State leaders meet at School Safety Summit

Officials met at the Maryland State Summit on School Safety to learn about how they can implement better strategies that keep students safe.

"As we know nationally, school safety is at the forefront of all of our school systems, and it’s important in the state of Maryland that we all get together and talk about ideas," said Louis Taylor, Worcester County Superintendent. 

Officials spoke about the Maryland Safe to Learn Act and its millions of dollars in funding for more resource officers, safety technology and social media trackers, among others. 

But, they say the challenge is to make sure that those funds truly meet the individual needs of every school. 

"We have 14 schools in Worcester County," said Taylor.

"We want to make sure that each of those schools, given different buildings, sizes of buildings, the way we enter buildings that we can go in – make each and every building individually safe," Taylor said. 

However, state leaders say that the individuals who have the greater power to keep their schools safe are students because they are the majority in a school building.

"There’s more students than anybody in the building, and they need to let us know that if they see something that alarms them they need to say something about it," said Karen Salmon, the State Superintendent. 

According to officials, students can identify offenders because they tend to share mannerisms. 

For example, offenders will usually show violent or inappropriate behaviors and could have unsupportive parents. They might also respond negatively to bad experiences and make it obvious that they are planning to commit an act of violence.

"Tell your teachers, tell your counselors and tell law enforcement if you see something important," said Governor Larry Hogan, "[That way] we really can stop a lot of these tragedies from happening."

Educators say that even though law enforcement are quick to respond, most incidents are stopped by students or administrators.

"If you see something or hear something, say something," said Hogan.