LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — According to the Kentucky Department of Education's School Safety Annual Statistical Report, K-12 schools across Kentucky saw an increase of 99.7% in reports of deadly weapons on campus from five years ago. The state agency charged with analyzing that data and providing guidance to schools says that's positive news.
For Jon Akers, executive director of the Kentucky Center for School Safety (KSCC), the numbers mean better tracking, and he wants parents to look at the story beyond the headlines.
"If parents are saying, 'Why all these weapons there?' We're finding more of them and dealing with them, as opposed to, 'Oh no, we don't have any weapons, and everything's fine.' That's Pollyanna. That's not real life," said Akers.
Locally, the reality is there are students arrested and charged every year for gun possession on school property.
According to Fayette County Public Schools records, there were 11 reports of possession of a gun on school property from 2022 to March 2024, not five as they initially shared with LEX 18 on April 12.
LEX 18 did not receive an explanation about why some reports were not included when we asked.
When you look at individual cases closely, Akers says you'll notice another trend, which is part of a strategy they've worked very hard on.
"Kids are our number one solution to these problems. They're the ones coming to us saying, 'Here's what's going on,'" said Akers.
That claim proved true in the cases we analyzed from FCPS. Of the 11 incidents, students provided information in almost every single case.
As a result, nine people were charged, while two faced school consequences.
Akers says it also shows the School Safety and Resiliency Act changes are having an impact.
It was passed the same year the numbers started rising and created the S.T.O.P. anonymous tipline.
"You'll probably see the data years from now where those numbers are going down more and more," said Akers.
He added that there are also threat assessment teams made up of school resources officers, staff, and mental health professionals who look at each incident.
However, his message to parents and guardians is they still have work to do, and they need their help.
"We have kids only 15% of a calendar year," said Akers.
Akers says with this in mind, they plan to continue their current strategy with more investment.
According to the State School Security Marshall's 2022-2023 school year report, school districts are following the law at almost 100% compliance.
In the report, Marshall Ben Wilcox's advice for improving safety includes assigning a school resource officer to every campus in the state and one mental health professional for every 250 students.
Requirements for School Safety
The School Safety and Resiliency Act requires the following as of 2021.
-Annual School Safety Risk Assessment
-District School Safety Coordinator
-District Trauma-Informed Education Plans
-State School Security Marshall
-Kentucky Center for School Safety
-School Resource Officers (if funding available)
Investment in School Safety
Akers is advocating a $2 million state budget for the Kentucky Center for School Safety. Some priorities include:
- Safe School Assessments:
"This year we can only afford to conduct 65 assessments for public schools—we had 118 requests. In addition, we are frequently being asked to provide this service to our private school colleagues as well," shared Akers.
- Salaries and Fringe benefits for full-time employees
- Principal Mentor Program: "The average tenure of school principals is 5 years before they move on. There are usually 100 new principals hired each year. We created this program to provide mentors for new principals. We assign a master principal with a new principal," shared Akers.
- Training and Technical Assistance: Sending school safety consultants to provide training and/or technical services to school districts.
- Threat Assessment Team Training and Implementation: "We provide Kentucky sensitive TAT training and assist schools as they implement setting up these teams. We keep TATs current on all facets of threat assessment trends," shared Akers.
- School-related agency conference co-sponsorships
- School Resource Officer support: "We provide SRO mentors for newly appointed SROs, supplemental training in addition to what DOCJT provides, assistance to school districts that contract with law enforcement agencies or establish SLEO programs or establish a school district-based police agency," shared Akers.
- EKU: expanding programs.
- Murray State University KCCS Resource Center: to increase the number of printed resources to individual schools.
"Currently, KCSS is quite limited providing these resources to schools. We cannot keep up with the demand, explained Akers."
