COLUMBUS, Ohio — As the nation deals with yet another deadly school shooting and too many innocent lives lost, Dr. Amy Klinger with the Educator’s School Safety Network (ESSN) in Ohio says people can never become numb.
“I think one of the first things that occurred to me was, you know, we had that bit of a respite during the pandemic when schools were not in session. And I think that in many ways we forgot how this feels,” she said.
“I think this is another shocking and horrific example of the reality that school safety work is never done,” she added.
ESSN compiles, maintains and analyzes the most up-to-date and accurate data about school-based violent incidents and threats.
Klinger says that based on the research, the solution to stop gun violence against schools is to get beyond the political battles and find common ground.
“We have to talk about mental health. We have to talk about societal structure, we have to talk about what is going on with our kids. What's happening, what can we do to restore some semblance of order in our families and in our society? What can we do to train school folks to respond? What can we do to ensure the safety what can we do to prevent violence we have to look at all of the things that are staring us in the face instead of immediately retreating to one position and just screaming at each other about guns,” she said
“We have to have honest, collaborative conversations about an array of issues that surround this kind of horrific event,” Klinger added.
You can watch the entire interview below.
ESSN offers an online on-demand professional development course designed for educators and other school stakeholders. School Safety 101 is free.