Bill aims to spot behavior risks before school violence
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A bipartisan group of state lawmakers has introduced a new bill to improve school safety that would require Michigan schools to create behavior threat assessment and management teams before the fall.
When it comes to school safety, physical security does play a role, but experts say it’s not the truest path to prevent violence.
“If you look at people who commit violent acts in schools, you can actually track their behaviors generally back to elementary school,” said Jason Russell, president and CEO of Secure Education Consultants.
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Russell works with districts across the country on ways to safeguard schools. To protect students and staff, he said behavioral threat assessments are crucial.
“To try to identify smaller behaviors, maybe interpersonal conflicts, trouble at home, things like that, and launch intervention strategies that hopefully take a kid off the path to violence,” Russell said.
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Russell tells News 8 that upwards of 90% of schools he works with in Michigan have some sort of behavioral threat assessment process in place, but they can differ from building to building which leads to breakdowns.
“The issue we often see is there’s no exact requirement on what they need to have. So it varies in effectiveness and comprehensiveness,” Russell said.
Some lawmakers want to end that. Last week, House Bill 5549 was introduced in Lansing, which would require schools to create a behavior threat assessment and management team.
The teams must include a school administrator, law enforcement or school resource officers, and a mental health professional.
State Representative Luke Meerman, R-Coopersville, a sponsor of the bill, points to the shooting at Oxford High School as a reason the legislation is needed.
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“When the drawing is made and there’s blood and gore, and guns, something along those lines that trigger this threat assessment, who is in the room,” Meerman said. “The school safety security officer should be in the room, in Oxford they weren’t for one reason or another.”
The bill also outlines the duties of a behavioral threat assessment team, which includes monitoring concerning behavior and developing a central reporting system.
“We’re looking at the (National Threat Assessment Center) model, which is a Secret Service model. Most schools are using it already, it’s along the lines of do you have a plan in place,” Meerman said.
Russell said the legislation is long overdue.
“I think it’s probably the best piece of school safety legislation that’s been introduced in a long time,” Russell said.
If the bill passes as written, these teams must be established by July 1. The legislation is now headed to the House Committee on Education.
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