A Louisiana legislative youth program joins the fight in endorsing the School Safety Act
Active shooter incidents are on the rise in schools across America, Since Columbine in 1999, more than 338,000 students in the United States have experienced gun violence at school, according to the Sandy Hook Promise campaign.
In response, Louisiana state Sen. Barry Milligan introduced the School Safety Act of 2023 with the help of the The Legislative Youth Advisory Council. The bill creates a crisis management and response plan to address school safety in the event of a shooting. It aims to create an effective way to respond while ensuring the safety and security of every student, teacher and school employee.
Senate Bill 207 also adds additional school safety drills during high-traffic times, such as lunch or breaks between classes. It would put a bleed kit in every school and would establish the Center for Safe Schools. The Center for Safe Schools would be a central point of contact for all needs, including training grants, and resources to prepare for an active-shooter incident. There is also a requirement that schools use a panic emergency button and an anonymous reporting app for students.
The Legislative Youth Advisory Council in Louisiana joined the effort to pass the bill with its own contributions. LYAC was established by state law and is composed entirely of high school students between the ages of 14 and 19 who are interested in representing the voices of young people across the state. It is intended to open the line of communication between youth and the legislature and gives students the opportunity to be involved in the workings of government.
Milligan participates with LYAC every year to study bill ideas and how the government works. Every year they bring ideas for legislation and present them. In a hearing Tuesday, Milligan said, "As any normal high school kid, they should be focused on graduation, the next step, prom, or homecoming, but they are concerned about their schools safety, and it's a sad day when you have high school students with this bill idea because this is what they are worried about."
A graduate from Lafayette high school, and member of LYAC, Sidha recalled a week when three lockdowns occurred during passing periods due to active shooter threats.
"Our intercom system doesn’t work that well at Lafayette High, and during the time of the lockdown, half of us were just eating lunch not knowing what was going on," Sidha said. "Eventually, kids were being ushered into classrooms because there was no plan in place due to a potential active shooter threat. We were even searched by officers without any warning, and this happened three times, which was very confusing and upsetting. That’s why I think this bill is so important."
While Louisiana has not had an active school shooter incident yet, the U.S. Department of Justice reported that the FBI designated 50 shootings in 2022 as active-shooter incidents that occurred in 25 states and the District of Columbia.
Out of the 50 incidents that occurred, six of them happened in the neighboring state of Texas.
"We want to do everything we can to prevent this from happening and to protect kids in school. Any measures possible to try to keep students safe is important because we feel that as students, we are the best fit to come up with procedures for students," Isabella Lancaster, president of the LYAC, said.
According to court documents, the crisis management and response plan will focus on many aspects to prevent the loss of life and the injury of students and teachers and other school employees. It will detail roles and responsibilities of each school employee and of each local and state public safety and emergency preparedness office. It will be reviewed at least once annually, with revision as needed.
"It’s not by the plans that we have in place that something has not happened, it’s purely just by luck," Lancaster said.
"We know our teachers may have plans, but just not knowing about them as a student until the time comes is just stressful and it’ll just be so much better if everyone knew a plan and it was consistent across the state," council member Israel Netters said.
Bill 207 passed the House Education committee Tuesday and will be heard in the House Appropriations Committee next.
LYAC applications are currently closed. They will re-open in January and are due in March. Find out more at: house.louisiana.gov/civiced/default_LYAC
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Active shooter incidents in schools continue to rise in America
