Story by Daniella Tebib, News Editor
Kentucky legislators introduced a new bill to combat and prevent future school shootings throughout the state.
Senate Bill 1, the School Safety and Resiliency Act, was introduced Jan. 9 on the Senate floor by Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville.
The bill was designed to strengthen safety and security in schools by adding more school resource officers and mental health counselors. There are four main sections of the bill: personnel, systems and structures, a culture of student connection, and accountability.
Wise was motivated to introduce the bill by the fatal school shooting at Marshall County High School on Jan. 23, 2018.
“One year ago this month, the fabric of our security, the security of our children, our grandchildren and our school districts, were torn apart with the deadly shooting on Jan. 23 at Marshall County High School,” Wise said on the Senate floor. “This was not the first school shooting in the Commonwealth, and I will not stand here and predict that the Marshall County tragedy will be the last, because unfortunately we live in a society where evil exists; an evil that no piece of legislation can truly prevent from happening.”
Wise and Rep. John Carney, R-Campbellsville, also co-chair a 16-member work group that is comprised of House and Senate members. Members visited many different groups involved in school safety around the state to develop this bill.
School safety is a common goal among Kentucky legislators, regardless of ideology, Wise said. It has become a bipartisan effort that is inclusive and comprehensive of different ideas on how to strengthen safety.
“There’s (sic) so many different opinions on what’s the best way to keep our students safe across the whole country, but these are best practices from different places,” Carney said.
Legislators want parents, students and constituents to know they are making this one of their main priorities.
“We had the unfortunate tragedy a year ago of Marshall County this month, but what we saw across the state… it’s a great place for children to go to school,” Wise said at a press conference on Jan. 9. “It’s a tough issue that we know there’s no magic legislation that’s going to protect everyone from evil that can occur, but we have to show the Commonwealth and those parents and everyone else, that we are taking this as a priority and doing the best job possible.”
Trent Lovett, superintendent of Marshall County Schools, said he is very pleased that legislators are making safety in schools a priority, but funding is necessary to make it happen.
“Ten years ago, if you would’ve asked any administrator in the state what they could do to make schools safer, they probably would’ve told you the exact same things that are on this framework of Senate Bill 1,” Lovett said. “But the funding wasn’t there then, and the funding is not there now… I just hope at some point in the near future, the funding can go along with it.”
The bill is currently assigned to the Senate Education Committee and is awaiting a committee
hearing.