Better security, student services sought by schools

HARRISBURG » Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration issued its findings Tuesday from six school safety task force field hearings set up in the wake of February’s high school shooting in Florida, with better security, training and student services at the core of what the school community is seeking.

In its summary of the findings, the administration identified 10 primary points from testimony in the field hearings set up with Auditor General Eugene DePasquale. A fuller report will be issued later in the summer, Wolf’s office said.

The task force included vice chairs from groups representing parent-teacher associations, teachers, school administrators and school nurses and heard from dozens of people and students at each of six regional hearings, the administration said. Hundreds more submitted comments online, the administration said.

Panelists started the conversation by asking speakers how the state can help handle mass shootings and threats, improve school building safety and meet the physical and mental health needs of students.

Students, it said, wanted to be heard in the school safety conversation.

Students need to be taught social and emotional learning strategies early in school, and students need better access to mental health services, while schools need more nurses, social workers and psychologists, those testifying said.

Schools and students need better connection to the community, its organizations and police, while school resource officers need proper training to work in schools and with students, they said.

School officials also asked for more money from the state, more guidance on the most effective school safety strate- which is to relay reports to police. It is gies and more staff training to deal with modeled on a similar program Colorado active shooters or the social and emo- created after 1999’s Columbine school tional needs of students. shooting.

wthreats of violence in schools.

Under the grant program, school districts can apply once a year for a grant of at least $25,000 for a wide range of purposes, including safety and security assessments, security-related technology, training, counselors, police officers and anti-violence programs.

The anonymous reports program, called “Safe 2 Say,” will be administered by the attorney general’s office, HARRISBURG » An anti-gerrymandering advocacy group wants Gov. Tom Wolf to call a special session urging lawmakers to authorize the creation of a citizens’ redistricting commission under the state constitution.

The group, March On Harrisburg, delivered that message to the Democratic governor, demonstrating in his ornate Capitol reception room Tuesday. Wolf’s office had no immediate comment. Lawmakers left the Capitol on Monday, with no plans to return this summer.

Left undone is a resolution to create a citizens’ commission that’s designed to draw legislative and congressional boundaries free of political interference.

Lawmakers say July 6 is the deadline to pass it and meet constitutional guidelines if a citizens’ commission is to be operating by the 2022 elections. That’s when states must redraw boundaries to account for decadelong population shifts identified in the U.S. Census.