A bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) would require that silent panic alarms be installed in schools across the nation to alert law enforcement to an active shooter situation.
“Too often in recent years, parents have sent their children to school and tragically it would be the last time they saw them,” Rep. Upton said. “The pain and grief is unthinkable. We have to do more to put an end to school shootings in this country.”
Rep. Upton joined U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) to propose Alyssa’s Legacy Youth in School Safety Alert Act, or the ALYSSA Act, which is named after Alyssa Alhadeff, 14, who was shot and killed in her freshman English class on Feb. 14, 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
If enacted, the ALYSSA Act also would ensure every school has access to School Resource Officers (SROs) and would increase investments to improve SRO training to help protect students and school staff.
“The ALYSSA Act is a concrete, common sense step to better protect our children and our schools,” said Rep. Upton. “As I reached out to my education and law enforcement leaders, they all concurred that doing anything to shorten the time for a response is a very good thing that ultimately saves lives.“
Lori Alhadeff, the mother of Alyssa Alhadeff and co-founder of Make Our Schools Safe, supports the bill. “In a life threatening emergency situation, seconds count,” she said. “The ALYSSA Act will save lives by empowering our teachers to push a button that is directly linked to law enforcement.”
Specifically, the measure would provide federal funds to all public schools receiving federal funding under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to install the silent alarms, according to Rep. Upton’s office.