School Safety Security Task Force discuss new requirements for schools as part of new bill

SALT LAKE CITY — State legislators and stakeholders that make up the School Safety Security Task Force met on Monday for the first time this year to discuss new safety requirements implemented in HB84.

One of the biggest requirements includes a school safety needs assessment. Each school in the state must fill one out and that will determine how much funding the school will receive for security and safety.

This bill also requires all new school construction and reconstruction to meet minimum safety and security standards established by State Security Chief Matt Pennington. The standards include limited entry points, video surveillance, door locks, security film on windows and a Wearable panic button for a teacher in each classroom, to name a few.

Pennington highlighted concerns for most of these items, including the panic alert devices.

“You have a lot of districts that had started implemented measures prior to the bill being passed that are not necessarily wearable,” he said during Monday’s meeting.

Another big question was whether the task force would enforce certain vendors to provide these wearable panic alert devices.

Read the full story from KSL.com here.