Zwiener to host school safety town hall

State Rep. Erin Zwiener (D-Driftwood) will host a town hall on school safety.

The San Marcos Safe Texas Town Hall will take place Tuesday at Goodnight Middle School — 1301 State Highway 123. During the meeting, the community will have a chance to hear about the overall efforts to protect children in schools as well as address concerns.

“We’re going to hear from [San Marcos CISD], law enforcement and first responders about what emergency plans are already in place and what adjustments they are considering,” Zwiener said. “We’re going to hear from mental health professionals about what services are already in place, what else is being considered and how to talk to your kids about gun violence. Also, going to provide just a legislative baseline of what work we’ve done previously on school safety on everything from mental health in schools to gun safety. And, give a legislative perspective about what questions we’re going to face next session. There’s also a lot of time set out for parents and other community members to share their own thoughts and ask questions. We really wanted to make sure people had a chance to be heard. Most have a lot of feelings after Uvalde.”

Tuesday marks three weeks since the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on May 24 where 19 children and two teachers were killed.

“I know as a parent the massacre in Uvalde has shaken me to my core and I feel many other parents feel the exact same way,” Zwiener said. “So our hope is to give San Marcos families some compass in steps that are already being taken, as well as giving them info on how to pursue other steps they feel necessary.”

Zwiener said moving forward she hopes a bigger conversation is had regarding firearm safety and mental health in schools.

“We’re having all of this conversation right now about school hardening and mental health and what not and these are all real challenges but we also have to have a conversation as a community about what we want our schools to feel and look like,” Zwiener said. “We have to have a conversation about what things we feel are acceptable risk. Mental health is incredibly important to address but there’s no reason to believe that it will stop school shootings. And so, I’m hoping we’ll have a bigger conversation about firearm safety as well and what legislative options there may be because quite frankly the ball has been in motion on mental health and school hardening since the Santa Fe school shooting in 2018.”

Tuesday’s town hall begins at 6 p.m. and lasts through 8 p.m. Those interested in attending the event are asked to register and can submit questions or comments to the panel at https://tinyurl.com/TxHD45.

Zwiener’s office said additional town halls in other parts of House District 45 will be announced soon.