A University of Oregon expert on violence and school safety says it’s time for Oregon legislators to offer more than lip service to the need for school safety. Hill Walker, who is co-director and founder of the UO Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior (IVDB), has proposed that the state establish and fund a center on school safety. "Oregon now has a law that requires schools to draft school improvement plans. We have no law requiring safe school plans. This strikes me as ridiculous. Which would parents rather have?" Walker asks. At 1 p.m. tomorrow (Friday, April 23) in Hearing Room B at the Oregon Capitol in Salem, Walker and IVDB co-director Jeff Sprague will testify before the Oregon Senate Education Committee on SB-144, which would establish the Oregon Center for School Safety. Walker says the bill, patterned after a Kentucky law, would pull together the latest research on school safety, collect data on at-risk youth and provide school safety training for Oregon school districts.

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