BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Governor Kathy Hochul signed Alyssa’s Law Thursday morning as a way to combat an active shooting situation for schools.
Alyssa’s Law is named after Alyssa Alhadeff, a Queens native who died in a school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, along with 17 others.
“Today we’re taking a further step. I’m proud to sign the Alyssa’s Law to protect the children who sit in the classrooms trying to get an education,” says Hochul.
Niagara Falls City School District Superintendent Mark Laurrie calls Alyssa’s Law another step forward in protecting schools, and his district is already taking action.
“We at Niagara Falls are looking at two additional factors next year. One is to alarm every door so that if a door for any reason is propped open longer for a number of seconds an alarm will sound,” Laurrie says. “Secondly we will install vestibules in every school so there’s two buzzer systems you have to get through.”
The superintendent says he and the school board will have several meetings to discuss implementing more safety and security measures for students and teachers.
“It’ll be a continuous topic in our school board meetings,” he says. “We’ve been given the go-ahead for the school board to proceed with whatever the administration and staff feels that’s necessary.”
Laurrie says elementary and high school students will take part in active shooting drills, which he calls unfortunate.
“This is a new pandemic, one that is unfortunately that’s difficult to deal with than the COVID pandemic,” he says. “In terms of the different areas we have to look into to make this secured as possible, but today’s announcement is a step in the right direction.”
Several other school districts haven’t say what safety and security measures they plan on implementing.
