Nevada Legislature: Bill would update school safety standards, add therapists

Nevada Democrats are proposing updated school safety standards based on lessons learned from the Sparks Middle School shooting.

Assemblywoman Teresa Benitez-Thompson is sponsoring AB218 and testified for the bill on Monday in the Assembly Education Committee.

The bill sets the goal of hiring a school psychologist or counselor for every 250 students, and Benitez-Thompson said she’s working with Assembly budget committees to obtain funding.

Provisions in the bill call for more frequent lockdown drills and an annual state school safety conference. The Reno assemblywoman said those came from lessons learned after the 2013 school shooting that left a teacher and the 12-year-old gunman dead.

Benitez-Thompson said school safety standards haven’t been updated since 2001.