Illinois School Safety Summit - FOX 18 - Quad Cities News and Weather

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn brought together more than 50 people from nearly 30 different offices, agencies and organizations across the state for this four-hour round table discussion in Springfield today.

The attendees, top experts representing the fields of education, public safety, mental health and law enforcement, each brought their own experiences and perspectives into the mix to com up with short and long term actions the state can take to find better ways to keep students safe.

"Violence is preventable and we must identify the causes of violence and make sure we address it and do something about it and work together on it," Quinn said.

State officials said this is only a first step in a process that will likely take months.

The next step is to have attendees break up into work groups to refine today's ideas

They'll pass those ideas down for use at the local levels.