For Immediate Release
Contact: Luke Byars
May 21, 1999 (803) 734-2080
PEELER ANNOUNCES S.O.S. PLAN TO COMBAT SCHOOL VIOLENCE
Columbia-- Today, Lieutenant Governor Bob Peeler announced
a comprehensive plan to combat the problem of school violence in South Carolina.
The new legislation is based on the original Safety in Our Schools (S.O.S.) Plan
first unveiled in 1998. After a series of meetings with teachers, parents and
students during the past year, Lt. Governor Peeler developed a school violence
initiative which includes a variety of innovative methods to address school
safety. Key components of the Peeler S.O.S. plan:
- Require each middle, junior and high school to develop confidential verbal
security codes for use over intercom systems to warn teachers, students, and
staff of various types of danger. This element of the S.O.S. Plan is modeled
after successful programs already underway in select South Carolina schools.
- Require that school principals notify teachers when their students are
arrested (rather than convicted) of violent offenses or charged with illegal
possession or solicitation of firearms.
- Provide 75% state funding for placing a resource officer in every public
middle, junior and high school in South Carolina. Under this facet of the
legislation, local school districts would have the option to hire resource
officers if they opt in to the program with a 25% contribution from local
funds. This provision is based on repeated recommendations made to Peeler
from teachers and parents. It ensures schools which really need resource
officers are given the means to obtain them, while other schools that do not
are not mandated by the state to accommodate them. In addition, the S.O.S.
plan would allow for schools with the most prevalent school violence to
apply for more than one officer. According to the Office of the State
Budget, the recurring state fiscal impact would approximate $10.7 million.
- Require mandatory two-year prison terms for anyone selling a firearm to a
minor. Currently, there is an optional term of up to five years. (The
Attorney General made a similar suggestion earlier this month.)
- Require resource officers to coordinate with existing private/public
anti-crime programs (such as Crimestoppers International and the related
Gunstoppers program) to further develop local strategies to prevent school
violence.
Lt. Governor Peeler said "School safety and the complex issues
associated with protecting our children need careful consideration and deserve
well thought-out solutions. I’m committed to working with elected officials,
law enforcement, teachers, and parents to provide a safer learning environment
for our children."
Peeler postponed the introduction of his school safety bill following the
shootings in Colorado. This new legislation will be introduced in the South
Carolina General Assembly later next week.
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