Educators will join law enforcement officers in the Capitol City later this month to talk about school safety. The Summit on West Virginia Safe Schools is scheduled for February 6th.
“Being part of law enforcement, I saw a very real need to bring people ot the table and discuss these issues,” said Booth Goodwin, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia.
His office is hosting the event which will come less than two months after 20 kids and six adults were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
“I think this is an ideal time to sit and talk, at one table, and coordinate our efforts so that we can make schools as safe as possible,” Goodwin said.
State Superintendent Dr. James Phares is scheduled to speak at the event along with Lt. Col. (Ret.) Dave Grossman, an expert on the causes of mass shootings and school violence.
There will also be three panels of experts from across West Virginia.
Goodwin says the goal is to develop a written set of school safety recommendations for the education and law enforcement communities.
“We want to hear from the front lines, what’s working, what they think might not work so well,” he said.
“What I’m really trying to do, through this summit, is to get law enforcement and educators together and on the same page if something catastrophic does happen.”
You can register to attend the Summit on West Virginia Safe Schools online at www.wvsafeschools.org or by calling 304-345-2200 or 800-659-8726.
It will open at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, February 6th at the Culture Center in Charleston.