LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - Monday, Dec. 3, the Arkansas School Safety Commission gave Gov. Asa Hutchinson their final report, which outlines what needs to be done to keep students safe.
There are 30 recommendations in the report.
“He did his executive order March 1st on the wake of the Parkland incident and he tasked us with providing him a preliminary report in July,” Chair of the committee Dr. Cheryl May said.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson hoped to find any holes in school safety procedures.
“We had 33 individuals either subject matter experts or parents, students that presented to give us a much broader picture,” May said.
Something in the preliminary report, which is also in the final report, is to increase security presence at schools -- something many have already done since that first draft was released.
Fifty-four security resource officers were added to districts this year, and Gov. Hutchinson feels it’s a direct result of the recommendations initially released.
“Seventy percent of our schools have a school resource officer and an additional number have commissioned security staff. Then that means they agree with that by large but the ultimate decision has to be made by them and they’ll make different decisions as to how to apply that,” Hutchinson said.
Gov. Hutchinson believes these recommendations should be decided locally, so they aren’t binding.
“I have enough confidence in our local school districts that they will respond appropriately and adjust it as needed to their local sensibility,” Hutchinson said.
May said there were no drastic changes made to the final report. Gov. Hutchinson expects to review the strategies in a year to see how well they worked.
You can find the full report here.