March 28, 2024

State Rep. Gregg Amore Introduces School Security Bill

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In a Press Release issued this week, Rhode Island State Representative Gregg Amore, Dist. 65, East Providence announced that he will be introducing two pieces of legislation aimed at preventing violence in Rhode Island’s schools in the wake of the Florida high school shooting.

Amore is a history teacher and currently the Athletic Director for East Providence High School.

“Simply put, too many of our children are dying in our schools. And while the debate over access to guns continues to wage on a national level, these two bills will protect our children while we fight for a solution to our national gun violence epidemic,” said Representative Amore.

The first bill would require that all Rhode Island public schools have a school resource officer on the premises. If a school has over 1,200 students, two school resource officers would need to be present.

“This bill is necessary because some of our schools already have a resource officer, but others do not. Having a trained police officer in our schools is the first line of defense in stopping a potentially deadly and tragic situation from unfolding in Rhode Island’s schools,” added Representative Amore.

The second bill would appropriate additional state school and housing reimbursement for renovation and construction in schools that follows national school security best practices.

“The amount of upgrades and new school construction that is needed in our state is no secret. But, along with making our schools into acceptable teaching facilities for our students, we cannot ignore security updates that will protect our kids from acts of violence as well. Our schools need to be safe, dry, healthy, and most importantly, secure, and this bill will accomplish that,” concluded Representative Amore.

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  • Nanci333

    I would like to thank and applaud Representative Amore for this proposal. It is my understanding that Office Doug Borden currently covers at least two (2) of the largest schools in East Providence *MMS and EPHS). possibly more? Everyone I know has enormous respect for Officer Doug and feel he does an outstanding job, but he is only one (1) officer - for how many schools? how many students?

    After a previous school shooting, "Buzzers" were installed in each school. It is no secret to the students or anyone who has physically gone to these schools, that anyone can get "buzzed in" or simply walk in with other students. This system also needs to be re-visited.

    Tomorrow our children have to return to school . They are afraid, they do not feel safe and sadly, I don't feel safe sending them. It is difficult to help make them feel safe when we also don't believe they are.

    As parents and residents of our City, we all need to do whatever we possibly can to make our schools safer. I urge everyone to support this bill in additional to revisiting our entire security protocol at each school.

    We need to be proactive not just reactive.

    Thank You.

    Sunday, February 25, 2018 Report this


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