Perpetrators Often Talk About Plans Before Acting on Them
In 2002, the U.S. Secret Service released the Safe School Initiative in response to the 1999 shootings in Colorado. A key component of this report was the prevention of targeted acts of violence in the school where the perpetrator was a student at that school. When the perpetrator is a member of the student body, it has been documented that in the days and months leading up to the event, leakage occurred. Leakage means details of the event were shared with other students or in the school. Sometimes this leakage was subtle, such as words written on test papers, poetry or journals turned in by the students and videos projects. In other instances, the leakage was more overt and the perpetrator specifically told classmates of his intentions before the event.
Today, we may see more overt messages being shared using social media. Based on the Safe School Initiative recommendations, every threat relating to the school, students or staff should be investigated using a threat assessment team. The process used by this team is the same process used by the Secret Service to protect the President.
Create a Team to Investigate Threats
There are three goals of the threat assessment process: prevent the attack, protect the intended victim and get help for the person planning the attack. If a person is planning to do harm to himself or others, he needs help in dealing with the issues leading him on this pathway of violence.
Threat assessment is not an adversarial process. It is used to investigate all threats and to respond appropriately. It is not appropriate to suspend a seven year old child for simulating a gun using a Pop Tart.
Threat assessment teams are headed by the principal and may include counselors, teachers, coaches or any other staff member. The process can also include law enforcement if the threat is considered a serious, substantive threat. Because it is not an adversarial process, it is important that an advocate for the child be on the team to explain any factors that may have led to the possible threat.
School Culture Shift May Be Required
We must work to improve the culture of our s
chools. Students must feel engaged in both their coursework and with staff members. Staff need to reach out to all students in an attempt to make a positive connection with them. It has been well documented that young people are less likely to make an error in judgment if there is a caring adult in their home, church, school or community.
Although some want to assign bullying as the cause of school violence, this is only a very small part of the issue. The lack of engagement of the child in school is a more important factor.
Teachers must engage with the students inside and outside of the classroom. The best way to make the connection outside the classroom, especially in middle and high school, is for teachers to be in the hallways during class changes. This gives teachers the opportunity to talk to students in a setting other than the classroom and also give the students the opportunity to talk to teachers about areas of concern they may not be able to share in the classroom.
A secondary benefit of teachers being in the hallway during class changes is the ability to monitor behaviors that could lead to an unsafe school.
We also need to provide methods of anonymous reporting for students to use if they feel uncomfortable talking to an adult.
Don’t Forget the Parents
Finally, schools need to engage parents in their safe school plans. Just as we use hotlines for students to report concerning behavior at school, parents must have that same process. Districts must reach out to adults through a school’s open house, newsletters and press releases to let them know their schools are safe, and there are plans and training in place keep their children safe.
Schools must make parents a part of the training for their children. They need to provide parents with age-appropriate talking points for at-home discussions for what their children should do in an emergency.
Districts need to let parents know they have plans for reunification if an event occurs and the school becomes a crime scene. Parents rushing to the scene will delay response from first responders and will add to the problem. A mass notification system should be used to communicate with parents in the event of a crisis and to explain how and when they will be reunited with their children after the crisis.
There Is No Such Thing as ‘Perfect School Security’
School safety is an ongoing process. It involves working with first responders for developing emergency response plans. Staff members must be trained and plans exercised. Districts must refrain from knee-jerk reactions after an event and continue to develop their prevention strategies. This means improving school culture, developing anonymous reporting systems for students and their parents, including parents as partners in school safety, and using threat assessment teams.
Without turning our schools into fortified prisons, we can never prevent the determined killer from causing harm to our students and staff. But by using these strategies, we can significantly reduce the incidents of violence in our schools.
Gary L. Sigrist Jr. is the CEO and president of Safeguard Risk Solutions. He previously served as the readiness and emergency management in schools (REMS) project director for the South-Western City School District in Grove City, Ohio.
Note: The views expressed by guest bloggers and contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, Campus Safety magazine.
Photo courtesy South-Western City Schools
