In response to the recent shooting at a school in Nashville, Oregon, lawmakers are discussing how to better protect students from active shooters.
A threat assessment program is one way that has been thought of.
On Wednesday, 29 March 2023, lawmakers from both sides of the House said they favored a bill that would tell the Oregon Department of Education to investigate whether the Salem-Keizer threat assessment program could be used in all Oregon school districts.
Salem-Keizer Public Schools made the program more than 20 years ago to stop shootings on campus.
Using a team of school psychologists, law enforcement officers, and people from the community, the program teaches people how to quickly spot when a student is acting in a way that could be dangerous and how to stop them before they do something violent.
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The study is based on what other students, staff, and community members say about any student who wants to hurt others in person, in writing, or on social media.
Bill 3348 is being put forward by Representative Jeff Helfrich. He says school safety is important because he attended Columbine High School.
“If there had been an early and often intervention, we may have had different outcomes,” he said.
Helfrich asked for a change to the bill on Wednesday so that it could be combined with two other school safety bills:
- House Bill 3350 – Direct the Department of Education to identify cost and funding sources to improve school safety
- House Bill 3261 – Direct the Department of Education to identify a secure point of entry for each public school
The bills have support from both parties. Representative Ricki Ruiz, a Democrat, testified with Helfrich on Wednesday.
“We just feel that these two bills do go hand in hand and I urge this committee to please consider this amendment and support this legislation,” he said.
Source- katu.com