Hawaii public schools may need to prepare for shootings, says head of state board

Hawaii’s public school system has no specific policy requiring schools to prepare teachers or students for an active-shooter scenario. However, the head of the state Board of Education said Tuesday that the time has come to consider one.

“Given what’s happening, it’s suddenly moved higher up on the priority list,” board Chair Catherine Payne said during an interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, responding to Tuesday’s elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in which at least 19 children and two adults were killed in one of the deadliest school shootings in modern U.S. history.

“This is such a big national issue, and I think student safety is probably the foundation upon which we build everything else,” Payne said. “If kids don’t feel safe coming to school, they’re not going to be learning very well — and if teachers don’t feel safe. So we need to make sure we have things in place to reassure people that we have this together.”

While Payne is stepping down from the board in June and a new board chair will be named by the governor, she said she expects the board to direct the state Department of Education to assess and report on the kinds of preparations and safeguards the schools are undertaking against shootings. The findings would determine whether a new board policy would be proposed.

The board already has several policies calling for general safety in schools and DOE workplaces, including policy E-305, titled “Safe Schools, Safe Students,” which directs the DOE to “institute procedures for ensuring the safety and security of pupils, personnel and school buildings.”

Payne, a former Farring­ton High School principal, said the public schools generally have been required to run trainings and drills routinely for emergencies such as fires, and should have been conducting drills also for shooting scenarios at least annually. But she said it’s unclear how consistently schools have done so during the pandemic, when distance learning and preventing spread of the virus have taken the focus.

The wide layout of many Hawaii schools also tends to pose a security challenge that merits reexamining, Payne said. Unlike mainland schools contained in buildings that can install metal detectors at a single entrance and can be locked up in emergencies, island schools tend to spread out classrooms with multiple access points.

State Rep. Amy Perruso (D, Wahiawa-Whitmore-­Poamoho), a former Mililani High School teacher, said she has never heard a teacher or student complain that they worry about the threat of gun violence. Hawaii has been fortunate that “there’s not that kind of culture here,” and gun control laws are stricter here than in many other places, she said.

But it’s still crucial for campuses to stay prepared, she said, and “if schools aren’t engaging in those drills, they’re just not in compliance. That’s important for communities to know.”

The Hawaii State Teachers Association on Tuesday said it did not yet have formal recommendations on next steps for the schools. But HSTA President Osa Tui Jr. issued a statement saying: “Hawaii’s public school educators grieve for the Uvalde, Texas, families whose precious children so full of life, laughter, and love had those qualities stolen from them today. We also mourn the tragic loss of a teacher. Teachers report to schools each and every day to provide a safe space for those under their care.

“School shootings are becoming appallingly commonplace in America and we call on those who can enact laws to act right away to end gun violence in our schools. Please send your love and aloha to the affected communities and give your children extra hugs tonight.”