SAVANNAH, GA — Education officials, law enforcement officers and school safety professionals from across Georgia are gathering in Savannah this week for the 2026 Georgia School Safety and Homeland Security Conference.
The conference, hosted by the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency in partnership with the Georgia Department of Education, is focused on sharing best practices and implementing new school safety requirements passed by the Georgia Legislature in 2025.
Homeland Security’s Linda Criblez said one of the biggest topics of discussion is a new requirement designed to speed up the transfer of student records between schools.
“Schools with incoming students can see when a student has had a profile of behavioral problems,” Criblez said.
Criblez said the requirement is one of several new regulations school districts are working to implement.
“The legislative requirement that came that would finance the law in 2025 and we are now in the process of implementing,” Criblez said.
She said the faster transfer of student records is a measure officials believe could have made a difference before the deadly shooting at Apalachee High School.
“Something that we’ve really viewed in the wake of Apalachee as a change that could have made a difference,” Criblez said.
Conference attendees are also discussing other school safety regulations approved by state lawmakers and reviewing how districts are complying with the new requirements.
“This conference provides us a great opportunity to take stock of where we all are, and make sure that we’re keeping up with the legislative requirements,” Criblez said.
WSB Radio’s Lisa Nicholas contributed to this story.