CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State officials are planning to use $2 million dollars to ensure safety in every public school in West Virginia.
Gov. Jim Justice launched the West Virginia School Safety Initiative during his COVID-19 media briefing on Tuesday after announcing the plan last month in response to the Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, Tx.
“We know we’re not immune to a tragedy that could happen here, so we’ve taken steps to make sure that we bring everybody together,” Justice said.
The state Department Education has provided the grant money for a statewide plan to prevent shootings and other violent acts in schools.
The funding will be used to position state school safety officers in all 55 counties. State Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Rob Cunningham said the goal is to have one of those officers in every school building in West Virginia.
“We have people in each county who does school safety, but they wear many hats, so now we’re going to have people that are focused 100 percent on school safety,” Cunningham said.
In addition to working with the FBI and local law enforcement agencies, Cunningham said the state is also partnering with the state Department of Health and Human Resources to identify mental health issues among students and staff.
“We rely heavily on DHHR in addressing the mental health issues to recognize when we have a problem so we can intercede,” he said.
The response needs to be the same in all county school systems, Cunningham said.
“It provides one uniform approach to get all first responders, all citizens, all teachers, all students, all on the same page moving toward the same direction to reach the ultimate goal of keeping our children safe,” he said.
The state also on Tuesday announced the use of a new app West Virginians can use to report suspicious activity at schools. It’s called the See Send app which is available on Apple App Store or Google Play.
“You are our children’s eyes and ears for helping to keep them safe in our communities and in our schools,” Cunningham said. “You see something, you can take a picture or video.”
The information would be sent to law enforcement and officers would respond in a timely manner, Justice said.
“All of the agencies would be coordinating together and we would move as quickly as possible, not standing around wondering who is going to do what,” the governor said.
Justice pledged the funding needed, however much, to implement the plan effectively.
“Whether it takes $2 million or $25 million or $100 million, whatever it takes, we do have the resources today and I would gladly stand behind whatever it takes to make our kids feel safe,” he said.
The state school safety officers will be members of the West Virginia Protective Services Division. The officers should be placed in the schools by the end of this year or early next year.