The February 12 release of a draft report of Governor Dannel Malloy’s Sandy Hook Advisory Commission has come one day ahead of a meeting where the panel was scheduled to vote on its formal release. The report has already produced reactions from members of Connecticut’s legislative delegation in Washington.

US Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, and Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty, who all rushed to the scene on 12/14 and worked to support the community as it began dealing with the aftermath and recovery, issued the following statement regarding the report released today by on the governor’s website:

“Two years ago, after the horrific tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, families across the nation stood united in demanding action so that not one more community would have to suffer such senseless heartache, fear, and loss,” the statement reads. “Since then, there have been more than 100 additional school shootings, and Congress has yet to act on commonsense measures, supported by the vast majority of Americans that would help stem this national crisis.”

In the statement, the lawmakers pledge to “continue to fight for these commonsense measures that would deprive murderers of the key means of massacre, provide law enforcement the additional tools they have sought to enforce the laws on the books, strengthen school security, and fix our broken mental health system.

“We thank Governor Malloy and the legislature for steps already taken to save lives in our state and thank the Commission for its diligent and dedicated service — a difficult, and heart-wrenching task that should give Congress a roadmap for tackling public safety reforms that a majority of Americans and Connecticut residents need and demand,” Blumenthal, Murphy and Esty said.

A dedication at the front of the draft reads: “The Sandy Hook Advisory Commission dedicates this report to the twenty-six victims who were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012, to their families, the Newtown community, and to all those that have come face-to-face with the devastating effects of violence.”

It goes on to refer readers to MySandyHookFamily.org, which the commission states is a website created by the families of those killed on 12/14 in an effort to honor and remember the lives and legacies of each victim.

“The Commission could think of no better way to honor these individuals than to direct our readers to this site. Here you will learn more about the memorials created for each child and educator killed,” the report states.

The executive summary of the 250-plus page document, which uses the initials A.L. to refer to perpetrator Adam Lanza, identifies several other documents already released that relate exhaustive details about the incident and the parties involved including the Danbury State’s Attorney’s report/appendix, which were made public in December 2013; and the investigative files of the Connecticut State Police of November 25, 2013; the Report of the Child Advocate Concerning The Shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

“It is not the purpose of this report to provide a forensic examination of the events of that date,” the commission’s draft report states. It also warns of graphic details that may be disturbing to some readers.

The summary takes readers through a timeline that begins on December 11, 2012, when Nancy Lanza left Newtown for an extended trip to New Hampshire. The report states that “she told friends (that trip) was intended to serve as both a respite from the difficulties of being A.L.’s mother and as an experiment in leaving A.L. alone for longer periods of time.”

The balance of the summary briefly describes the sequence of events that played out after she returned, and concludes with the suicide of Adam Lanza.

“Although the Commission has chosen to conclude the description of the events of December 14, 2012 at the time of the death of A.L., it recognizes and acknowledges that, in many ways, the event continues to this day for many of those involved,” the summary concludes. “While certain events, like the notification to parents and families that their loved ones were killed in the attack, can be fixed in time and place, the experiences of the many different participants are so different after 9:40 a.m. on December 14, 2012 that the commission feels it would be a disservice to all to attempt to capture those experiences in this section of the report.”

Introductory elements of the report also include Gov Malloy’s charge to the commission, as well as other acknowledgements to those who assisted the commission, including “the teachers and parents of Newtown, Connecticut, who experienced directly the deadly and traumatic events of December 14, 2012 and who shared their personal experience of that tragedy with members of the Commission. This report cannot bring back their loved ones who died, nor can it heal the wounds of the living. But the Commission hopes that this report will provide some solace by proposing recommendations that may help other children, parents, teachers and communities avoid similar tragedies.”

Key findings and recommendations in the draft include:

*Connecticut should develop a comprehensive statewide plan for effectively responding to large-scale school crisis events that includes educational and behavioral health agencies;

*Connecticut and its municipalities should incorporate an enhanced focus on the mental health implications of disasters and other crisis events into all disaster preparedness and response protocols, and implement measures to address the behavioral health needs of children as well as adults;

*Connecticut should better integrate behavioral health and educational responses to disaster events by thoughtfully incorporating educational and behavioral health agencies into the state’s Unified Command System;

*Investment in preparing to recover from a major crisis will pay major dividends every day, even in communities fortunate enough to escape a major school or community crisis event. Meeting needs daily in schools and communities will be a major step in improving everyday functioning as well as recovery from large-scale crises;

*While short-term support by mental health professionals from outside the community may be required or helpful in the immediate aftermath of a crisis event, the goal should be to transition direct services provided during the recovery process to those who are part of the impacted community or adjoining/nearby communities;

*The state should also offer the option of engaging a short-term support team, developed prior to an event, to school districts overwhelmed by tragedies to assist in planning and decision-making, such as communications, management of mental health response, provision of security, managing personnel and labor issues, and donations.

*The state must strengthen its knowledge base about how to meet the emotional and psychological needs of the adult personnel who are part of the crisis response in the schools and ensure that there is a plan to address those needs promptly.

*While funding for immediate recovery efforts must be readily available, it is equally important to harmonize funding mechanisms with the true length of time that services are required and to minimize the discontinuity of services that results from transitory funding mechanisms such as short-term grants. The plan should also include provisions addressing bereavement and meaning-making through memorialization and commemoration activities so that communities can approach these proactively;

*Connecticut should create mechanisms to implement ongoing training and professional development programs outside of crisis circumstances for teachers and school personnel, and establish statewide training requirements tied to professional certification and recertification;

*Connecticut should better integrate the behavioral health and education responses to school crisis events by creating a mechanism that facilitates the immediate coordination of supportive services. Although there may be one lead agency overseeing the recovery efforts, the response and recovery will require integrated and complementary services from multiple state agencies and departments. It is also important to create linkages to community programs offering bereavement support, faith-based groups that can provide supportive services, and agencies providing victim services; and

*To help victims regain a sense of control, communication and engagement with victims of crisis events should not follow a one-size-fits-all approach but instead should be calculated to enhance each individual’s capacity to control his or her own recovery process. A central clearing house for information relevant to disaster response and recovery, with clearly identified channels of access, would help to mitigate the sorts of communication barriers that can impede recovery and risk re-traumatizing vulnerable members of the community.

The commission’s meeting, scheduled for 9:30 am Friday, February 13, will be broadcast on CT-N, the Connecticut government television network, and will presumably simulcast on the station’s website, www.ctn.state.ct.us.