Bleak Progress Report – School Safety and the “Safer Communities Act of 2022”

[johnkarls]

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As reported elsewhere on this website, Sec. 13302 of the Safer Communities Act of 2022 which was signed into law 6/25/2022, provided in Title 6 U.S. Code Sec. 665k that the Secretary of Homeland Security “would establish a Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Evidence-based Practices” which would “identify and publish online through SchoolSafety.gov, or any successor website, evidence-based practices and recommendations to improve school safety for use by State and local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, State and local law enforcement agencies, health professionals, and the general public.”

After exhortations in 6 U.S.C. Sec. 665k(b) that the Clearinghouse be COMPREHENSIVE vis-à-vis best practices, 6 U.S.C. Sec 665k(d) REQUIRES CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT IN ITS CONTENT.

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Sec. 13304 of the Safer Communities Act of 2022 requires that no later than 6/25/2023, the Clearinghouse (or a DHS “external advisory board”) identify federal grant programs that can be used to implement the Clearinghouse recommendations, identify any recommendations for which there is no federal grant program, and report periodically on these two matters to “the appropriate committees of Congress.”

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Our 5/18/2023 Grade for the Safer Communities Act of 2022 = FAIL-MINUS

Our fail-minus grade was posted on our website 7 days before enactment (please see viewtopic.php?p=3148&sid=549a64e6fd6e99 ... ad4e#p3148).

Our criticisms included –

(1) THERE IS NO REQUIREMENT TO REPORT TO CONGRESS WHETHER ANY “GRANT PROGRAMS” ARE INADEQUATELY FUNDED!!!

(2) STATES WOULD HAVE TO BE INSANE TO UNDERTAKE GRANT PROGRAMS FOR “BEST PRACTICES” IF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS TRULY COMMITTED TO FUNDING THEM!!!

(3) THERE IS NO MENTION OF ANY EXISTING “BEST PRACTICES”!!!

(4) INDEED, THE FIVE (YES, COUNT THEM FIVE) “COMMON SENSE” SCHOOL-SAFETY MEASURES LISTED ABOVE (from Sec. 3 of our Original Proposal) -- single entry-exit (fire-exit doors have one-way locks and alarms that are inspected daily), metal detectors at the single entry-exit, trained armed guards at the single entry-exit, and bullet proof windows -- are, presumably, NOT CURRENTLY “best practices” since America is continually plagued with school shootings!!!

(5) MOREOVER, there is no guarantee that these five “common sense” school-safety measures will ever become “best practices”!!!

(6) AS USUAL, our pols are COMPLETE-IDIOTS!!! All they had to do was look at security at airports and office buildings and they could have devised the same list we did and put the items right into the Act for immediate implementation!!!


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Current Investigation – Department of Homeland Security – NO HELP!!!

Several hours have been spent (1) Googling, and/or (2) searching the DHS website and nothing useful was turned up.

[For example, using the search capability of DHS’ website for “6 USC 665k” produced no results at all and searching for “Clearinghouse on School Safety Evidence-based Practices” produced nothing useful. Ditto for contacting DHS at 202-282-2000 which connected me with their FOIA group who didn’t have a clue.]

OMG, 6 USC Sec. 665k(a)(3) required personnel to be assigned to the “Clearinghouse” so one would have thought that the “Clearinghouse” would be in the DHS telephone directory for the DHS operator to make a transfer!!!


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Current Investigation – The SchoolSafety.gov website referenced in 6 USC 665k

The 6/25/2022 Act gave DHS the option of putting the required info on already-existing SchoolSafety.gov.

Per www.SchoolSafety.gov/about, the website was launched in 2020 as “a collaborative, interagency website created by the Federal government to provide schools and districts with actionable recommendations to create safe and supportive learning environments where students can thrive and grow.”

It contains 9 “topics” –

Bullying and cyberbullying
Child Exploitation
Cybersecurity
Emergency planning
Infectious diseases and public health
Mental health
School climate
Targeted violence
Threat assessment and reporting

And 7 “tools and resources” –

[Effectively, getting started – our website software wouldn’t accept the actual title]
Grants finder tool
Safety readiness tool
Find school safety resources
State search tool
Events
Communications center


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The 9 Topics of The Clearinghouse

In Topic No. 8 (Targeted Violence), particularly useful would appear to be –

(1) An undated DHS “Active Shooter Exercise Starter Kit”

(2) An April 2023 DHS “Averting Targeted School Violence Video”

In Topic No. 9 (Threat Assessment and Reporting), particularly useful would appear to be –

(1) A Nov 2019 DHS item entitled “Protecting America’s Schools: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Targeted School Violence” – discussing 41 attacks on K-12 U.S. Schools 2008-2017

(2) A July 2018 DHS item entitled “Enhancing Schools Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model” which “provides actionable steps”

(3) An April 2023 DHS video based on No. 1


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The 7 Tools and Resources of The Clearinghouse

Of particular usefulness would appear to be No. 8 “Grants Finder Tool.”

HOWEVER, 95 of the 97 listings said “This grant application window is currently closed.”

AND if the filter of “upcoming grants” is applied to the entire list, there are only 2 listings –

(1) The Department of Justice’s “FY 2023 Youth Violence Protection Program” (deadline 6/12/2023) for which the description is -

“The Youth Violence Prevention Program solicitation provides funding for applicants to develop and enhance strategies to prevent youth violence, including youth gang or group involvement and youth gang or group violence. Deliverables from this program include the development of new direct service programs or the enhancement of existing programs for youth with multiple risk factors for violence. “

(2) The Department of Education’s “Project School Emergency Response to Violence” (deadline “ongoing”) for which the description is –

“This grant funds short-term education-related services for local educational agencies and institutions of higher education to help them recover from a violent or traumatic event in which the learning environment has been disrupted.”

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CONCLUSIONS – as of 5/24/2023

(1) THE FIVE (YES, COUNT THEM FIVE) “COMMON SENSE” SCHOOL-SAFETY MEASURES LISTED ABOVE (from Sec. 3 of our Original Proposal) -- single entry-exit (fire-exit doors have one-way locks and alarms that are inspected daily), metal detectors at the single entry-exit, trained armed guards at the single entry-exit, and bullet proof windows -- are, presumably, NOT CURRENTLY “best practices” since America is continually plagued with school shootings!!!

(2) THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO, REPEAT NO, GRANTS AVAILABLE FOR SUCH THINGS!!!

BRAVISSIMA Sen. Marsha Blackburn and her S-1107 to establish a $900 million federal grant program to improve school security, including by training and hiring veterans and former law enforcement officers as school safety officers, etc.

[Presumably, this would be an annual appropriation that could be increased if necessary.]