K-12 Threat Assessment and Management: Process Summary and Selected Resources I. Introduction In 2002, the United States Department of Education and the United States Secret Service published The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of The study, which examined School Attacks in the United States (“SSI Report”). Safe School Initiative 37 incidents of targeted school violence that occurred in the United States from December 1974 through May 2000, found that incidents of targeted violence in school were rarely impulsive, that pre-attack behaviors were often observable, and that other people often knew that an attack was pending. Recognizing the prevention implications of these findings, these agencies also published the companion document Assessment in Schools: A Guide to Managing Threatening Situations and to Creating “Threat (“Threat or The adapts Safe School Climates” Assessment Guide” Threat Assessment Guide “Guide”). the Secret Service-pioneered threat assessment process to the K-12 school context, and outlines an approach for identifying, assessing and managing students who may pose a threat of targeted violence in schools. The and the continue to be leading school threat SSI Report Threat Assessment Guide assessment resources, and they were cited with approval by the Guide for Developing High-Quality (“Emergency which was published by School Emergency Operations Plans Operations Guide”), numerous federal government agencies in June, 2013. The focuses on threats posed by students, but schools may also wish to Threat Assessment Guide have means to identify, assess and manage threats posed by employees, family members, and others, including individuals who do not have any affiliation with the school. Fortunately, because the approach in the was adapted from and has been used by various federal agencies in Threat Assessment Guide workplace violence prevention, presidential protection, and other contexts, a school threat assessment and management team (“TAM team”) can use that approach to investigate threats posed by
K-12 Threat Assessment and Management: Process Summary and Selected Resources I. Introduction In 2002, the United States Department of Education and the United States Secret Service published The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States (“SSI Report”). The Safe School Initiative study, which examined 37 incidents of targeted school violence that occurred in the United States from December 1974 through May 2000, found that incidents of targeted violence in school were rarely impulsive, that pre-attack behaviors were often observable, and that other people often knew that an attack was pending. Recognizing the prevention implications of these findings, these agencies also published the companion document “Threat Assessment in Schools: A Guide to Managing Threatening Situations and to Creating Safe School Climates” (“Threat Assessment Guide” or “Guide”). The Threat Assessment Guide adapts the Secret Service-pioneered threat assessment process to the K-12 school context, and outlines an approach for identifying, assessing and managing students who may pose a threat of targeted violence in schools. The SSI Report and the Threat Assessment Guide continue to be leading school threat assessment resources, and they were cited with approval by the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans (“Emergency Operations Guide”), which was published by numerous federal government agencies in June, 2013. The Threat Assessment Guide focuses on threats posed by students, but schools may also wish to have means to identify, assess and manage threats posed by employees, family members, and others, including individuals who do not have any affiliation with the school. Fortunately, because the approach in the Threat Assessment Guide was adapted from and has been used by various federal agencies in workplace violence prevention, presidential protection, and other contexts, a school threat assessment and management team (“TAM team”) can use that approach to investigate threats posed by
Nolan%20K-12%20TAM%20Summary%202016%20%28B1624517xA047C%29.docx