HARTFORD, Conn. — Proposed federal education legislation to fund social and emotional learning skills training for teachers would help prevent violence such as mass shootings, the mother of a 6-year-old boy killed in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School said Friday.
Jesse Lewis and 19 other first-graders and six educators were shot and killed by 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who had a history of emotional problems, before he took his life as police arrived at the school in Newtown.
“I had an intuitive awareness that had the shooter in our case had access to social and emotional learning this tragedy would not have happened,” Jesse’s mother, Scarlett Lewis, said.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, introduced the Jesse Lewis Empowering Educators Act. A similar measure was included in the Every Child Achieves Act that passed the Senate this week. House and Senate versions must be reconciled before being sent to the president.
The legislation provides funding for professional development for teachers to provide non-academic training, specifically emotional and social learning, Blumenthal said. Courses can lead to higher grades, less substance abuse, fewer behavioral problems and higher graduation rates, backers say.
