A state-commissioned task force on gun violence released its recommendations earlier this week regarding how Connecticut could increase school safety, CBSNewYork reports.
While the panel backed specific security measures—like bulletproof glass and panic button systems covered by state grants—it did not recommend specific student-to-mental health professional ratios, according to CBS.
State Senator Toni Boucher, who co-chaired the task force, said the group was very productive because when there was something a majority of the members didn't support—such as 80 percent being against arming school staff—it was taken off the table.
"I feel good about the fact that we were deliberate," Boucher told Patch Friday.
Boucher said the state shouldn't require communities to have a set number of security officers or health care professionals at their schools.
"We have a lot of different kinds of communities," Boucher told Patch Friday. "Cities like Bridgeport and Hartford, and small little towns like Coventry and Killingworth. Their needs are vastly different. Their needs for special workers and counselors are different as well."
The task force, Boucher said, decided it would be wise to require all schools to have a security and safety plan involving law enforcement agencies, at bare minimum.
Boucher said the task force—along with the recommendations of the gun control and mental health task forces—will present their reports in Hartford.
Boucher (R-26) represents Bethel, Weston, Wilton, New Canaan, Redding, Ridgefield and Westport.
