Missouri school safety expert stresses baseline preparedness amid funding cuts
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Having responded to seven school shootings during his career, John McDonald stresses that school districts must first understand where they stand on the spectrum of school safety.
As the chief operating officer for the Missouri School Boards' Association Center for Education Safety, he emphasizes that recognizing this baseline is a critical first step.
"How prepared are we? Are the policies that provide us the structures and the roles and responsible parties and the funding, the training that's required? Emergency operation plans that we developed. Are they all in place?" McDonald said.
School shootings are at the forefront again after a teen gunman shot his way into the building and killed three students at an Oregon elementary school Thursday.
McDonald noted that when you ask parents what matters most when sending their child to school, the answer is always the same: they want them to be safe and well-educated.
A new Missouri Law took effect on Aug. 28 of this year, creating the Missouri Rangers program, which focuses on preventing and responding to emergencies or violent crimes in schools.
The program may include up to 160 hours of training in areas including active-shooter response, firearms, close-quarters combat, de-escalation, behavioral threat assessments, defensive tactics, building security and first aid.
McDonald said that, from what he knows, no districts have used the Rangers program, likely due to it being new and standards still being set.
"No, it's not been implemented by anybody because the standards are in the process of being developed. So I think we're probably looking at another year before it's actually fully implemented, and it'll take some time," McDonald said.
He said that in the meantime, there are other things schools can do to provide safety, like having a school protection officer within their existing employees, having a school resource officer, and having their own safety and security programs in place.
McDonald also brings up a key factor in school safety: funding.
According to the Missouri School Boards' Association's website, the Missouri General Assembly has cut school safety funding by 66% from the previous appropriation. Funding has gone from $1.5 million to $500,000, according to the website.
McDonald said that as a state with a history of 18 school shootings, Missouri should be paying attention to what is happening around the country.
"How do we work collaboratively between organizations, system structures, state, local school districts to provide, you know, the opportunity for kids to be as safe as possible?" McDonald said.
