U.S. Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-NY) holds a press convention following the Senate Democrats weekly coverage lunch on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
President Trump, amid his flurry of government orders final week upon retaking workplace, quietly shut down the Division of Homeland Safety’s (DHS) Faculty Security Board, a panel established within the wake of the 2018 Parkland faculty taking pictures that left 17 college students and employees lifeless.
Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer of New York blasted the choice Sunday as a possible violation of the regulation. He identified that the board was made everlasting by way of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, handed in 2022.
Schumer urged the Trump administration and newly confirmed Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem to instantly reinstate the board, arguing that its work is crucial to stopping faculty shootings.
“Last year alone, there were 330 school shootings, and in response to this tragic number, the Trump administration is now shutting down one of the few efforts aimed at stopping them: the DHS School Safety Board,” Schumer stated. “The gun lobby wants the School Safety Board gone, and today, I am saying that the Trump administration cannot bow down, yet again, to the likes of the NRA.”
The DHS Faculty Security Board, which first convened in October, was composed of college security consultants, civil rights advocates, incapacity rights leaders, superintendents, and oldsters of youngsters killed at school shootings. It was tasked with figuring out and executing methods to bolster faculty security nationwide.
The board was codified into regulation below the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which Schumer performed a key position in passing.
In accordance with DHS, the board introduced collectively consultants in schooling, baby and adolescent well being, public security, regulation enforcement, cybersecurity, and social work. Members additionally represented state, native, tribal, and territorial governments, in addition to faculty directors, college associations, incapacity rights organizations, and the non-public sector.
Schumer didn’t mince phrases on Jan. 26 in his condemnation of the administration’s determination.
“Shutting down the school safety DHS board likely violates the law,” he stated. “This action is making it very clear: it’s going to be the gun lobby over saving lives; it’s going to be the NRA over commonsense. So, I am urging the administration to right this wrong and do right by our students—bring the School Safety Board back to DHS right now.”
Schooling Week, citing a memo obtained from then-acting Homeland Safety Secretary Benjamine Huffman, reported that the choice was a part of an effort to eradicate “misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security.”
“Future committee activities will be focused solely on advancing our critical mission to protect the homeland and support DHS’s strategic priorities,” the memo learn, in response to the Schooling Week report. “To outgoing advisory board members, you are welcome to reapply, thank you for your service.”
