BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — Families and students at Apalachee High School have sounded the alarm after a new school safety bill excluded a key provision.

House Bill 268 would have created a database for districts to share information about students if and when they change schools. However, a committee has removed that language.

Layla Contreras, the lead organizer for Change for Chee says, “if we would’ve known the information from the other school system to ours about the student that committed this crime, this could have been prevented.

The database was previously viewed as controversial over fears that students could potentially be stigmatized. Lawmakers also removed a requirement that schools set up threat management teams.

The mass shooting at Apalachee High School in September of 2024 claimed the lives of two teachers and two students, and injured several others. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified the shooter as 14-year-old Colt Gray.

Here are the details of House Bill 268:

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 2 of Title 20 of the O.C.G.A., relating to elementary and secondary education, so as to provide for the safety, health, and well-being of students and school communities; to create an Office of Safe Schools within the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency; to provide technical assistance for local school systems to develop policies and procedures for their threat management teams; to develop a state-wide behavioral threat management operational process; to provide for definitions; to amend Code Section 16-11-37 of the O.C.G.A., relating to terroristic threats and acts and penalties, so as to provide for the offense of threatening the death of or serious injury to individuals who are or likely to be at school; to amend Article 4 of Chapter 18 of Title 50 of the O.C.G.A., relating to inspection of public records, so as to provide for an exemption; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Colin Gray recently requested to have his trial held outside of Barrow County. He was accused of allowing his son access to the gun used in the deadly attack.

In January, the security systems were installed at three high schools in Barrow County. New gun detection systems were also installed at Barrow County schools in February.