In the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings, a group of 45 educators, students, lawmakers and public safety leaders are ready to get to work in making Virginia's schools safer.
They all make up the governor's newly formed School and Campus Safety Task Force.
Monday's meeting marks the beginning of a major review of safety practices. The governor established this task force through an executive order last month. He wants the members of the task force to establish a series of best practices to keep children safe at school.
Charlottesville Fire Chief Charles Werner and Staunton Police Chief Jim Williams are both members of the statewide task force.
"We are using this example as a call to action to say let's review all this to see what, if anything, we need to do differently," Werner said.
Williams said, "We just want to be ready for something to happen, and we also want to try to prevent these things from happening if we can."
Both acknowledge the aggressive timeline of the task force. It will pass along its initial recommendations to the governor by January 31. That's to make sure any legislative or budget proposals make it before lawmakers in the General Assembly in February.
The task force's final recommendations are due in late June.
