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Sen. Carroll Part of State's School Safety Group

Sen. Carroll Part of State's School Safety Group
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By West Kentucky Star Staff
Jun. 11, 2018 | WESTERN KENTUCKY
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 11, 2018 | 07:10 PM | WESTERN KENTUCKY
State Senator Danny Carroll of Paducah attended the first meeting of the 2018 School Safety Working Group last Monday, June 4 in Frankfort. Ten legislators will participate in the group over the summer and fall.

Carroll told West Kentucky Star the group began organizing their schedule for the legislative interim period and they intend to listen and learn as they visit every region of the state.

"Everyone who has a stake - from parents to teachers to administrators, school safety personnel and experts, mental health professionals - just trying to gather as much information as we can," Carroll said. 

He said LRC staff in Frankfort are researching what other states are doing to address school violence and safety. 

Carroll said, "Hopefully, the idea is once the summer is over and the interim is over, we will be able to use the information gathered to come up with various pieces of legislation to help address the problem."

Carroll said he was a Paducah Police officer and his sister-in-law was a student at Heath High School when the 1997 shooting occurred. He added that as an alumnus of Marshall County High School with relatives who attend there, the news of the January shooting was devastating. 

Carroll said there are multiple issues the group will research on school violence.

"I'm one that believes we really need to look down to the root of the problem and look at more of the mental health issues. That's another aspect that we'll be studying during the summer, and trying to help the students and identify issues early on and provide support. So, a lot of work to be done and a lot of different layers," Carroll said.

Besides Carroll, who is a Republican, the group's members include Senators Ray S. Jones II (D), Alice Forgy Kerr (R), Johnny Ray Turner (D), and Max Wise (R). State Representatives on the committee include John Blanton (R), George Brown, Jr. (D), John Carney (R), Brandon Reed (R), and Democrat Will Coursey, who represents parts of Lyon, Marshall and McCracken Counties.

The group's co-chairs, Wise and Carney, told WLKY they won't make recommendations for new legislation, but will issue a report by December that can be used by lawmakers as they write their own bills. 

Coursey was surprised by that news, saying he hoped some specific recommendations would be made by the group. 

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