Schools urged to set up ‘threat teams’
To prevent school shootings like the one in Parkland, the United States Secret Service on Thursday released a guide intended to help schools identify troubled students and other threats to their campuses.
In its guide, the agency urges schools to establish “threat assessment teams” — groups comprised of teachers, guidance counselors, coaches and administrators — who can meet regularly and identify threats to their campuses. The guide was readied by the Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center, which has researched violence in schools. The agency warns there is no one single profile of students who carry out shootings.
“These acts of violence were committed by students who were loners and socially isolated, and those who were well-liked and popular,” the agency said. “Rather than focusing solely on a student’s personality traits or school performance, we can learn much more about a student’s risk for violence by working through the threat assessment process.”
It calls for gathering “the most relevant information about the student’s communications and behaviors, the negative or stressful events the student has experienced, and the resources the student possesses to overcome those setbacks and challenges.”
Other Secret Service recommendations for schools include defining what would require staff to intervene, such as violent acts or bringing weapons on campus. The agency urges setting up a system for tips to be reported, such as an online form that ensures anonymity. Students are more likely to come forward when they don’t have to fear retribution, according to the report.
It also calls for having procedures to gauge threats, such as conducting interviews to figure out if students have mental-health issues, an inappropriate interest in weapons, access to weapons, or who have made unusual or threatening comments.
Broward already has tried to conduct threat assessments: After Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz wrote the word “kill” in a notebook, the Broward school district conducted a threat assessment to see if he posed a danger to himself or others.
But Broward’s current threat assessment system lacks accountability, said April Schentrup, whose
daughter, Carmen, was one of the 17 killed in the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
Cruz had repeatedly shown signs of disturbing behavior. After the shooting, students said they told teachers or administrators about Cruz making threats or acting inappropriately, such as bringing dead animals to school.
Schentrup, a school principal recently appointed to a position overseeing district safety and security, said the assessments are kept in separate files, apart from a student’s main educational record. “No one actually looks at it” unless asked, she said.
Still, changes are on the way. Metal detectors will be at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High this fall, and a new schools safety report recommends adding them at all Broward County schools.
The recommendation is one of 100 ways to help keep students alive outlined by a Broward County task force created after the Parkland shooting.
Other ideas in the Broward task force’s report include adding more mental health counselors and ensuring that discipline is being enforced consistently. Recommendations for boosting security include installing higher fences and considering bullet-resistant glass. Also, all classroom doors must remain locked at all times.