Implement multi-disciplinary threat assessment with reporting mechanisms and safe channels for students to come forward¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The brief recommends that schools train personnel in threat assessment, in which "a careful protocol implemented by a multi-disciplinary team" examines threats and deals with them, differentiating false alarms from real threats and providing appropriate interventions for real ones. It further recommends establishing a mechanism for making credible threats known, educating school and community members about warning signs, and creating safe spaces for students to report threats, since students often know about a classmate's threat.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Personnel trained in threat assessment
• A mechanism for making credible threats known
• Safe spaces for students to come forward and report threats

Constraints¶

• Threat assessment requires knowing about the threat; in many cases red flags were ignored despite somebody knowing something about the perpetrator's violent intentions

Target Learners¶

• School staff and administrators
• Students
• Parents and community members

Target Learning Goals¶

• Identifying and reporting warning signs and differentiating real threats from false alarms before an attack occurs

Related Strategies¶

• Prefer lockdown drills over highly realistic, unannounced active shooter exercises, embedding them in layered emergency preparedness

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Langman, P., Petrosino, A., & Persson, H. (2018). Five misconceptions about school shootings. San Francisco, CA: WestEd. https://www.wested.org/resources/five-misconceptions-about-school-shootings/