The Texas Senate has approved a bill intended to increase security and prevent on-campus incidents of violence at public schools.
Senate Bill 11, by state Sen. Larry Taylor of Friendswood, would direct the Texas Education Agency to develop rules for hardening existing campuses and ensuring future facilities are built with safety and security in mind. It would require that each district develop a multi-hazard disaster response plan, one that addresses prevention, preparedness, and recovery.
Districts would co-ordinate and file plans with the Texas School Safety Center, a school security think tank located in San Marcos. To oversee these plans, each district would create a dedicated school safety committee that would review and amend these plans at least once per semester. School officials would be required to coordinate with local law enforcement agencies to develop plans to increase police presence on campuses. Districts would also form risk assessment teams at each campus, to monitor school climate and student activity to head off any problems before they reach a crisis point.
Taylor, an independent insurance agent, says school shootings and other violent tragedies rarely come out nowhere.
“Generally the people who have done these acts…[other] people had some hint, some idea that they were going to do it before,” he said. “This bill is designed to help us recognize those people early on before they get to that point.”
Teams would be trained at the School Safety Center not just to recognize potential violent threats, but also students who may be at risk for suicide or self-harm or substance abuse problems.
The bill includes a number of provisions relating to mental health, in order to identify students approaching crisis and intervene before the breaking point.
Regional school resource centers would be directed to partner with local mental health authorities to provide optional counseling and substance abuse assistance to the campuses they serve. It would require districts to train staff in trauma-informed care, a method to help people experiencing grief and trauma without exacerbating it, as well as guiding students affected by grief or trauma to available counseling services.
Taylor said the trauma-informed model is helpful even in non-violent situations, like natural disasters. “It’s just being able to recognize that kids have had different experiences,” he said. “Recently we had Hurricane Harvey. We have a lot of kids now who react to strong thunderstorms differently than they would have before, and it’s affected some of them.”
He says it’s important that teachers, counselors and administrators can recognize signs of trauma in order to find ways to help students cope positively.
The bill now heads to the House for consideration.
Source: Texas Senate
Topics Texas
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