Two new House Bills directly affecting schools were passed by Ohio’s General Assembly and signed by Governor DeWine this past summer. Information on these bills can be found below, but if you would like to view the video of Gov. DeWine’s recent update, you will find it here.
House Bill 123 - "Safety and Violence Education Students (SAVE Students) Act"
The Safety and Violence Education Students (SAVE Students) Act supports Ohio's strategic plan for education with respect to school security and youth suicide awareness education and training. HB 123 requires that each school district create a threat assessment team for district buildings serving grades 6 through 12. Schools have until March 24, 2023 to establish and train their teams, utilizing an ODE approved threat assessment training program. The goal of these teams is to prevent violence and resolve conflicts that underlie threatening behavior.
Governor DeWine encourages schools to utilize Dr. Dewey Cornell’s Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG) Threat Assessment Model. The Ohio Safety Center and Ohio Department of Education will be offering free CSTAG threat assessment training through local ESCs. It is being recommended at the state level that teams be composed of three district-level safety and security staff members, with 3 to 5 team members for elementary schools that choose to establish a team and 5 team members for middle and high schools. The ESC of Northeast Ohio is the lead for the Northeast Ohio region and in partnership with surrounding ESCs, has identified 19 individuals who will be trained in the trainer CSTAG model. Dates and registration will be shared soon.
“I highly recommend the CSTAG training. I firmly believe this
evidence-based approach will prove very effective in reducing school violence.
I am pleased Ohio is promoting CSTAG. I wish I had heard about it sooner.
I am excited to do the first training in our area.”
- Tim Del Vecchio, Security Advisor, Ohio Schools Council
“I have been a School Resource Officer for 19 years. I found that collaboration
is the best method to resolve school threats and student issues. This training is paramount to the safe operation of schools and the involvement of all the entire community needed to raise our children.”
- Jon Karl, School Resource Officer, North Royalton City Schools
House Bill 99
House Bill 99 allows teachers to carry firearms in the classroom, but it grants local boards of education the authority to determine whether or not to arm school staff. It is a local choice and is not mandated by the legislature or state government. Those who will be armed will be required to complete up to 24 hours of school specific training, up to eight hours of annual re-qualification training, and a criminal background check.
The Governor is working with the Ohio School Safety Center’s (OSSC) Safety and Crisis Division to develop and provide training for school staff members whose district opt to allow employees to be armed on school grounds. Mary Davis, former executive director of the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy, has been selected to serve as the chief training officer overseeing OSSC's new Safety & Crisis Division.
Reassuring stakeholders
It is important that caregivers are aware of these new bills and district policies and protocols to prevent school violence. The messaging from districts to the staff, students and families should be positive and clear so they are educated and empowered to prevent violence in schools, homes and communities.
Below are some statistics that may help alleviate stakeholder fears around school safety:
- With an average of 21 students killed per year across 125,000 schools, the average U.S. school can expect a student to be murdered approximately every 6,000 years (Borum et.al 2010). The likelihood of a homicide is far greater in other locations such as restaurants, shopping centers, and residences (Nekavasil, Cornell, and Huang, 2015). Although media and social media attention to school shootings arouses great public concern, compared to other places where firearm violence occurs, schools are one of the safest places in the country.
- Threat assessment offers an alternative to fear-based subjective reactions to student threats and can provide a safer approach because it involves a more comprehensive investigation of a student’s behavior.
- Threat assessment is not designed to predict violence, but to identify potentially violent situations and resolve them by taking actions that will reduce the risk.
Please reach out to the ESC of Northeast Ohio, or your local ESC, if you have questions or would like to inquire about threat assessment training approved by the Ohio Department of Education.
Resources
Threat Assessment Checklist for K-12 Schools
Threat Assessment in Virginia
Sandy Hook Promise