W. Va. Governor Unveils New School Safety Initiative

Read Time:2 Minute, 42 Second

(TNS) – West Virginia schools are receiving a new School Safety Initiative aimed directly at preventing and handling an active shooter situation with special personnel to work in school systems focusing entirely on safety plans.

Gov. Jim Justice announced the program on Tuesday, saying the plan is “comprehensive,” including working with the FBI, West Virginia State Police, schools and the state Department of Homeland Security.

“We have taken steps to make sure we bring everybody together…” he said, with all agencies working in coordination to make sure everybody is on the same page and quick action is taken if a situation arises.

Justice referred to the Uvalde, Texas , school shooting when law enforcement did not respond appropriately as a lack of coordination was evident in the tragedy that saw 21 killed.

“We would move and move as quickly as possible and not stand around wondering who is going to do what,” he said. “We are not immune to this happening … We need to be ready if it does.”

Rob Cunningham , Deputy Cabinet Secretary with the state Department of Homeland Security, also spoke and said the project was made by possible by $2 million from the West Virginia Department of Education.

The program focuses “100 percent on school safety,” he said, and one major aspect will be hiring and training school safety officers, which will be in addition to SROs (School Resource Officers) already in place.

Not only will the program focus on coordination of all agencies involved, but also on prevention.

It is a multi-agency, collaborative, statewide approach.

“This relies heavily on preventing violent incidents,” he said, with a focus on mental health and interceding when a problem is detected before an incident, and the state DHHR ( Department of Health and Human Resources ) is also involved.

Training is a big part of the program with people from various agencies, including educators, who have already participated.

Cunningham said a new tool is also available to help with preventing an incident.

Called My Mobile Witness, it is an app that can be downloaded and used to report any concern.

He said Emergency Management takes the report and sends it to the appropriate agency to handle.

Cunningham said the program provides “one uniform approach” to get first-responders, teachers, students, agencies and others all on the same page.

How many of the school safety officers, who will complement SROs, will be utilized initially has not yet been decided.

“The ultimate goal is to have them in every school,” he said, “if we can find the personnel and the funding to hire them.”

Justice said the state does now have the resources to make it happen, to make students “feel safe and be safe.”

“Whatever it takes,” he said.

All of the details of the plan were slated to be released sometime on Tuesday.