Washington: Closing the OSPI Safety Center?!

It has come to our attention that OSPI’s School Safety Center’s budget has been cut in both the House and Senate budget proposals.

CommunityWatch is appalled, and would like to know how the Legislature proposes to coordinate the safety and security of thousands of children across the state without this central office.

In Washington, as elsewhere in this country, children are required to attend school. To that end, each morning in Washington, thousands and thousands of kids head out the door and make their way to schools. On their way to and from school, many of our children avoid gang members, child predators, and poorly driven cars.

When they’re at school, they’re required to deal with fire drills and lock-down drills. There’s a law in place addressing whether or not the school will release children to parents/guardians in the event of a disaster. Wow – can you imagine the school not giving you your kid after an earthquake? I can’t.

This is policy ownership at a huge level. They’ve entrusted the schools of Washington with the power of determining whether you should have the care of your child after a natural disaster, but they’re now planning to revoke the budget of the Safety Center that would coordinate the training for disaster recovery. Where does that leave your child should a natural disaster occur?

This is unacceptable, and it’s a waste of money. What the state needs is

-> A central Safety Center education website with current information on crime prevention for predatory crime, gang crime, drugs, and solicitation

-> A state-level safety/security policy center that maintains high standards across the state, and maintains a website clearly stating what those policies are

-> A small group of expert and dedicated people who are able to provide training and support for edge case situations, and to detect trends in safety and security risks

We have this; it’s called the Safety Center. Let’s not get rid of it.

The option is to decentralize the security and safety policies and actions of school districts state-wide, creating inconsistent and (most likely) inequitable experiences for children and communities, duplicating cost, and reducing over-all efficacy.

We are entering a period where economic depression and uncertainty will cause more risks to the children of our State’s schools, and when our schools will need more centralized support for safety and security issues. The Government of Washington requires that our children attend school, and for this reason alone they have the obligation of ensuring the security and safety of our children while they are in school.

Please join with CommunityWatch in asking the members of the House and Senate to leave the Safety Center budget in place.