Letter to Editor | Looking back at local reaction to Sandy Hook’s school shooting

||| FROM FRED KLEIN |||

News that the parents of some of the 20 schoolchildren at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut who, along with six adults, were killed in a mass shooting event in 2012, have reached a $73M settlement with the insurance companies for the now bankrupt Remington Arms Company, reminds me of the impact of that event on Orcas Island.

After our sheriff and his deputies conducted “live shooter” drills at our school campus, a diverse group of 36 Islanders met for 15 hours in four meetings over a week’s time in an effort:

“To reach a consensus on what changes to local practices and attitudes we can make in order to lower the risk of the tragedy at Newtown, Connecticut occurring on Orcas Island; and to draft a statement of that consensus to be published and shared with the Orcas community.”

Given the rise of mass-shooting events all over the country, many of which have been attributed to the stresses of the COVID pandemic, perhaps it would be timely to take a look at what “changes to local practices and attitudes” were recommended and assess to what degree they have been implemented and remain relevant today.

The recommendations were placed under four headings; namely, Gun Issues, Individual Responsibility, Community Caring, and Wellbeing.

You can read the Sandy Hook FINAL EDIT. So the question I pose to our school administrators, law enforcement, mental health professionals, and the community at large is…”How are we doing regarding implementation?”