Organizers say it’s a way to learn more about security measures for schools.
Baltimore, Md (KM) Teachers, school administrators, law enforcement and public safety officials will gather next week in Annapolis for a summit on school safety. Spokesman Bill Reinhard says it takes on added importance following the recent school shootings in Florida, which left 17 people dead, and at Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, which killed two people. “There’s certainly been no end of stories about problems, not just from Florida but throughout the nation in this area,” he says. “The timing of this couldn’t be better.”
The summit is scheduled for Thursday, April 19th at the National Guard Armory in Annapolis from 8:00 AM until 4:15 PM. Dr. Karen Salmon, the State Superintendent of Schools, will address the conference beginning at 9:00 AM. At 10:30 AM, Governor Larry Hogan’s Executive Order, Active Assailant Incident Preparedness and Coordination, and School Safety Initiatives will be discussed. William Modzelski, former Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education and Drug Free Schools Program, will discuss the Landscape of School Shootings.
As part of the summit, school system administrators and guidance staff will talk about safety with their local law enforcement officials, and representatives from fire and rescue and emergency management.
Reinhard says it will be a chance to bring up ideas to better improve school security. “We also hope they share ideas that are working for them,” he says.”Nobody has a fool proof system yet.”
Some of those ideas, Reinhard adds, could be “does it make sense to have different locks on schools; what’s the most important type of safety glass to have; how do you deploy your school resource officers.”
Representatives from all 24 school systems in Maryland are expected to attend the summit.
It was originally scheduled for March 22nd, but was postponed due to the shooting at Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County.
By Kevin McManus