OLYMPIA — Seven years after a gunman killed 17 people in a Florida high school, the mother of one of the victims testified in support of a bill in the Washington Legislature that would encourage schools to install panic alert systems to hasten emergency response times.
If passed, the bill would require schools to develop emergency response plans that use technology to bring quicker help to campus, including panic buttons, live video or audio feeds that can be accessed by law enforcement, remote access to doors, or live two-way communication.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, has received broad bipartisan support so far this session. The legislation unanimously passed the state Senate earlier last month, and on Wednesday, received a hearing in the House Education Committee.
Among those who testified in support of the legislation was Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter, Alyssa, was killed in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 students and teachers were killed and an additional 17 people injured in an incident, Alhadeff said, that "destroyed" her community.
"The wounds affect us so deeply; it's so difficult," Alhadeff said. "So if we can put these emergency response systems in our schools, it will not only save lives, it will prevent future harm to communities that have to go through these school shootings, that unfortunately, we have every day."
Following the shooting, Alhadeff founded the nonprofit Make Our Schools Safe, which encourages schools to install security features for emergencies.
"No mother, no father, no family should ever have to feel the helplessness, the gut-wrenching pain of knowing that their child needed saving and that time ran out," Alhadeff said. "The principle of Alyssa's law is simple: time equals life. And when a threatening emergency does happen, whether it's an active shooter or a medical crisis or other danger, seconds matter."
During her testimony Tuesday, Alhadeff described her daughter as a "bright, fierce, and passionate young girl who dreamed of becoming a lawyer, a leader."
The day of the shooting, Alhadeff said she sent her daughter to school like it was "any other day."
"I never imagined it would be the last time I would see her alive," Alhadeff said.
In recent years, more than a half-dozen states around the country have passed versions of Alyssa's law, with legislation currently active in an additional 16 states.
"Alyssa's law ensures that our schools have the tools to get help immediately by using emergency response systems that connect directly to law enforcement," Alhadeff said. "It empowers teachers and safeguards students and speeds up response times. Had Alyssa's law been in place on that tragic day ... lives could have been saved. I believe that with every fiber in my being."
According to Torres, her office contacted each of Washington's 295 school districts to inquire about their safety protocol, with responses from 195. While each school district told Torres' office that their facilities had exterior doors that locked, 42 districts lacked key card access. Of those that responded, 107 told the Senator's office that their campus' had either panic or lockdown buttons, though some were either outdated or only partially installed.
"There is definitely a need, and I'm hoping that you will see the importance of this bill in keeping our students safe at school, because that's where we send them off," Torres said in her testimony Wednesday. "We're expecting them to be safe."
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