalde, Texas school shooting is yet another reminder of our worst fears. Sadly, schools are not the only place that our children are at risk. There was a time when going to school, riding your bike, going to the corner store, or walking to a friend's house was pretty much 100% safe. That's not always the case today. Schools are the lifeblood of the community, supporting it's heart - the home. If both are not safe...then the community is at increased risk.

The recently signed bipartisan gun control law was a small step towards a bigger conversation. The funds for school safety are a welcome resource as well. If we are really to make great strides in ensuring safety at our schools, however, we cannot expect schools to go at this alone and be expected to solve the many issues that lead to violence, bullying, or even impacts from other hazards, in these halls of learning. Teachers and administrators are educators and that should be their focus if we want to make the needed strides in improving our Nation's education system. Studies show that students learn better if they feel safe in their school environment.

As a former local official and emergency management official, school safety issues have always fascinated me. "Back in the day" we didn't always seem to pay attention to the importance of safe schools, so in 2006 I worked with then Director of the MA Emergency Management Agency, Cristine McCombs, to bring in school safety experts to discuss hazards that could affect schools, with our local emergency managers, and we discussed how to improve safety at schools.

As a result of those conversations, I developed a proposal for a critical need back 16 years ago and still is today in my opinion, to address the resource gaps for schools in pushing for school safety: Regional School Safety Councils that could provide expertise on the many complex issues facing schools in ensuring the safety of students, teachers and other staff.

Made up of not only police, fire and emergency management officials, but also public health and mental health experts, school officials, teachers, students and architects, the councils would be a resource for schools on issues from A to Z. From the moment a school is designed, to the development of school safety plans, to how you handle students in crisis, schools would have experts to turn to and help them navigate the complexities of difficult issues. Designing schools that are safe learning environments is critical and can require convincing, as I found out during my tenure on a school building committee. Developing policies that engage communities to support learning at the school needs champions. Help with diffusing complex student issues such as mental health crisis' is not a skill educators should be expected to have. These expert councils could be a guide on these issues to integrate the needed resources often unavailable to many schools struggling with resource constraints.

Schools can't go it alone. They need support, and families often need support, on many issues facing kids today. With support and resources like those provided by these councils, there is no doubt in my mind we head off some of these violent incidents as well as make schools safer from a variety of hazards.

While the regional school safety councils didn't get support it needed back in 2010-11, and it was not long after that the horrible Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, CT happened, the State of CT did pass legislation that included elements of the regional council concept and it's provision of resources. MA State Representative Kate Hogan also worked with me in 2013 on legislation to form the councils, and although that was not acted on, her work on school safety helped lead to a 2014 MA school safety task force that recognized elements of the regional council framework, and recommended funding to establish state-level School Safety Technical Assistance Teams that could support schools, and led to later school safety efforts.

Still, funding regional councils of experts rather than state or even federal commissions, to work with local and regional school districts would be a big improvement for communities across the Nation. Building that relationship at the regional and local level is crucial. We have school committees, arts councils, town councils, planning commissions, even county government, that span many jurisdictions. School safety is deserving of it's own focused set of experts who can help schools work through complex issues and stop a problem before it happens. Schools can't go it alone and hopefully these new series of legislative actions at the federal level will help ensure that they don't have to. Let's give schools, teachers and students the tools they need to learn in a safe environment and help the kids that need help so all students have a chance to thrive in our schools.