Sandoval holds school safety meeting with superintendents

Gov. Brian Sandoval met behind closed doors for two hours on Monday with 15 of Nevada’s 17 school district superintendents to discuss school safety.

In a press conference afterward, he described the meeting as productive and said he will prepare an executive order bringing education officials, and other stakeholders including behavioral health specialists together to develop recommendations that can be drafted into legislation ahead of the 2019 Nevada Legislature.

He said one result of the initial meeting is the clear realization in Nevada, “no one size fits all.”

He pointed out Nevada’s school districts range from Eureka with just 82 pupils to Clark County with more than 340,000.

Sandoval said the funding that provides social workers in some schools is an example.

“That formula may not work for all school districts.”

“We’re not going to solve this all in one day,” he said. “This is a great beginning to a conversation that will lead into the next legislature.”

Asked specifically about the issue of whether teachers should be armed, he said, “the consensus was most school districts choose not to do that.”

They also discussed the need for funding,. Sandoval said there may be opportunities to seek federal grant funding from Health and Human Services and Homeland Security in addition to the Department of Education that must be explored.

“This is a time when school safety has to be a priority,” he said. “Not that it hasn’t been but now more than ever.”

He said the group created by his executive order will have the benefit of summer to work through the issues since the school year is coming to an end this spring.

“Every student should feel safe when they walk into a school,” he said. “Every teacher should feel safe.”