Efforts to keep Connecticut schools safe have escalated since last year’s Newtown shootings, reports the Hartford Courant. Still, at least 1,246 weapons or common items used as weapons surfaced in schools in the 2011-2012 school year. The list included at least 16 handguns and two rifles or shotguns. “It’s almost impossible to absolutely ensure that a gun is never going to come into a school building by the hands of a student, a teacher or a visitor,” said school safety expert Edward Dragan of Education Management Consulting in Lambertville, N.J.
Of the state’s approximately 1,100 public k-12 schools, 537 reported at least one incident where a “weapon” was involved. The state collects the data from local school systems. “While our goal is certainly to have a crime-free school, in reality, schools are a reflection of the community in which they serve — and you’re going to have the same societal ills in our schools,” said school safety expert Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland-based national consulting firm.