STOP Grant for Violence Prevention: Enhancement of the Loudoun County Public Schools, VA Behavioral Threat Assessment and Suicide Prevention Processes

PROJECT ABSTRACT

Through this project, Loudoun County Public Schools (VA) will build on a longstanding effort to address the problem of school violence by enhancing prevention and intervention efforts to support at risk students. LCPS has been utilizing the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG) since 2005 and has continued over the years to expand and strengthen this districtwide threat assessment program. However, despite these critical and sustained efforts, LCPS has experienced considerable growth, resulting in threat assessment team turnover and the need for more complex and interrelated systems between safety strategies.

Considering these challenges, LCPS proposes to enhance the development and deployment of our multidisciplinary threat assessment teams by implementing our evidence-based CSTAG model through an accessible and high-quality eLearning training platform for our school teams to build, strengthen, and maintain knowledge and skills in threat assessment and suicide prevention. The training program includes both eLearning modules and an interactive virtual or in-person team learning components, which gives schools a more flexible learning experience. Additionally, we plan to implement an electronic case management tool to improve and support the effective facilitation of our CSTAG and suicide assessment methodology across the district, including collaboration between multidisciplinary teams and their community partners and the implementation of data-driven, trauma-informed, and adolescent appropriate responses to threats. The software includes a detailed data dashboard that allows district administrators and key stakeholders to review data and insights enhancing the perspective into their local process and gaps to address. These tools will be provided, in a strategic and phased approach, to all 99 campuses in LCPS over the 36-month grant period. LCPS is committed to sustaining these enhancements and tools beyond the life of this grant; and therefore, has embedded specific elements within our implementation approach that with ensure the activities conducted as part of this project will have long-term impacts. Collectively, we believe these enhancements to the implementation of our districtwide threat assessment program will provide the tools needed for our staff and community partners to recognize, respond quickly to, and help prevent acts of violence and ensure a positive school climate.