school safety

Vermont lawmakers are turning their attention to school safety measures following the approval of a package of gun ownership restrictions that were passed in the aftermath of what officials called a near-miss school shooting in Fair Haven earlier this year.

A recent rash of unfounded threats of school violence brought a stern warning today from a top law enforcement official in western Massachusetts.

Students at Columbia High School in East Greenbush, New York organized an assembly this morning as part of a day of national school walkouts. Several local officials were on hand to speak with students about school safety.

The head of New York state’s largest teachers union says arming teachers won’t make schools safer, but he says schools should have more protection.

It has been almost two weeks since the school shooting in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 people and ignited a national policy debate. The New York State Sheriffs’ Association is calling on lawmakers to include funding in the state budget to provide at least one armed school resource officer at every grade school and high school in the state. A few Hudson Valley leaders are weighing in on the proposal.

Sheriffs from three upstate counties are pushing for an online emergency response program to be used in schools across New York.

Massachusetts has awarded 15 school districts nearly $200,000 to enhance security and safety. Pittsfield Public Schools will receive $10,000.

There have been so many school shootings in recent years, parents will probably never feel totally at peace when they put their kids on the bus again. A new school safety pilot program, Mutualink K-12,  is rolling out in 20 public schools in Oneida and Rockland counties later this month. The technology announced by Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday claims to improve communications and the sharing of information between participating schools and local first responders during an emergency.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has created a task force to address school safety.

REVERE, Mass. (AP) — Governor Deval Patrick has asked a task force to develop a model plan that Massachusetts school districts can use to keep students, teachers and staff safe in emergency situations.

Patrick signed an executive order on Thursday at a school in Revere creating the task force. It will include the state secretaries of education, public safety, and health and human services, along with educators, police and emergency management officials.

One year after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, many school districts claim they are safer than they were last December.

School districts across the country have bolstered school security in the year following the tragic shootings at Sandy Hook that killed 20 children and six educators.

In a recent survey conducted by the New York State School Boards Association on superintendents’ assessment of their schools’ safety, most believed they are more safe than they were at this time last year.

GOSHEN – Three years of funding totaling $1.2 million for public school safety and security in Orange County was approved Wednesday by the Ways and Means Committee of the county legislature.

WHITE PLAINS – Former New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton told some 300 people at a School Safety Symposium at Purchase College Wednesday parents, teachers, police, fire and other first responders need to work together to help stave off incidents of violence like the Newtown, CT tragedy.

A ten member special committee has been formed in Springfield Massachusetts to investigate  school safety.  The committee has a broad and open- ended assignment.

Springfield City Council President James Ferrera, who named the members of the Special Committee on School Safety on Monday, said he expects the panel will delve deeply into the subject and issue periodic reports and recommendations.

GOSHEN – Orange County administration and the county legislature have reached a compromise to provide $1.2 million over a three year period to enhance school safety procedures in the wake of the Newtown, CT tragedy.

A county executive in the Hudson Valley is launching an initiative as a response to December’s Newtown, Connecticut mass school shooting. It’s called “Safer Communities”, and it kicks off next week with a symposium on school safety.

WVIT-TV, an NBC affiliate, reported that school security was a chief topic at Thursday's Board of Education meeting. The board voted to ask the town to include in next year's budget one additional full-time police officer for each of the four elementary schools.

Board members plan to meet with state and federal officials Friday to discuss funding for security.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The first of four public hearings being held by a legislative task force on gun violence and children's safety is being held at Connecticut's Legislative Office Building.

Members of the school security working group are holding the hearing on Friday morning, starting at 9:30 a.m.

Orange County officials Thursday announced a school-safety initiative they say could serve as a model for other counties in New York, and perhaps even elsewhere in the country. The safety plan comes one month after the mass school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. 

Orange County Executive Edward Diana made the following announcement.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut lawmakers are considering minimum standards for school emergency plans, more drills and additional training in the wake of the Newtown massacre.

West Hartford state Rep. Andrew Fleischmann is co-chairman of the legislature's Education Committee. He says many districts have excellent plans that are properly practiced. But he says some districts might have weak plans, and that's not acceptable.

Many observances are taking place today to mark one week since the school shooting in Newtown Connecticut.  A student initiated vigil was held at a high school in Springfield Massachusetts. WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.

Hundreds of students, faculty and staff filled the auditorium Friday morning at Springfield’s High School of Commerce to remember fellow students, friends and colleagues who were killed by a gunman at the Sandy Hook School.   The vigil included a song, and  several student authored poems read aloud by their teachers