At a school safety roundtable last week, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) reintroduced the Safe to Tell Act, proposing support for threat reporting programs nationwide.
The bill would provide $25 million in grant funding annually for four years, so the Department of Justice could create the Safe2Tell tip line and states could implement it. In theory, this would allow students to anonymously report safety concerns or threats of violence at school.
“As a mom, I cannot imagine the pain of parents who dropped their kids off at school not knowing it would be the last time they’d ever see their smiling faces again,” Rodgers said. “These senseless acts of violence are often preventable with the right tools, and it’s time we provide them to school districts across Eastern Washington and the country. Our community came together today to show we are committed to ensuring schools are safe places for our kids to learn, thrive, and reach their full potential. By leading on creative and innovative solutions that work, like Safe2Tell’s confidential reporting system, I’m hopeful we can save lives and give parents confidence that their children are safe at all times.”
Telephone hotlines, mobile applications or websites will all be fair play, to be monitored 24/7.
Pitched as a community conversation, the roundtable that spurred this drew on police and school representatives, as well as corporate interests, to make its point. However, the original Safe2Tell was created in response to the 1999 Columbine school shooting, before such shootings became as commonplace in the United States as they are today.