Article by Kenna Powell, Providence Day School
Creating a safe and secure school environment requires a multi-faceted, strategic approach. While changes to security technology and facilities may be one way to improve school safety, an equally if not more important strategy is behavioral threat assessment (BTA). BTA is a process in which a school identifies students of concern, assesses their risk for engaging in violence or other harmful activities, and identifies intervention strategies to manage that risk. The idea is that problems are identified and addressed before they become serious, mitigating the potential for school violence.
Making It Official
Many consider the close-knit communities of independent schools to be a protective factor that reduces risk. We know our students so well that it may seem easy to quickly recognize anyone or anything worrisome. We cannot rely on school culture and climate alone, however. Consider these three questions:
- Does your school have and consistently apply a formal, written process to recognize and report behaviors of concern?
- Does the process have a low threshold to identify students before they pose a risk to self or others?
- Does the process specify the point at which the school would engage local law enforcement to help mitigate and transfer part of that risk?
If your answer to any of these questions is no, consider this: in the aftermath of the unthinkable, what would your school’s position be? It’s a sobering thought.
An Established Process
BTA is not a new phenomenon but has moved into the national spotlight as school communities seek to reverse the trend of school shootings and other acts of violence. It is just one piece of a multidisciplinary approach to mitigating the potential for violence in schools.
A strong but non-traditional ally for independent schools is the Department of Homeland Security and, more specifically, the U.S. Secret Service. Following the tragic school shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida and Santa Fe High School in Texas, the agency has increased efforts to help schools improve safety. Last year, it released “Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model: an Operational Guide for Preventing Targeted School Violence.”
Given that this model is considered best practice and even mandatory in some states for public schools, the liability for not implementing BTA in our schools could be significant. Plausible deniability is not a good defense.
Behavioral Threat Assessment in Eight Steps
The following is excerpted and adapted from the U.S. Secret Service's guide, “Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model.”
1. Establish a multidisciplinary team to direct, manage and document the process.- Create a school team and choose a name. Examples include: Assessment and Care Team, Behavioral Intervention Team, Threat Assessment Team, Coordinated Intervention Team.
- Identify team membership, work across departments and include at least one of the following: administrator, school counselor or psychologist, school security staff member, coach, ad hoc member(s) when needed, i.e., local law enforcement.
Note: Students should not serve on this team but play integral roles in Steps 3, 5 and 7.
- Designate a team leader.
- Meet regularly and as needed.
- Establish a policy that defines prohibited behaviors: engaging in violence, threatening violence, bringing a weapon to school, bullying/harassing behavior (including online) and possibly other behaviors.
- Identify other behaviors for screening or intervention: marked decline in performance, increased absenteeism, sudden or dramatic change in behavior or appearance, erratic, depressive, or other mental health symptoms and possibly other behaviors.
- Define a low threshold for intervention or involvement of threat assessment team.
- Define team procedures on how to screen cases.
- Establish one or more reporting mechanisms, such as: an online form on the school website, dedicated email address and/or phone number, smartphone application/platform, contracted services.
- Provide training and guidance to encourage reporting on these topics:
- Everyone’s role and responsibility to report
- What behaviors should be reported
- How to report concerns
- Options for anonymous reporting
- Establish trust that the team will act on reports appropriately, quickly, confidentially and discreetly.
- A school-based team can usually, but not always, handle the following behaviors: threats of self-harm, e.g., suicide; bullying/harassment; depression; possibly other concerning behaviors.
- Law enforcement usually, but not always, intervenes with the following behaviors: physical violence, threats that pose a risk of violence, planned school attack, inappropriate behavior including weapons.
- A school-based team should still be involved in cases referred to law enforcement.
- Decide how to document each case.
- Create procedures to screen reports.
- Determine which reports warrant a full threat assessment.
- Establish procedures for gathering information.
- Identify who will conduct interviews.
- Seek out information inside the school, e.g., faculty, coaches, other students.
- Seek out information outside the school, e.g., public social media sites.
- When assessing a student’s concerning behaviors, be sure to evaluate communications in the context of his/her age and social/emotional development, then decide on intervention.
- Determine if the student is at risk for self-harm or harming someone else.
- To reduce threat, ask student’s family to block student’s access to weapons.
- Consider suspension or expulsion, but remember that removing a student from school does not eliminate the risk to the school community.
- Notify law enforcement immediately if a student is thinking about or planning to engage in violence.
- Determine if the student requires monitoring or guidance.
- Identify all available resources for creating individualized management plans, including those in the school and local community.
- Identify resources for staff.
- Identify resources to assist or protect targets/victims, including school security and/or local law enforcement as well as community-based options.
- Establish points of contact for all resources.
- Assess current school climate of safety, respect, trust, and social/emotional support by administering surveys to students, staff and parents and sharing results.
- Enhance current school climate. Use survey findings to identify areas to address, e.g., breaking “codes of silence.” Involve students in developing and implementing solutions.
- Strengthen students’ connectedness to their classmates and to the school.
- Train threat assessment team on behavioral threat assessment procedures.
- Train students in age-appropriate ways, all staff, and parents to encourage reporting.
Evolving Traditions
Students will engage in concerning behaviors along a continuum. The vast majority are non-threatening and nonviolent but may still require intervention. The rare but serious behaviors definitely do. Embracing BTA will help us take our current assessment process to the next level and mitigate the risk posed by potential outliers. Independent schools begin assessment during the admissions process and continue the process until commencement.
While tradition is fundamental in independent schools, we continue to evolve to meet the needs of our community and ever-changing world. Enhancing the culture of school safety by implementing BTA bolsters our tradition of protecting students, implements relevant innovations and positions us well to continue to ensure safe and secure learning environments.
Kenna Powell, M.S., CPP, CSSP, CSSM, is director of safety, security and emergency management at Providence Day School, a 1,700-student, TK-grade 12 day school in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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