Three times this academic year, Utah authorities were able to intervene in “significant” cases that public safety officials believe could have led to school shootings if the potential perpetrators hadn’t been stopped.
The most recent case was thwarted in late January, Utah Department of Public Safety commissioner Jess Anderson said during a news conference Tuesday. He released no further details about the cases, citing their ongoing investigations.
“Every one of these, we were able to track down based on somebody who saw something and said something,” he said.
The reveal came as Anderson on Tuesday joined Utah legislators, state security officials, and two Parkland, Florida, parents whose children were killed in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting to urge lawmakers to support legislation that they say could strengthen school safety measures across the state.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety Jess Anderson gives remarks during a school safety news conference at the Capitol in Salt Lake City, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024.
That legislation includes bills like HB84, from Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, a proposal that would allow a designated school employee — or a “school guardian” — to be armed and trained to respond in emergency situations.
The bill would also require local education agencies, such as school districts, to provide each classroom with a panic button designed to immediately contact first responders when pressed.
The panic-button system in particular is dubbed “Alyssa’s Law” and is being pushed by Lori Alhadeff, the mother of Alyssa Alhadeff, a 14-year-old student killed in the Parkland school shooting.
“Alyssa was the heartbeat of our family,” Alhadeff said at the Salt Lake City news conference. “My husband and I — we turned our pain and grief into action.”
Legislation inspired by lawmakers’ trip to Parkland
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Max Schachter, right, a parent of a child who was killed during a school shooting in Parkland, Fla., puts an arm around Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, during a school safety task force news conference at the Capitol in Salt Lake City, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024.
In October, a group of Utah lawmakers and other school safety leaders traveled to Florida to tour the site of the Parkland school shooting. The visit centered on the perceived shortfalls of law enforcement and school leadership that may have led to the deaths of 14 students and three staff members.
Wilcox shared at a Utah School Security Task Force meeting later that month that he was “wholly unprepared” for what he saw on the tour, including blood stains in hallways and shoes left in classrooms, because the building, which is slated for demolition this summer, had been left mostly untouched since the 2018 tragedy.
That experience brought Wilcox to sponsor his “School Safety Amendments” bill, HB84.
“I wish this wasn’t why we were talking; I can’t believe this is my assignment at this point,” Wilcox said Tuesday. “We’ve gotten lucky so far, and I don’t know how long we can [be lucky].”
Max Schachter, the father of Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Alex Schachter, who was also killed in the shooting, urged lawmakers on Tuesday to take school safety seriously, even if the state hasn’t experienced what his family has endured.
“If kids don’t feel safe, they can’t learn,” Schachter said. “And you can’t teach dead kids.”
‘We’ve learned a lot since then’
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) State superintendent Sydnee Dickson gives remarks during a school safety task force news conference at the Capitol in Salt Lake City, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024.
Utah State Superintendent of Public Education Sydnee Dickson said Tuesday that she spoke with Utah students shortly after the Parkland shooting who told her that, when they walk into rooms, “they look for the safest place in the room.”
“We’ve learned a lot since then; unfortunately we’ve learned it through tragedy,” Dickson said.
She said she’s appreciative of Wilcox’s and the School Safety Task Force’s work, along with other initiatives, including a 2019 bill that created the Utah State Board of Education’s School Safety Center, where staff from several agencies work together to create school safety resources and training.
“By looking at this instead of one answer to how to prevent a problem, and how to intervene in a problem — we’re looking at a comprehensive solution,” she said.
According to Utah’s latest Student Health and Risk Prevention survey, which was administered statewide last year, around 41% of students statewide who participated are concerned about gun violence or active shooter situations in schools.
In addition to the three cases Anderson mentioned Tuesday, Anderson noted that since August, there have been more than 121 documented “violent threats” in Utah schools, as well as over 60 lockdowns initiated across the state.
Other legislation geared toward school safety this session includes HB119, from Rep. Tim Jimenez, R-Tooele, which would reimburse teachers up to $500 to install biometric gun safes in their classrooms.
Wilcox has also proposed a bill, HB14, that would make it a second-degree felony — punishable up to 15 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines — for those who call in hoax threats to campuses, as well as suspend or expel any students who may do so.
“We in Utah are committed to doing better, and being better, to be able to make sure we have a safe environment,” Anderson said.
