FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Kentucky Department of Education Commissioner Dr. Jason Glass says he knows Nashville’s community has years of grieving and healing ahead. He was a superintendent in Colorado’s school district after the three school shootings it had, including the shooting at Columbine High School. He says events like yesterday's stick with communities.
Dr. Glass says, "I think, like everyone else, we're just exhausted and tired of these continuing to occur, and wondering what else can we do and what steps can be taken?"
He explains that after incidents like this, analyses of events have to take place. Dr. Glass says these events cause other districts across the country to take a look at their own practices, including measures that have been taken in Kentucky. He says we've seen school resource officers used as a deterrent to active shootings.
He says, "When we add all these different positions and all these different requirements, these things are increasingly becoming necessary because the contagion of school shootings just keeps growing. Our schools really need the supports in place and the resources to make these a reality, they're gonna have to cut away other important services and experiences for students so that they can have that."
Dr. Glass says school districts across the nation have taken more security steps — like getting more access to mental health services before shootings happen, installing physical barriers in school buildings, and having active shooter training. He says there's not one solution to these events.
"I wish I had easy answers, but there aren't any. When we look at one of the major challenges, it's the easy availability of weapons in our country. The United States is a vast outlier when it comes to mass murders in school shootings and we're a vast outlier when it comes to how easy it is to buy our firearms. So, that's something I think we're gonna have to wrestle with as a country,” says Glass.
The commissioner has a student advisory council that has presented its recommendations to improve school safety. Those recommendations include promoting a "STOP" tip line, improving intervention rates, and supporting gun control. That council is meeting again to discuss that project on April 11.
