Experts say the key is looking out for and reporting warning signs, while providing help to students who are struggling emotionally
The country was forced to witness its deadliest school shooting in 10 years on Tuesday, when an 18-year-old gunned down 19 children and two teachers in a fourth-grade classroom at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
“All too often in the aftermath of these shootings, we find out that many people were concerned and that some people knew that an attack was being planned and they didn’t believe it,” said Bob Mueller, coordinator of special projects at the San Diego County Office of Education, which trains schools on threat assessment and how to respond to active shooter events. “We need to be more responsive than that.
There’s a countywide school threat assessment team including law enforcement officers, school officials, prosecutors and mental health professionals that analyzes threats reported to the District Attorney’s Office and decides what intervention is appropriate. In the past 16 months, the countywide team has reviewed 43 school threat cases, Stephan said. Of those, 10 were serious enough that the District Attorney’s Office filed charges.
“The emphasis of the safety plan is, how do we bring this person back into the community and how do we recognize whether or not things are getting better or worse,” he said. “It sounds like a simple idea, but it’s the only way to be sure,” he said. “Somebody has to notice. If a child suddenly stops showing up to school, who’s going to notice and who’s going to find out why? If a kid appears to be sad or withdrawn, who’s going to ask why and try to help them and not give up until things are getting better? We can’t leave this to chance.”
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