By Mike Cason
A panel of Alabama legislators, law enforcement officials, and others studying how to make schools safer heard presentations from several vendors on Wednesday as part of its work to develop recommendations.
Rep. Alan Baker, R-Brewton, said the goal of the Advisory Commission on School Safety and Security is to build comprehensive plans to prevent school shootings while also being prepared to respond when disaster strikes.
“We want to make sure we do everything we can in trying to promote this culture of school safety and have those leaders at each of the respective schools not just take it in a shallow manner but recognize this is something that’s highly important,” Baker said. “We’ve got to get everyone involved.”
Baker said that includes not only teachers, counselors, and administrators but custodians, lunchroom workers, and the employees who cut the grass.
“They need to be the eyes and ears as well,” he said.
Baker said he expects the commission to issue a report in the next few months. He said it could include proposals for legislation and funding.
Former House Speaker Mac McCutcheon organized the commission in 2018 after a shooter killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
McCutcheon’s successor, Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, revived the commission last year. The chair is Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, who also chairs the House Education Policy Committee.
On Wednesday, the commission heard presentations from three companies, Critical Response Group, Navigate 360, and nSide.
The company representatives talked about a wide range of prevention and response topics, including the importance of detailed and up-to-date maps of school floor plans and school grounds, communication with law enforcement and other responders, physical security features of buildings, training, and efforts to recognize and deal with the circumstances that cause grievances to escalate into violent episodes.
Steven McKinney, founder and CEO of nSide, told the panel that training and awareness are two of the greatest needs to improve school safety in Alabama. McKinney’s company developed a school safety platform that the company said was used in 148 of Alabama’s 149 school systems during the 2022-23 school year. nSide offers campus mapping, emergency operations plans, training, and technology.
McKinney said as a general rule school systems struggle to put money into safety measures unless they have access to funding specifically for that purpose.
“Too many counties are in such financial dire straits that school safety will always be way down the list,” McKinney said.
The commission is expected to meet again in February. Baker said the commission’s recommendations and any changes that result will not be the last word. He compared school safety efforts to immunization shots that require occasional boosters.
“We want Alabama to be at the forefront of school safety to the best of our ability knowing that any state, any school, is subject to an incident that could explode at any time,” Baker said. “So we want to be as prepared as we can be.”
