What Donnelly had to say about Indiana's school safety record

More than 1,200 school employees from across the state are receiving advanced training in school safety this week. Monday and Tuesday the Indiana Department of Education is holding its annual fall School Safety Academy in Downtown Indianapolis, and attendance is the highest its been since the program began, nearly 20 years ago. 

All of the attendees have received some level of training previously, fulfilling state requirements that each district have a trained school safety specialist. Nearly 3,000 individuals have received some level of training, to date. 

"This is our largest school safety academy, which says a lot about the commitment of our school safety specialists, our schools and our communities," State Superintendent Jennifer McCormick said. "We are thrilled."

McCormick discussed the academy and other safety measures at a press conference Monday from the downtown hotel where the academy is being held. She was joined by Sen. Joe Donnelly. The Democrat from South Bend is in the midst of a tough reelection bid against Mike Braun, the Republican hopeful backed by President Donald Trump. 

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McCormick, a Republican, called Donnelly a "constant partner for the Department of Education." 

"We appreciate your constant support of the kids of Indiana," she said. 

She said she wasn't endorsing Donnelly for re-election but thanked him several times for his visibility and support. 

"I'm not endorsing anyone today," she said. "I have been Ellis Island from the beginning. Come one, come all. If you're a Democrat, Republican, Independent, it really doesn't matter to me as long as you're willing to help kids, as long as you bring good ideas.

"That's where Sen. Donnelly came in and has been extremely helpful. I look at it as he's helping students and we need that assistance." 

Indiana's entire congressional delegation was invited Monday, but only Donnelly and Rep. Jim Banks were able to attend. Banks, a Republican from Columbia City, was not able to stay for the afternoon press conference.

Donnelly thanked McCormick, saying he leans on her "for information in the education area all the time" and praised the safety academy. 

"We want everybody to know, across the state, how focused the superintendent is, how focused I am, how focused the people in all of our schools are to make sure that our children are safe on their way to school, when they are at school and on their way home from school," he said. 

Learning from Noblesville shooting

The academy was created in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre that left 15 dead and a national reeling. 

Increased attendance this year, though, may be due to a shooting that hit closer to home this past spring. In May, a teacher and student at Noblesville West Middle School were injured when a 13-year-old student opened fire in a science classroom. 

State and local officials have commended the Noblesville school district for its handling of the event. At Monday's press conference, both McCormick and Donnelly praised the district and said the state-mandated safety plan worked. 

"We met the Noblesville team ... and one of the points they made was that they had a plan in place, they worked the plan and thanks to the good lord and the hard work of everybody there, everybody was OK," he said. 

McCormick said that the district, its law enforcement partners and the state are continuing to look at that day's events and learn what can be done better. One area they've identified, so far, she said is communication. 

On the day of the event, McCormick said other school districts from around the state were calling the department for information. 

"We were, as a department, really a lead on a lot of communications to other districts," McCormick said, "because we started getting the calls saying 'What's going on? We've heard this. Is this real?'"

Spending on safety

Efforts are also ongoing at the state and federal level to give schools more flexibility in how they can spend local, state and federal dollars to direct more money to safety initiatives. McCormick said the state is looking at whether broadening the use of property tax referendums to fund safety and security efforts makes sense and that she expects school safety-related legislation to come up in the General Assembly next session.

In the end, Donnelly said, choices about how schools spend money and other safety initiatives will come down to local decision-making. That includes, he said, whether or not to arm teachers. Indiana is one of several states that already allows teachers or other school district employees to be armed at the discretion of local school boards. 

"Those decisions are made at a a local level," he said. "They'll continue to be made at a local level. I certainly have significant questions about that, but each area, I think, is going to be making a lot of their own decisions."

In a statement from campaign spokesman Josh Kelley, Braun, Donnelly's challenger, said safety decisions shouldn't be made in Washington, D.C. 

"School safety is a critical issue for all Hoosiers," Kelley said, "and Mike Braun believes school safety decisions should be made at the state and local level to ensure parents and teachers have maximum input in keeping children safe."

The department will conduct basic training for new safety specialists in November. Additional training will be held in the spring. 

Call IndyStar education reporter Arika Herron at 317-444-6077. Follow her on Twitter: @ArikaHerron.