It Takes a County: Coordinated Supports to Reduce Violence and Strengthen Schools

To improve school climate and reduce school violence, HCPSS must reimagine the way it conducts behavioral threat assessment processes and strengthen its student mental health supports. HCPSS will accomplish this through its proposal, It Takes a County: Coordinated Supports to Reduce Violence & Strengthen Schools. The proposal’s purpose is to roll out a revised process for behavioral threat assessment and management, aligned with evidence-based practices and the Model Policy under Maryland’s Safe to Learn Act of 2018. 

In recent years, HCPSS formed two separate interdisciplinary workgroups to examine existing threat management procedures. These workgroups identified several weaknesses, including: an absence of recognized standards of practice and research; a lack of consistency and structure about what is captured in threat assessment records; difficulty accessing threat assessment records; and a lack of knowledge about anonymous reporting. Current practices have resulted in disproportionate exclusion from school for students with disabilities due to lengthy threat assessments.

Under It Takes a County, HCPSS will build on the success of eight schools who recently piloted a revised threat assessment process. A District Threat Assessment Manager will use a phased training approach to first build the capacity of central office and school leaders, along with a cadre of trainers certified under the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines. Second, HCPSS will leverage its in-house cadre of trainers to turnkey best practices in school-based trainings. HCPSS will upgrade its student information system so administrators can electronically document the steps taken in threat assessment processes.

It Takes a County seeks to bolster prevention efforts and support mental health through implementation of two research-based programs. Sources of Strength addresses suicide prevention and mental health for high school students. In the program, peer leaders model positive behaviors such as help-seeking and healthy coping under eight strengths, or protective factors. Additionally, the Signs of Suicide program will be used to enhance the ability of school staff and students to recognize and support others at risk for suicide.

An important component of this proposal is training for HCPSS staff in the areas of crisis intervention/prevention and suicide prevention. As a result of this countywide implementation of a revised model of threat assessment, along with much needed prevention measures, HCPSS anticipates all 78 schools will be better prepared to support mental health and to address behavioral threats in an effective, supportive and equitable manner that results in improved school climate and reduced school violence.