State And Federal Administrations Address School Safety Concerns

Image Credit: Brian J. Matis / CC

The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –

In the weeks following the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, greater focus has been placed on school security.

Only 13 days after the shooting, on June 6, Governor Bill Lee issued an executive order which would increase safety in schools across Tennessee.

“We don’t want that to happen in Tennessee,” Governor Lee said in his announcement.

He went on to provide an explanation of the intention of the order.

“Primarily, what it does is pull together the departments of our state government that are connected to school safety. So, the Department of Safety, the Department of Education, and others like Emergency Management, to develop a plan,” he stated.

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Over the last few weeks, those departments have gathered information from school districts and local law enforcement agencies across the state and have held meetings to review that information.

“They have met every other week regularly,” Governor Lee said. “We are creating a plan that provides accountability, that provides transparency, so parents know what’s happening in the schools.”

News 2 asked Governor Lee if the public would have access to the findings and recommendations that came as a result of those meetings.

“In a couple of weeks, we’re going to have a first report that will primarily be about the numbers and what we have found,” Governor Lee answered. “This is a strategy to do an assessment to see exactly where we stand, what schools are actually implementing the practices, and then, we build from there.”

According to Lee, this order expands on a 2019 plan that landed a grant that added 213 more Student Resource Officers in Tennessee schools. He says that the state’s yearly contribution to safety funding was also doubled at that time to aid in building safety enhancements and violence intervention.

News 2 also reportedly asked Lee, “What actually is going to be implemented day one when kids walk into school?”

“We have spent a great deal of time around the state training law enforcement,” Lee replied. “We’ve also engaged our highway patrol with the local schools to know the superintendent, to know the principal, to know the particular school they’re associated with. We’re developing a strategy for random checks of things like locked doors so that we know that schools are in fact following the protocols that we’ve put into place.”

Lee acknowledged that, while they are making strides in safety improvements, this is not a job that will be quickly completed.

“This is something that we will never stop doing. We start with what we’ve done a couple of years ago. We accelerated this summer, but this is going to be a never-ending strategy toward making our schools safer and safer for our children.”

President Joe Biden also signed a new law this summer that would serve as an attempt to prevent violence across the country. 

The “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act” provides funding for several different initiatives aimed at creating more stringent background checks for firearms, increasing school safety, and enhancing mental health programs.

Those in favor of the bill say that it still protects Second Amendment rights for those citizens who follow the law, but others like Senator Marsha Blackburn, who voted against the bill, say it is an infringement on constitutional rights to bear arms.

Blackburn does agree that more needs to be done to increase school safety. She proposed an amendment to the new law that would allow veterans and law enforcement officers to be trained to be school safety officers.

“They have firearms training; they know how to deescalate situations. They want to be of help for protecting children in schools. I think this is a good workable solution,” Blackburn stated.

Opponents of the amendment argued that schools should be “gun-free zones.”

The new law does provide $1 billion to help schools create initiatives such as before and after school programs, which will help reduce instances of violence. Another $300 million is allocated for training and tools to help prevent and react to violence in schools.

“This would be a great use for this money. Allow these schools to put this into technology and security to make certain that our children are safe when they are at school and in these classrooms,” Blackburn said. 

Blackburn stated that she hopes the funding will be passed on to schools by the end of the year.

About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative  ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career.  Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others.  He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History.  Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com