LITTLE ROCK (KATV) - The tragic deaths of 6 adults and 20 children in
the Connecticut school shooting last year has Arkansas lawmakers
questioning how safe our kids are during school. Monday afternoon, House
lawmakers voted to create a task force to explore safety in public
schools.
Since the horrific shooting, it's safe to say students, faculty and
even parents are a little more on edge and it has led to some false
alarms when reporting school intruders.
Earlier this month in Conway, a dad trying to drop of a backpack to his child ended up causing the school to go on lock down.
Just days ago, students saw a man walking around the Hope High School
campus with a gun. It ended up being someone lost, asking for
directions and he did not have a gun.
Those are just two of many false alarms cases this year.
At the podium on the House floor, Mark Lowery says, "This is an
attempt to make sure all the school districts are not reinventing the
wheel."
Lowery, a republican House member presented Senator Linda Chesterfields bill (SB 93)
to the house. It calls for the Senate and House committee on education
to conduct a study on public schools, staff, and policies to determine
their readiness and capabilities during an act of violence.
The Speaker of the House says "83 yays, 6 nays. You have passed the bill."
It now goes to Governor Beebe to be approved.
Lowery says, "My interest in it is to make sure that we don't over
reach. We want our public schools to be places the public feels invited.
They operate on tax dollars and we don't want to be putting up barb
wire. We don't want to be doing things were the public doesn't feel
invited."
Lowery says some plans in place are just not practical. "On the
university level, like at the U of A, the safety plan for students is to
throw your books at the shooter, climb under the desk. We know that is
not realistic."
Law enforcement and school leaders will be involved in the study.
The report has to be turned in to the education committees by
September of 2014. Lowery doesn't expect a blanket approach for all
schools; he says they want to identify best practices for districts to
consider.
