In the months since the Sandy Hook mass shooting that left 26 students and staffers at the Connecticut elementary school dead in December 2012, Hawaii has stepped up its security and safety training at public schools to prevent similar tragedies here, school officials told lawmakers Monday.
The state Department of Education has increased training for school-based security officers, strengthened annual lockdown drills and forged partnerships with local and mainland police to help ensure safety at the state’s more than 250 public schools.
Hawaii is among 11 states that have not had an active-shooter-type event on a school campus.
"Post-Sandy Hook we had to step back … and look at our own processes — are they enough, are they relevant, are they addressing the current issues by which the data proves are driving these types of events," DOE Assistant Superintendent Raymond L’Heureux told the Senate Education Committee at a briefing at the state Capitol.
"We looked at our lockdown drills and made them more robust, we made them more realistic, we brought in local law enforcement and emergency preparedness (workers) to work with us. At the high school level, we’ve now done three active-shooter events with role-playing with (the Honolulu Police Department)," he added.
Committee Chairwoman Sen. Jill Tokuda said she called for the briefing in light of two lockdowns triggered at high schools last month.
Roosevelt High School went into lockdown Jan. 28 after police shot a mentally ill teen in the wrist during a scuffle. Two days later Hilo High was locked down after a small bomb exploded outside an auditorium.
L’Heureux, who oversees school facilities and support services, said the DOE updated its safety and security program to focus on proactive approaches.
"Everybody wants to jump to, ‘OK let’s put a cop in every classroom, let’s put metal detectors into every entryway,’ rather than addressing the issue of communication and training and relationship-building with our students," he said.
Detective Rudy Perez of the Los Angeles Unified School District Police Department, the second-largest public school district in the country, praised Hawaii’s efforts.
Perez is co-founder of Friends of Safe Schools USA, a nonprofit dedicated to improving safety in and around schools by engaging communities and increasing awareness.
"The innovation that you guys are starting in Hawaii is really, really miles and miles ahead of many, many school districts," he said via videoconference.
L’Heureux contacted Perez’s department about a year ago and ended up forging a formal partnership that allows the districts to collaborate on security training and share other resources.
