Worcester Public Schools Concerned Over Unfunded Gun Bill Mandates
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Because of the vagueness of the school mandates – both in funding and in the implementation of the proposed plans – many school committee members and officials are worried that if the bill is to be implemented, the district could be left doing things that would place an unfair burden on the district.
“We already have school safety protocols in place so the concern would be whether these mandates would be more requirement or more guideline based,” said Stacey DeBoise Luster, Human Resource Manager. “It is usually a burden for districts to comply with new regulations; some of these things could potentially be a real burden.”
When looking at Massachusetts schools, the Senate bill 2265 would require each district to have a school resource officer, a dedicated two-way communication device to speak with the local police and fire departments, and would require additional mental health and suicide awareness training.
Already Have a Plan in Place
While Worcester school committee member John Monfredo applauds anyone who attempts to make schools a better and safer place for children, but admits that the Worcester Public School District doesn’t need many of the proposed mandates.
Already having the equivalent of a student resource officer and devoting a lot of time to various plans to ensure that students throughout the Worcester Public School District remain safe, Monfredo feels that Worcester has been doing a good enough job in improving safety internally. While increased safety measures would be welcomed, Monfredo wants to make sure that funding comes with these mandates.
A Statewide Issue
The Worcester Public School District isn’t the only district that has concerns with proposing school mandates through the gun bill.
Glenn Koocher, the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, while not opposed to the mandates of the proposed gun bill, feels that some of the issues revolving around mental health of student populations are rather vague, constituting clarification before they are signed into law.
“It isn’t that we don’t encourage increasing and improving awareness on mental health issues in schools, we just want to make sure that schools aren’t going to held liable,” said Koocher. “We just want to make sure that this bill isn’t going to be something that will come back and bite school districts because they aren’t properly prepared to deal with the mandates.”
Related Slideshow: The Influence of Gun Money in New England States
New Data from The Sunlight Foundation shows state-by-state breakdowns for donations to groups on both sides of the gun debate. The money went toward candidates, political parties, and political action committees (PACs), but doesn't include donations to independent or so-called “super PACs”.
See how much money went to candidates in each of the New England States in the slides below.
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