In the wake of Tuesday's elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two teachers, Gov. Asa Hutchinson vowed to continue placing an importance on school safety in Arkansas.
"Two weeks after the tragic shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, I issued an executive order to create the Arkansas School Safety Commission to make recommendations on how to improve security in schools for students and staff," Hutchinson said Wednesday in a prepared statement. "The commission's 124-page report submitted at the end of 2018 was used to enhance security in school districts across the state."
Implementation included increased direct counseling on school campuses along with upgraded security plans.
"I will be working with Commission Chair Dr. Cheryl May and Secretary of Education Johnny Key to reinforce those recommendations to ensure school districts are as safe as they can be," Hutchinson said. "There is nothing more important than the safety of our children."
Hutchinson also ordered Wednesday that the U.S. and Arkansas flags to be lowered to half-staff in Arkansas until May 28.
The shooting at Robb Elementary School is the deadliest in the U.S. since the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012. Twenty children and six adults were killed at the Newtown, Conn., school.
Tuesday's shooter, Salvador Ramos, 18, was killed by a U.S. Border Patrol team about 40 minutes after the shooting started, according to The Associated Press. Ramos shot the school's resource officer before barricading himself in a classroom.
"The Uvalde, Texas tragedy reminds us that we can never be complacent when it comes to keeping our students and educators safe from evil, violent acts," Arkansas Department of Education Secretary Johnny Key said in a statement Wednesday. "While we must always work to strengthen security measures, Arkansas has been a leader in school safety.
Key said school safety legislation was first passed in 2013. Later, the governor's School Safety Commission issued 30 "comprehensive recommendations" in its 2018 report. The recommendations included mental health, school resource officers, physical security and emergency plans and procedures.
The Department of Education has been working with partners, including the Arkansas Center for Safe Schools at the Criminal Justice Institute, to implement the recommendations into statutes, he said.
The Arkansas School Safety Act was amended in 2021 and requires schools to complete a comprehensive school audit by Aug. 2024.
Cheryl May, director of the Arkansas Center for School Safety, Criminal Justice Institute and National Center for Rural Law Enforcement, was the chair of the governor's Arkansas School Safety Commission.
"I can't really adequately express my emotion," May said about Tuesday's shooting. "I'm devastated for our kids."
May said the state has placed school safety as a high priority since 17 were killed Feb. 14, 2018, in a shooting at Parkland High School in Florida. This includes legislation that provided guidance and requirements for school resource officer programs.
Training also has changed the role of school resource officers, using them more as mentors and counselors in an attempt to prevent violence, she said.
"There has to be training requirements and everybody has to understand, including administration and staff, the roles and responsibilities of the officers," May said.
Legislative requirements mandate that officers and counselors receive mental health first-aid training. May said the training will be implemented over this summer and active next school year.
While the state continues to make progress, May said there is more work to do. She said she would love for Arkansas to have a statewide anonymous reporting system for threats, as well as more funding to help schools make physical changes for security purposes.
Little Rock Superintendent Mike Poore said his district works with community partners like the Little Rock Police Department to create and activate plans when needed. He said the district also has installed new security systems and cameras in schools and will add those to elementary schools in the near future.
Staff have been trained on de-escalation tactics and to learn how to spot students who are disconnected and possibly agitated, but Poore said the state is in desperate need of more resources outside of school districts to help those suffering from mental illness.
"We are making it very difficult for people to get the proper level of support on mental health in this state," Poore said. "We can do better."
Tippi McCullough, minority leader in the Arkansas House of Representatives and a former teacher, described Tuesday's shooting as horrifying.
"When that happened at Sandy Hook, I thought, 'We will not let this stand. We will do something,'" McCullough said. "And we haven't. In ten years, we haven't. I don't understand the mentality of we know it is going to happen, but instead of stopping it from happening, we prepare for it happening."
McCullough said she supports school security measures and better mental health resources, but also a different age limit for the purchase of a gun, mandatory background checks and red flag laws.
"I'm a Democrat," she said. "I'm not against the Second Amendment, but I think there are sensible things that have been talked about before that we need to maybe have."
Clarksville Superintendent David Hopkins has a different approach. The school district became the first in Arkansas to arm staff in an attempt to defend against possible school attacks.
"We need to re-examine what we are doing locally to protect our kids," Hopkins said, noting that a school resource officer was shot at the Texas school.
"That is great that they had someone there to engage them," he said. "One thing we try to do at Clarksville is build redundancy."
Hopkins said hiring an entire team of security isn't financially an option at Clarksville, but those on staff who are armed are volunteers and that many have previous law enforcement and military backgrounds.
"We have teachers and other staff doing double duty," Hopkins said. "They are armed and they are trained and continually trained. If something occurs, the redundancy is there."