In communities all across the country, one of the main topics of discussion has been school safety, and that includes communities in Tennessee.
After teh shooting in Parkland, Florida, Governor Haslam called on numerous school and safety officials, as well as lawmakers, to make sure Tennessee schools are as safe as possible.
“This is the highest priority right now," Tennessee Department of Education commissioner, Candice McQueen, said of school safety. "This is what we are discussing, we have been for multiple weeks, and we’re putting things together that actually have meaningful impact."
McQueen, along with David Purkey, Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security commissioner, were both involved in working with a group formed by the governor to address school safety. On Wednesday, the working group released recommendations that included hiring more School Resource Officers (SROs), as well as doing the first-ever security assessment of all 1,800 public schools in Tennessee to see what security measures need to be addressed at each individual school.
“I know that school systems are different, their priorities are different, their capacities are different, so I think what you’ll see in this is a vulnerability and assessment process that’ll be individualized for every system and every school, and then appropriate adjustments will be made from it," Purkey said.
The group is recommending $30 million be allocated to address immediate needs by the schools.
“There was strong consensus that we wanted to give maximum flexibility to the local systems to request what they need," Purkey explained.
In addition, the working group recommended using a phone app where people can anonymously report issues and concerns.
“That could be everything from someone is threatening to bring a gun to school the next day, to we have a bullying situation, and even some mental health challenges that we have around like suspecting suicide," McQueen explained.
The hope is all of the steps would improve school safety across the state.
The state legislature still needs to vote on the recommendations, which Governor Haslam endorsed. If they are approved, Haslam said he hopes to implement the steps by the beginning of the next school year.
