On Monday, Congressman Todd Rokita released his latest school safety report and implored all Hoosiers to become proactive leaders within their school communities to protect the safety of students. With today’s release of the latest School Safety Summit report, Congressman Rokita hopes schools can learn from the best practices and from parents, teachers, administrators, and law enforcement who have weighed in on how to keep our children safe.
“There is no more time to be ill-equipped or unprepared when it comes to handling the lives of our future generations,” said Congressman Todd Rokita. “I have hosted School Safety Summits so that our communities can proactively do their part in keeping our students safe. In the midst of a national conversation about school safety, these reports offer the local perspective of teachers, administrators, and law enforcement sharing what they have found to be best practices.”
Rokita continued: “President Trump is taking important steps today to explore the best ways to empower states and communities to protect our nation’s children, and I’m proud of the work local education and safety leaders have offered to this important conversation.”
The Congressman recently held two School Safety Summits where moderators, panelists, and participants from around Indiana discussed the issues concerning security threats, assessment tools, and students well-being within our education facilities. Both summits have resulted in thorough best-practice reports that can be found online here. Below are the solutions that were brought up during the School Safety Summits:
School Safety:
- Restrict access to outside individuals
- Access to panic devices
- Student and community involvement
- School Resource Officers (SROs)
- Assessment tools and standards
- Funding solutions
Opioid Epidemic
- Encourage people to go through rehabilitation services
- Recognizing drug addiction as a medical and criminal issue
- Do not legalize marijuana
Cyberbullying
- Parents being more involved with their children and encourage them to stand up for their friends
- Supervise social media account access & limit screen time