Given that the Meeker School District has experienced an uptick over the past year in school threats or actions that could be considered threatening to the school, I felt compelled to share with our community information regarding the threat assessment process we utilize. While the vast majority of these scenarios never posed a credible threat to students or staff, our efforts to provide information to school staff and our community has heightened concerns since these scenarios have become more public over the past +/- 12 months.
The most critical component to addressing potential school threats is a willingness to share information with the school district or law enforcement. The strength of all of our school safety efforts lies in the willingness of our students, staff, and parents to communicate with school counselors, school administrators, or law enforcement when they hear or see something of concern. I continue to be grateful for the relationships our school district has with our community and our local law enforcement which allow us to address school threats, whether they are credible or not, in a proactive manner. I also firmly believe that recent incidents strengthen those relationships when our community sees how seriously we address threatening statements.
The following steps occur when we receive information regarding a threat of school violence. Please keep in mind that the process described below is for threats made against our entire system. Threats between specific individuals may result in some of the steps below, but are typically handled confidentially with the involved individuals and their families.
Our first step is to ensure the safety of students and staff.
In the most extreme circumstances where an immediate and credible threat is present, we initiate the appropriate directive in our Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), such as the Evacuate or Lockdown directive.
Recent situations have not posed this level of threat and we have been able to ensure student and staff safety without utilizing any of these incredibly disruptive directives.
We work collaboratively with the Meeker PD and the Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office to determine the credibility of threats and appropriate law enforcement response.
If the threat was generated outside of our school district, it is turned over to law enforcement for further investigation.
If the threat was generated by a student or staff member, we engage in our threat assessment process.
In nearly all circumstances, law enforcement also searches the home of individuals who make threats to help determine if there is access to items necessary to carry out the threat, then takes action based on their findings during the search.
Once the safety of students and staff has been established, we make efforts to communicate information to our community.
Because factual information for each situation is unique and requires some level of investigation, communication to students, staff, and community often is not immediate.
While we have committed to transparently communicating with our community regarding these events, our first obligation is to ensure the safety of students and staff.
Communication only occurs after meeting that obligation and obtaining factual information.
Threatening statements made toward the school district are grounds for suspension or expulsion under current state law and Meeker School District policy. One of those consequences will be utilized for any student who makes threatening statements. In the event that an adult working in our system makes a threat of school violence, that adult will either be placed on administrative leave or their employment will be terminated.
Once the individual who made the threat has been removed from the school, we engage in our threat assessment process to determine what further action is required.
Forms for the documents referenced below can be found at www.meeker.k12.co.us. These forms have been shared for informational purposes and should ONLY be utilized by individuals trained in threat assessment.
Since a significant difference exists between making a threat versus posing a threat, the threat assessment process is based on questions developed by the Secret Service which identify if the threatening statements pose an actual threat to students and staff.
A threat assessment screen form is completed by at least two individuals who have been trained on threat assessment.
All administrators and counselors in the school district have been trained.
Depending on the outcome of the threat assessment screen, we will move to a full threat assessment or we will create a Response, Management, and Support Plan (RMS plan).
The RMS plan is a type of safety plan that allows the student to return to school following the suspension period with specific restrictions in place. The school district has the authority to place any reasonable criteria in the RMS plan and to keep it in place for as long as we deem necessary.
A full threat assessment is a thorough process involving a team of family members, multiple school staff members, law enforcement, mental health providers, and any other entities that can provide valuable input.
Interviews with the student, other students, family members, and school staff are conducted.
Interview information is utilized to complete the full threat assessment in addition to other documentation (police reports, mental health diagnosis/reports, disciplinary history, etc…) available to the school.
The full threat assessment allows the team to categorize the severity of threat in one of four levels.
Most often, the student is allowed to return to school following a suspension period and with an RMS plan in place.
In severe instances, students can be expelled because they fall in the highest risk level or as a culmination of repeated offenses to the school district’s student code of conduct.
Because the threat assessment process is so robust, we can be confident we are effectively determining the level of threat posed by individuals who make threatening statements toward the school system.
That confidence positions the school district to make wise decisions about appropriate long term outcomes for those individuals.
Any community members with questions regarding this information are welcome to contact Meeker School District RE-1 superintendent Chris Selle at [email protected] or 970-878-9040.
BY CHRIS SELLE
MSD Superintendent
Additional preventative measures:
The following measures have proven to be among the most effective in preventing traumatic events from occurring in schools or within school communities:
• Early identification of potential threat of harm to self or harm to others.
∙ On at least an annual basis, the Meeker School District will publicly share its Emergency Operations Plan with students, parents, and staff. When doing so, processes utilized to report a threat will be highlighted. View the Emergency Operations Plan here.
∙ Students, parents, or staff who become aware of a potential threat, must immediately notify a school administrator or counselor.
• Limited access to school buildings
∙ Every school building in the Meeker School District now maintains a secure vestibule and automated access control to prevent threats from entering the building through the main entrance.
∙ In order to maintain this level of security, other external doors in the school buildings will not be propped open.
• Injury or loss of life does not occur in properly implemented lockdowns
∙ All classroom doors will remain locked at all times.
∙ Classroom doors can be propped open at staff member’s discretion, but must be locked to ensure a lockdown is properly implemented once the door is closed.
∙ All school staff will be aware of the necessary actions in a lockdown. Those actions can be found in the SRP Directives Summary–view that document here.
