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Rep. Pete Aguilar joins San Bernardino educators to tout new federal school safety funding

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Officials gathered at the scene of a 2017 school shooting in San Bernardino on Monday, Aug. 8, to talk about their hopes for a safer school climate in the new academic year.

In April 2017, the estranged husband of a special education teacher entered her classroom at North Park Elementary and opened fire, killing the woman and an 8-year-old student and shooting another student before killing himself.

“That shooting left visible wounds on our community, our teachers and on our entire neighborhood,” Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-San Bernardino, said at a news conference held on the school lawn Monday.

“I share the concerns parents have about student safety,” he added. “As a father who wakes up and takes his kids to public school, it’s something that is personal to me. And I’m tired of waking up to news of mass shootings in our schools and in our communities. Whether it’s Uvalde or Sandy Hook or Parkland or San Bernardino.”

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Aguilar is cutting Congress’ traditional August recess short this year and heading back to Washington on Friday, but before that, he was at North Park promoting the newly passed Safer Communities Act.

“Every school district in this country needs more resources,” Aguilar said. “And the challenges that our young people face in schools is growing ever more present. And we’re seeing that, not just because of the pandemic, but the pandemic enhanced a lot of these issues as well, and so (we’re) ensuring that students have the resources to be successful in the classroom.”

  • Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-San Bernardino, and officials from San Bernardino...

    Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-San Bernardino, and officials from San Bernardino County gathered at San Bernardino’s North Park Elementary School on Monday, Aug. 8, to talk about the impact of the recently passed federal Safer Communities Act, which includes billions to make schools safer. North Park was the site of a 2017 school shooting that left a teacher and a student dead and another student wounded. (Photo by Beau Yarbrough, The Sun/SCNG)

  • San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Ted Alejandre speaks at...

    San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Ted Alejandre speaks at North Park Elementary School about the impact of the recently passed federal Safer Communities Act, which includes billions to make schools safer. (Photo by Beau Yarbrough, The Sun/SCNG)

  • Joseph Paulino, chief of the San Bernardino City Unified district...

    Joseph Paulino, chief of the San Bernardino City Unified district police department, speaks at North Park Elementary School about the impact of the recently passed federal Safer Communities Act, which includes billions to make schools safer. (Photo by Beau Yarbrough, The Sun/SCNG)

  • Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-San Bernardino, speaks at North Park Elementary...

    Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-San Bernardino, speaks at North Park Elementary School about the impact of the recently passed Safer Communities Act, federal legislation which includes billions to make schools safer. (Photo by Beau Yarbrough, The Sun/SCNG)

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According to the American School Counselors Association and the California Association of School Counselors, California schools, on average, have half of the recommended number of counselors. Only Arizona, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota are worse off.

“With the lack of resources and of funding in the previous decades, school counselors, mental health specialists, those pieces have eroded,” Aguilar said. “Our job is to help deliver those resources locally.”

The Safer Communities Act, more formally known as S. 2938, was signed into law by President Joe Biden on June 25. It’s best known for sending $750 million to states to set up and run mental health crisis intervention programs; requiring more gun sellers to register as federally licensed firearm dealers; expanding background checks for young people buying guns; new federal laws against gun trafficking; and stopping anyone convicted of a domestic violence crime against someone they have a “continuing serious relationship of a romantic or intimate nature” with — not just spouses, as under previous law — from having a gun.

The act also provides at least $2.35 billion for mental health programs and improving security at the nation’s schools. It’s unclear how much money will be coming to San Bernardino City Unified, North Park, or any school district or campus as the funding makes its way through federal, state and local channels.

“We’ve really had to think differently about how to connect students that have experienced trauma,” said San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Ted Alejandre, who began his educational career as a fourth-grade teacher at North Park.

Studies conducted before the coronavirus pandemic have shown at least one in 20 American children suffer from post-traumatic stress. And during the pandemic, evidence suggests that young people took the biggest hit in mental health.

Alejandre praised the act for providing more funding for mental health services in schools.

“The Safer Communities Act delivers the necessary resources to help San Bernardino County schools prioritize the well-being of all of our students,” he said.

Those mental health needs were echoed by San Bernardino City Unified school board member Barbara Flores, who was attending Monday’s press conference.

“We’re coming out of COVID, we’ve had all these shootings. People are very nervous,” she said. “This is a timely, timely bill.”

District students are asking for wellness centers, like one open now at Sierra High School. San Bernardino City Unified officials are hoping the Safer Communities Act will provide more funding for the district to hire more counselors and build more wellness centers.

After the 2017 shooting, North Park quickly received security upgrades, including tempered glass windows, steel doors that lock from the inside and every classroom has a second door that leads outside, in case of emergency. Over the summer of 2017, the school was also completely remodeled to make the campus not feel like the same one where three people had been shot and two had died.

The Safer Communities Act includes $300 million in funding for safety measures for schools.

“Safety and security belongs to the entire community,” said Joseph Paulino, San Bernardino City Unified’s chief of police. “It belongs to all of us.”


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