Fung announces plan to improve school safety

September 24, 2018 10:53 pm

By: News Staff

Email: news@abc6.com

Twitter: @ABC6

PROVIDENCE, R.I (WLNE) – Republican gubernatorial candidate Allan Fung has announced his plan to improve safety in Rhode sland schools.

Fung said as governor he would fund school resource officers or police details at a 50-50 cost share with cities and towns.

He would also set aside 30-thousand dollars for each school so they can make quick safety upgrades, including things like video monitoring equipment, barriers on doors, and bulletproof film for windows.

The republican said it would not be on an application and committee review basis like Governor Raimondo’s current program, but with equal distribution to every school in every district.

The complete statement released by Fung’s spokesperson includes the following:

Today, Mayor Fung is announcing that as Governor, he would fund school resource officers or police details at a 50/50 cost share with cities and towns.

Additionally, he will allocate $30,000 per school for rapid security equipment upgrades, like video monitoring equipment, door intruder barriers, and bulletproof film for windows. This will not be on an application and committee review basis as per Governor Raimondo’s current program, but with equal distribution to every school in every school district. The funds will also be reimbursed versus paid upfront, to prevent waste and fraud.

Mayor Fung also used this press availability to push back against Governor Raimondo’s deceitful advertisements. Mayor Fung has always supported jump starting school construction via a bond. Earlier this year, he expressed his concerns with the way it would be implemented, as Governor Raimondo had removed the school maintenance requirement, and there were no guarantees that every community would have equal access to this financing. Since then, the legislature reinstated the maintenance requirement, and as such made it a better bill. As Governor, Mayor Fung looks forward to being able to implement the bond in a way that’s fair to all communities.

Finally, Mayor Fung pushed back on the cause of “crumbling infrastructure” at Edgewood Highlands, the sight of the press conference. This was not the result of maintenance issues, but instead a burst Providence Water pipe outside of the school that flooded into the school. It is nearly the same thing as blaming Gina Raimondo for the fire at the lottery complex due to a birds nest. At some point, it needs to be pointed out that Gina Raimondo cannot run on her record, but instead must exaggerate every detail to the point of ridiculous hyperbole (i.e. exploding toilets) in order to distract from her disasters.

A spokesperson for Governor Raimondo’s campaign responded to Fung’s plan in a statement with the following statement:

Mayor Fung’s proposal to put armed guards in every school will not make students, teachers and Rhode Island families any safer. Governor Raimondo’s spoken to teachers, parents and students; they tell her, “We don’t need more guns in schools, we need a ban on assault weapons.” Rhode Island schools are safer because of Governor Raimondo’s actions to ban non-law enforcement personnel from carrying firearms on school grounds and because of her leadership to strengthen the state’s gun laws. Allan Fung is showing once again that he shares Donald Trump’s values, not Rhode Island’s.