As school violence continues to affect students nationally, South Carolina organizations are joining together to make school safety a priority this year.
The South Carolina Coalition for Safer Schools, in its recently released recommendations, underlines major areas of focus which include in-school factors that impact school safety, such as staffing and mental health resources.
It also lists out-of-school safety measures like social media regulation and community partnerships.
The coalition’s top in-school priorities are providing student mental health resources, improving school climate and staffing, upgrading school facilities, providing training to prevent bullying, and requiring uniform policies and procedures across the state.
As for out-of-school responses, the coalition recommends establishing a South Carolina school safety center, passing legislation that prevents children from accessing firearms, addressing firearm theft, involving community stakeholders and regulating social media.
The coalition was created over the summer. It includes the Palmetto State Teachers Association, South Carolina Counseling Association, South Carolina Association of School Psychologists, Institute for Child Success and the South Carolina Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The PSTA became especially interested in furthering the conversation around school safety after 12-year-old Jamari Jackson was shot and killed by a classmate at Tanglewood Middle School in Greenville in March, according to the organization’s leader, Patrick Kelly.
Then when 21 people were killed in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May, the organization decided the issue couldn't wait any longer.
“We felt like this deserves a dedicated, standalone focus because of how prevalent the threat to our children's safety in schools and in communities has become in South Carolina and nationally,” Kelly said.
South Carolina experienced the most school shootings in 47 years in 2021, according to a Post and Courier analysis of data from the Department of Homeland Security's K-12 School Shooting Database. The paper also discovered that the number of weapons in South Carolina schools doubled in three years after analyzing hundreds of thousands of disciplinary reports provided by 24 school districts. Berkeley County district officials said last week that a weapon was found at Goose Creek High School.
Districts across the state are investing more in security infrastructure. But experts say that the approach to school safety should be holistic — there’s more to it than adding metal detectors at every front door.
The coalition’s report takes this approach, recommending both automatically locking doors as well as an increased number of school resource officers and counselors.
Kelly started the first steps of compiling the report by surveying PTSA members about what changes they’d like to see to statewide school safety. Then his organization began reaching out to other associations throughout the state that represent different industries. An initial report was drafted, and associations were invited to suggest changes.
“This wasn't just an education conversation — it was anybody who interacts with child well-being,” he said. “I wanted to have cross-sector collaboration because I think it's important for people to realize this isn't an education thing. This isn't a law enforcement thing. This is a public health thing. It’s all of the above.”
Kelly said the main mission of the coalition’s work is to draw political leaders’ and the public’s attention to school safety.
“This topic is too important and the need is too urgent to sit back and wait on a tragedy,” he said.
He hopes the report will help bring more attention to school safety and increase public awareness about its importance, especially during campaign season this fall, and Kelly welcomes any interested associations to join the coalition.
