The Tennessee 113th General Assembly passed a few new laws that will make changes to safety policies as students return to classes for the 2023-2024 school year.

Under the direction of Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas School Safety Center (TSSC) has conducted undercover audits in 7,200 schools statewide to assess the effectiveness of the new safety measures.

In a significant move towards prioritizing school safety, House Bill 147 mandates that schools annually submit safety plans to the state and conduct active shooter drills by October 1 each year.

A recently released investigative report by the Orange County Grand Jury found Orange County schools are “doing a good job” in maintaining safe campuses for students in case of a school shooting, though had numerous recommendations for improvement.

The Metro Nashville Police Department is working to staff all 75 student resource officer positions for Nashville schools after roughly 70% of them remained unfilled at the end of the latest school year.

The city’s three largest charter schools – Great Oaks Legacy, KIPP, and North Star Academy – are implementing new security measures to better safeguard their combined 14,000 students.

Tuesday’s shooting that killed two people celebrating a high school graduation in Richmond, Virginia, including a young woman who had just received her diploma, underscores the relentless heartache felt by students, parents and educators who now face a constant potential for once-unthinkable acts of gun violence.

“I don’t think there’s anything we do that’s as important as safety and security,” Superintendent Steve VanMatre said to kick off a public meeting Monday night.

Among K-12 safety and cybersecurity experts’ suggestions are storing sensitive security plans separately and balancing what’s shared publicly.

A school safety bill awaiting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature falls far short of paying for the measures it would require schools to implement, officials at several Waco-area districts said.

“School safety is absolutely at the forefront of our education leaders’ minds,” said Britta Barrickman, the Chief Impact Officer of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA).

Texas lawmakers’ response to the state’s deadliest school shooting is a sweeping piece of legislation that mandates armed personnel on every campus.

In the latest episode of SecurED, host Mike Matranga engages in a thought-provoking discussion with Kevin Hill, a former police officer and security director, about the contrasting security regulations between the cannabis industry and the K-12 sector.

Nearly half of states don’t require school safety training for teachers and staff, no uniform federal rules, either

"The strategic direction is not my strategic direction, or the school system, but really the direction of the whole community bc public education does belong to all of us," Oakley said.

The Texas House on Tuesday gave final approval to legislation that is calling for significant investments to beef up schools’ safety, including hiring at least one armed security officer at every campus, providing incentives for school employees to get certified to carry a weapon and installing silent panic alert buttons in every classroom.