Committee advances 'Safety and Violence Education and Students Act' requiring youth violence-prevention, social inclusion training and student clubs

CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Senate Education Committee on March 6 adopted a committee substitute for Senate Bill 548 that creates a new article titled the Safety and Violence Education and Students Act and establishes multiple school-year requirements aimed at violence prevention and social inclusion.

Under the substitute, schools serving students in grades 6–12 must provide at least one hour (or one standard class period) of evidence-based youth-violence prevention training each school year; the Department of Education is required to develop and publicly maintain a list of evidence-based trainings and materials — including no-cost programming if available — and to review that list at least every 36 months. “It’s my understanding that there are trainings available out there that… that’s no cost. That’s my…