Dear Friends, Neighbors and Partners in Education:
We reach out to you today to virtually join hands with our community. Our hearts are heavy and torn and aching for parents and families in Texas and for our nation as a whole. And we know that you are hurting as well. The horrific gun violence this week and recent weeks has touched us all. But, as we did during a global pandemic and past challenges, we will hope to join as a community to stand in solidarity, heal and move toward a safer future.
Please know that we, as a board, are committed to doing all we can to keep all our children and staff safe as we continue to improve our safety policies and modernize our facilities. As part of our advocacy on behalf of Northshore, we support gun violence awareness initiatives and will be discussing June 3’s Gun Violence Awareness Day at our next board meeting. At the state level, we and school board directors across Washington have made it clear to our legislature and advocate through WSSDA for gun violence prevention. At the General Assembly in 2015, the school boards of Washington adopted a legislative position titled “Funding Behavioral Support Services and Social-
“In the interest of school safety, WSSDA shall support legislation calling for gun violence prevention.
- Promote gun violence prevention, adequately funds public-health research and education on firearms-related issues, and materially advances the coordinated delivery of mental health prevention and intervention programs between schools and communities, as they are likely more effective than stand-alone programs.
- Rejects arming of any additional (beyond current laws) school staff for any purpose, and will maintain existing regulation of firearms at school and will not support any effort to arm educators or staff.
- Support the existing regulation banning firearms from schools as detailed under RCW 9.41.280 and support additional legislation that reduces risk of mass casualty events such as safe storage of firearms.”
As a board, we will continue to focus on prioritizing safety and wellness in all of our schools. And as a community, we will continue to work together to care for each other and keep our children safe.
Yours,
NSD School Board