Bradley Byrne introduces legislation to make schools safer

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[Photo Credit: Joshua Polson | The Greeley Tribune |AP]

Schools nationwide will soon be safer for students, teachers, and faculty if Alabama 1st District U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne has anything to say about it.

A member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, Byrne recently introduced the Make Schools Safer Act to provide school officials with better information regarding school safety.

His bill requires the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences — part of the U.S. Dept. of Education, an the nation’s leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation and statistics — to include studies and resources relating to school safety and mental health as part of the What Works Clearinghouse, which is available to educators, counselors, and principals.

“School safety should be a priority for every level of government,” said Byrne. “While I do not want the federal government to mandate how schools protect their students, I believe it is appropriate for the federal government to provide high quality research and information to schools about the best practices for keeping students safe, coordinating with law enforcement, and identifying at-risk students. My bill offers a simple yet profound step toward making our schools safer.” 

The new studies and resources will focus on educating appropriate school personnel on techniques for identifying students who may need assistance, collaborate with health care professionals, state and local law enforcement, youth organizations, and parents to implement procedures to assist students. By making resources available, Byrne’s legislation endeavors to allow schools to select the approach that works best for them, rather than prescribing a one-size-fits-all solution from the federal government.

Read Byrne’s bill below: