Whereas, The North Carolina Parent Teacher Association (NCPTA) believes that given PTA’s history of advocacy for the safety of children and youth, North Carolina PTA supports efforts to protect children and youth from violence at school; and
Whereas, With recent school shootings and incidents of violence, school safety and the security of our children and teachers is at the forefront of parent concerns; and
Whereas, There is a need to prevent the escalation of violence in North Carolina; and
Whereas, based on a survey of 116,000 members by North Carolina PTA, respondents expressed that they feel some of the lack of school safety is attributed to:
- A need for mental health issues to be addressed
- Bullying and schools being non-responsive to the reports of bullying
Whereas, North Carolina PTA Advocacy Chairs identified solutions they felt best addressed school safety concerns; and
Whereas, the bylaws of the National PTA and North Carolina PTA both state that a core purpose of PTA is to secure adequate laws for the care and protection of children and youth. In keeping with that mission, the North Carolina PTA encourages and supports initiatives at all levels of government to assure that every school system has sufficient funding to provide every child with an opportunity for a sound basic education. That includes sufficient funding to protect children and youth from violence at school; therefore be it
Resolved, That North Carolina PTA requests that districts add school psychologists to the staff, who can appropriately provide expert observations and address emerging mental health issues, and serve as crisis counselors, which can help create safer schools and more positive learning environments; and be it
Resolved, That North Carolina PTA supports HB933, which allows Nationally Certified School Psychologists to be issued a license in North Carolina by the State Board of Education;
Resolved, That the State Board of Education adopt policies and guidelines that serve to protect students and the school community from violent behavior, and that such behavior not be tolerated in any form; and be it
Resolved, That the North Carolina General Assembly fully fund school nurses at the recommended national standard for the provision of school nursing services at one per school.
Approved by the Advocacy Committee 6/14/18
Approved by the Board of Director 6/27/18