Tennessee bill addressing fire alarms after Nashville school shooting heads to governor
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee lawmakers passed a law requiring public and private schools to determine why a fire alarm went off before evacuating children from classrooms. They sent the governor a proposal on Monday, inspired by a deadly shooting at an elementary school in Nashville.
The Senate passed the legislation after the House approved it earlier this month, with no vote against the bill in either chamber. Lawmakers have directly linked the bill to the shooting at The Covenant School, in which a gunman killed six people, including three children, last March.
Smoke from the gunman’s weapon triggered the school’s fire alarm, but some students and teachers didn’t know what was happening when they heard it. This confusion ultimately led to the death of third-grader William Kinney, who was assigned as line leader for his class that day and was the first to collide with the gunman in a hallway while helping students out of the classroom.
“During the Covenant shooting, the fire alarm went off, and the natural response is to go into the hallway and get out of the building,” said Sen. Ferrell Haile, a Gallatin Republican who sponsored the bill. “Well, the shooter was in the hallway waiting for the students to come out.”
The bill now goes to Republican Governor Bill Lee, who has not vetoed legislation during his time in office.
Under the legislation, all public and private schools would be required to develop a policy that instructs school personnel on how to respond to a fire alarm activated as a result of an active shooter. These plans must be ready to be implemented before July 1.
The bill falls within one of the Republican supermajority Legislature’s focus areas in the aftermath of the shooting, including resources for school safety, mental health and other issues. Republican lawmakers have rejected calls for stricter gun control measures. Some Republican lawmakers have called for further easing of gun control laws.
A group of family members of students at The Covenant School have advocated for the passage of the fire alarm bill, along with some gun reform measures and other changes. Some were in the gallery for Monday’s floor session.