Proposed house bill focuses on school safety
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — A local state representative is sponsoring a bill to improve school safety.
HB 416, sponsored by Rep. Brenda Shields, R-St. Joseph, includes multiple provisions, such as requiring schools to adopt a comprehensive emergency operations plan to be shared with first responders, requiring schools to have bleeding control kits and equipping interior school doors with anti-intruder locks and exterior doors with bullet-resistant window film.
The inspiration for the bill came from a teacher from the St. Louis area who formed a committee and reached out to Shields to share their ideas.
“I said I would be happy to look at it,” Shields said. “I knew it was going to be a big lift, but I looked at his ideas and then I went to the Missouri School Board Association School Safety Center and then we crafted a bill that was a very comprehensive school safety piece of legislation.”
The bill establishes the “Stop the Bleed Act,” which includes the requirements for blood loss protocol. As part of the bill, a bleeding control kit must be placed in high-traffic areas, with a school health care provider being designated to receive annual training on its use.
HB 416 also includes a provision where classroom doors with windows must be equipped with material to cover them during a building lockdown.
“None of these measures that we have put in place, schools are required to do unless the legislature appropriates dollars for that to be done,” Shields said.
As part of the bill, any new construction after 2029 must install the school safety measures outlined in the bill.
“It just needs to be built into a bond package or a levy package for that type of construction,” she said.
All 10 members of the Missouri House of Representatives Rules – Administrative Committee unanimously passed the bill with bipartisan support earlier this month to be taken up for perfection with amendments.
Shields is confident the bill will advance to the Senate.
“I absolutely believe that the legislature understands the importance of this piece of legislation to make sure that our children and our students are safe,” she said.
