Issue Position: Education and Safety

Issue Position

Children are our future and they deserve access to quality and safe education. School safety has been a highly discussed topic in the media in recent years. Before teaching and learning issues can be addressed, teachers, students, and parents need to feel that their school is a safe learning environment. No child or parent should be worried about whether or not they will return home after school. Also, no child or parent should feel that schools are becoming militarized. In order to do provide safe school environments, schools need to implement safety crisis plans. We also need to pay more attention to what our kids are exposed to on television, the internet, etc. and evaluate the mental health of our communities. When it comes to our children, all stakeholders should be involved in fostering a positive learning environment.

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I strongly support school safety plans based upon guidance from the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency. Additionally, in effort to keep schools safe in Georgia, I plan to enact legislation that would require, in the case of a crisis, law enforcement to be trained on how to interact with emotional, physical, and behavioral disorders.

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In the event of an emergency please contact Georgia's School Safety Hotline. It is toll-free and anonymous and can be reached by dialing 1-877-SAY-STOP (1-877-729-7867). An initiative of the Georgia Safety and Violence Task Force, this is the nation's first state-sponsored school safety hotline.

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