SCHOOL SAFETYHow Texas’ Plan to Curb School Violence Was Knocked Down by a Pandemic and Little Oversight
Threat assessment teams were created to prevent the next school shooting. However, confusion surrounds how these teams operate and what they even do with a child exhibiting threatening behavior.
Five months ago, a 13-year-old North Texas student was threatened with suspension because she relayed what she perceived to be a classmate’s shooting threat to friends in a group chat.
According to the eighth grader’s mother, the Lewisville Independent School District wanted the honors student suspended and to spend the remainder of the school year in an alternative school.
The girl’s family appealed the decision and won, and she was allowed to return to school. But the incident highlights the confusion surrounding Texas’ inconsistent monitoring of potential threats on public school campuses, something lawmakers have tried to fix since the deadly shooting at Santa Fe High School that killed 10 people and wounded 13 others in 2018.
The following year, Texas lawmakers approved a sweeping school safety bill that included establishing “threat assessment” teams — made up of school faculty and staff — to help identify potentially dangerous students and determine the best ways to intervene before they become violent.
Some of the “threats” reported include assault, cyberbullying, fighting, harassment, sexual misconduct, teen dating violence, terroristic threats, possession of a weapon and verbal threats.
“Our goal is that no child will ever feel afraid at school and no Texas family will ever experience the grief that followed the horrible school shooting at Santa Fe High School,” Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said. “The safety of our children remains paramount — the future of Texas depends on it.”
But ever since, how to report a threat and exactly how threats are supposed to be monitored by schools is anything but concrete, thanks to a global pandemic which forced many schools to close frequently and a state school staffing turnover problem.
The Threat Assessment Team’s Role
Andrew Hairston, director of education justice for Texas Appleseed, a public interest nonprofit group, said threat assessment teams were pitched by lawmakers as an alternative to simply prosecuting students for terroristic threatening to keep schools safe.
“I’d much rather have this system in place where the team is extensively trained on the unique dynamics of child development,” he said.
The school safety bill from 2019 requires superintendents to appoint members to the team who have expertise in counseling, behavior management, mental health and substance use, classroom instruction, special education, school administration, school safety, emergency management and law enforcement.
