Mission
To understand the root causes, to educate and empower the public, to train support staff, and to provide resources to the community.
In addition to our mission, Dr. Pescara-Kovach would like to provide the following sentiments in regard to threat assessment. Threat assessment is identified as best practice in targeted violence prevention by The United States Secret Service based upon decades of research.
What Is the Role of a Threat Assessment Team?
The process involved in threat assessment is created to:
- Identify students who pose a concern. This information should be encouraged to be reported by ALL: students, parents,
faculty, staff, and community members (see below). For this reason, teams are not
secretive but rather are recognized as central to the health and safety of the district.
- There should be a centralized, formal reporting system whether it be a text to report app, online/web-based reporting system, text-a-tip line, or dedicated e-mail. The reporting medium should be monitored 24/7. Teams preserve the anonymity of those reporting.
- Gather information about the individual from interviews of key people such as coaches, dean of students, teachers, teammates or others who have contact with the individual as well as school records and social media.
- Assess the situation and the information to determine if the individual poses a risk to self or others
- Threat assessment is followed by a case management plan aimed at assisting the individual who poses the risk and preventing further behaviors of concern, mental health crises, and acts of violence.
Can a District Share Educational Records with Others in the District?
There is an exception to FERPA's general consent requirement in addition to the legal
right to search a student's belongings under specific circumstances. Let's start with the general consent requirement: FERPA has a health and safety emergency
provision that allows disclosure of student's educational records (including disciplinary)
to appropriate parties when it is necessary to disclose the information to protect
the health or safety of the student or others.
Only those records relative to the health or safety emergency can be shared, and they
can ONLY be shared with an individual who, by having the knowledge, can take action
to protect the individuals at risk (i.e., students and staff). Those often included
in a district's information sharing are a local law enforcement officer, a school
resource officer, or medical personnel. The provision only allows such individuals
the knowledge, and the information can only be shared for the duration of the potential
health or safety emergency.
It can get tricky because the individual often has to pose a direct threat. According
to CFR 35.139, "(b) In determining whether an individual poses a direct threat (i.e., significant, articulable threat) to the health or safety of others, a public entity must make an individualized assessment, based on reasonable judgment that relies on
current medical knowledge or on the best available objective evidence, to ascertain:
the nature, duration, and severity of the risk; the probability that the potential
injury will actually occur; and whether reasonable modifications of policies, practices, or procedures or the provision of auxiliary aids or services will
mitigate the risk." (Retrieved from https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/28/35.139).