AUGUSTA – State Rep. Deborah Simpson, D-Auburn, is pushing a bill that addresses shortfalls in school security.

The bill states that all school districts have a crisis plan readily available detailing how school officials will work with law enforcement and mental health officials in emergencies.

Edwin Kastuck of the State Board of Education spoke in support of the bill during an education committee hearing Friday. He said schools are already required to have a crisis plan, but many are incomplete or not accessible.

“We don’t know about the quality of the plans,” he said.

Kastuck testified that the department would submit an amendment with specific guidelines for schools to follow, including a chain of command and media relations protocol for even the smallest emergencies, such as bus accidents.

Simpson said there were two reasons she filed the bill.

She said she went to Germany in 2002, and was with a group of politicians when there was a school shooting. She said she was amazed at the organized response.

Last November, the Sun Journal did an audit on school security, where reporters walked into schools and timed how long it took before someone approached them. Many did poorly, she said.

The only debate and opposition to the bill related to was to be public information and what would be private.

Kastuck said some of the plan should be public, but some parts would be privileged to protect the plan.

Dan Walker, an attorney representing the Maine Press Association, testified that the plans should be kept public.

Originally, the bill stated that the entire crisis plan would be private, but Simpson gave the committee an amendment making parts public. Anything that the committee wants to keep from the public record must be approved by the judiciary committee, she said.

Walker asked the committee to let the Maine Press Association be a part of the bill’s revisions.

“The press needs to have the ability to assess public officials in what is in the best interest of the state,” he said.

Copy the Story Link