California law requires each school to have a safety plan – and make it available to the public. In the aftermath of Friday’s mass shooting in Connecticut, education and public safety officials want schools to take a new look at those plans to see if they should be revised.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson wants to reassure parents who wonder if what happened in Newtown could happen to them.
“I believe our California schools are safe," says Torlakson.
He says the vast majority of schools carefully craft safety plans – working with teachers, staff and local law enforcement agencies.
“There’s a lot of nervous parents out there. That’s natural, after a tragedy like this. I think the good news is that administrators across the state are re-looking at their plans," says Torlakson.
But not all schools have filed those plans so they’re not available to the public, and one state lawmaker says that is not good enough. He plans to reintroduce stalled legislation from last year that would withhold state funds from schools that fail to comply.