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Thursday, January 10, 2013

EdWatch 2013: School safety issues emerge | EdSource Today

EdWatch 2013: School safety issues emerge | EdSource Today:


Screen Shot 2013-01-10 at 12.28.35 AMCalifornia legislators have responded to the Connecticut shooting of school children by proposing three new gun or ammunition control laws, but so far only one bill that specifically deals with school safety.
Ted Lieu, a Democrat from Torrance, is reintroducing Senate Bill 49, hoping it will get treated better this year. It would put some teeth into existing law that requires all schools to have safety plans. Under the proposed legislation, the superintendent of public instruction would hold back funding for schools without a plan until the schools complied. The bill died in Appropriations last year. This time around, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) has agreed to coauthor it.
Although the vast majority of schools in California have safety plans in place, Lieu believes that some schools do not.
“We’re in the process right now of trying to determine how many schools in California don’t have