Our kids represent the future of our country, and as a father, I want to ensure the safety of all of our kids as we send them off to school.

That’s why, in March, I was a cosponsor and supporter of the STOP School Violence Act, which has created a grant program to train students, teachers, school officials, and local law enforcement how to identify and intervene early when signs of violence arise, create a coordinated reporting system, and implement FBI & Secret Service-based school threat assessment protocols to prevent school shootings before they happen.

Now, I am working to secure some of this grant funding for Ohio. I was proud to send a bipartisan letter along with 14 Members of the Ohio Delegation to the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) in support of the State of Ohio’s applications for grant awards under this law.

However, this grant program is only the first step. Keeping our kids safe is a collaborative effort, and will require action from local, state, and federal government, law enforcement, individual school districts, and our communities as a whole.  

To facilitate this collaborative effort, I have held two school safety summits in my district to bring together law enforcement and school administrators, along with local officials, to discuss what is currently being done to keep our schools safe, and what resources are still needed. While not every school district is the same, our goal to keep our kids safe is the same in every district.

At the most recent summit last week, I came away with a number of issues I am taking back to Washington to work to address at the federal level.

For example, some of the school districts discussed that the complexity of the grant process is preventing from being able to apply – particularly when they cannot afford a full-time grant writer. Moreover, once the schools receive the grants, it can be difficult to pay for the upkeep of the new security measures and technology installed. Moving forward, I believe we must work to make the grant process less complicated so that all schools have an opportunity to receive funding, as well as provide opportunities for schools to receive grants to sustain security upgrades.

We also discussed challenges to proactively addressing the emotional and behavioral concerns with students. Some schools districts are fortunate to have the ability and resources to hire mental health counselors, however, many do not. We should ensure our schools are able help their students in this way, because without this help, it will be more difficult for students to reach their full potential in the classroom.

I appreciated the opportunity to hear directly from schools on what they are seeing, and how I can help support them as they strive to keep their students safe. As this school year continues, we must remain eternally vigilant and maintain this collaborative effort.

If you have any questions about what I am working on to address school safety, or any other issue facing the federal government, I invite you to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 225-2015, Hilliard office at (614) 771-4968, Lancaster office at (740) 654-2654, or Wilmington office at (937) 283-7049. You can also subscribe to my enewsletter at www.stivers.house.gov.

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