This week, I’ve shared articles highlighting several relevant issues impacting our schools. These incidents remind us of the continual need to ensure safety practices extend well beyond the traditional school day, the importance of securing data, the liability of lack of communication, and the substantial impact that a single individual making false threats can have on schools and organizations nationwide. Additionally, I’ve shared some upcoming training opportunities on threat assessment/violence prevention and a law enforcement-only presentation on the Covenant School in Nashville.
With yesterday's historic decision by our courts, Mark Follman shares his thoughts on the guilty verdict of the Oxford shooter's mother. While undoubtedly, appeals are forthcoming, this case may begin the evolution of new precedent related to the responsibility and criminality of those in positions to prevent violence.
Recent School Safety News
School Shooter’s Mother Convicted in Historic Manslaughter Trial
Jennifer Crumbley testified she “wouldn’t have done anything differently” prior to the massacre at Oxford High School.
In a historic decision on Tuesday, a jury convicted the first parent ever of being tried on homicide charges for a mass shooting committed by her child.
Jennifer Crumbley was found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with an attack carried out by her 15-year-old son Ethan, who murdered four students and wounded seven other people in November 2021 at Oxford High School in Michigan. She and her husband James, who will be tried separately in March on the same charges, gave the pistol used in the attack to Ethan four days before he struck, failed to secure the weapon at home, and appeared to ignore an array of warning signs that their son was turning suicidal and homicidal.
Carver High School student stabbed 3 times with scissors in Winston-Salem by other student, Forsyth County deputies say
By Dolan Reynolds
Updated: Feb 2, 2024, 5:41 a.m. ET
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — A student was stabbed by another student at Carver High School on Thursday afternoon, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.
Around 10:20 a.m., a female student was stabbed by another student with scissors three times during a fight.
A school resource officer found the juvenile victim, who was bleeding from multiple wounds.
Teen Charged in Florida Mosque Swatting Accused of Hundreds of Other False Threats
The 17-year-old is accused of making hundreds of swatting threats against high schools, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), FBI agents, and government offices.
Feb. 2, 2024, Amy Rock
A California teenager has been charged with multiple felonies in connection with a swatting incident at a Florida mosque last year.
Alan Winston Filion, 17, was arrested last month at his home by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on a warrant from Seminole County, Fla., according to court documents filed by state prosecutors. He was extradited to Florida on Tuesday where he faces three charges of false reporting and one charge of unlawful use of a two-way communication device, ABC reports. Filion, who is being prosecuted as an adult, pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility.
Leaked Active School Shooter Plans Revive Scrutiny of Ed Tech Privacy Pledge
Raptor Technologies says it encrypts its data but a cybersecurity researcher found more than 4M unprotected school district records available online.
By Mark Keierleber, Feb. 2, 2024
A security lapse at a leading school safety company that exposed millions of sensitive records online — including districts’ active-shooter response plans, students’ medical records and court documents about child abuse — has revived criticism that an industry student privacy pledge fails to police bad actors. In response to an inquiry by The 74, the nonprofit Future of Privacy Forum said last week it would review Raptor Technologies’ status as a Student Privacy Pledge signatory after a cybersecurity researcher found more than four million sensitive records maintained by the company were readily available without any encryption protection despite Raptor’s claims that it scrambles its data.
The “Coward of Broward” reexamined By Hanna Rosin Feb. 1, 2024, 2:25 p.m. ET
“if you look at police departments, they are struggling to hire officers, a lot of them are short-staffed, and when you’re a police chief trying to figure out how to allocate your limited training dollars, do you spend a significant amount of money and time training your officers to handle an active-shooter call, which may or may not ever happen? Or are you better off focusing on things like crisis intervention and de-escalation, which may be more relevant to the things that they actually are required to do every day?”
2 shot in parking lot of Georgia high school, police say
By Atlanta News First staff and Gray News staff Published: Feb. 1, 2024, 2:41 p.m. ET
ATLANTA (WANF/Gray News) - Authorities said an Atlanta-area high school campus has been secured after two people were shot in the parking lot Thursday afternoon.
The shooting happened at McEachern High School in Cobb County, the Powder Springs Police Department said Thursday afternoon.
The two “young victims” were not students at the school, Cobb County Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer said during a news conference. They were taken to a nearby hospital with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries, he said.
— In New Mexico, the Court of Appeals of New Mexico, reversed the lower court’s grant of immunity to school officials who allowed a student who returned to school after orthopedic surgery to participate in recess activities, contrary both to school policy and the physician’s orders for the rehabilitation and safety of the student. A total breakdown of communication from the school nurse, homeroom teacher, class teachers, and recess duty teachers resulted in the student suffering serious injury. The appellate court held that educators had “the responsibility to ensure that all school faculty interacting with the (the student) were aware of his physical limitations.” The state immunity law did not protect schools from “bodily injury … caused by the negligence.” Therefore, the appellate court ruled that “the operational failure to follow school policies and procedures by not keeping (the student) inside and failing to inform all relevant parties of his physical limitations” waived immunity from a lawsuit. Vanhorn as Next Friend of Vanhorn v. Carlsbad Municipal School District
— In Virginia, the legislature is considering a school safety policy that would require school resource officers to perform periodic bathroom checks. The legislation is in response to an incident in which a 6-year-old was sexually assaulted in a school bathroom during an afterschool program. House Bill 1528 will require the police to perform “diligence checks” every 30 minutes “looking out for drug use, sex abuse, everything.”
— In Idaho, the Idaho House of Representatives passed legislation that would allow “any public school employee with an “enhanced” concealed weapons permit to carry a gun in hallways, classes and lunchrooms across the state. “House Bill 415 would require teachers or other employees who want to carry guns to notify their principal, but it does not require them to notify their local school board or students and parents. The Idaho Association of School Resource Officers and the Boise School District opposed the bill, as did other districts and teachers unions.”
— In North Carolina, a report by the North Carolina Department of Education shows that incidents of criminal activity are rising. According to the report, incidents are 38% above pre-pandemic levels. “Students have reported a rise in mental health issues that are blamed for the increases in bad behavior in schools.”
Preparation and Response Strategies: Lessons Learned from a Mass Shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee
Feb. 29, 2:30 p.m. EST | Virtual
On March 27, 2023, the nation suffered a mass shooting at The Covenant School, a parochial school in Nashville, Tennessee. In the incident, three children and three adults were killed by a single armed suspect, who was also killed in the response by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD). During this session, Captain Steven Bowers, the commanding officer with MNPD’s School Safety Division at the time of the shooting, will provide an overview, review factors that may have contributed to the violence, and share lessons learned on effective prevention, response, and recovery strategies. Following the presentation, participants will have an opportunity to engage the presenter with questions about lessons learned in the event.
Due to the nature of this presentation, participation is limited to sworn law enforcement personnel, and advanced registration is required.
Threat Assessment and Threat Management: Introduction to Threat Management for Targeted Violence Prevention (V_TATM_CTD-2405)
Feb. 20-21 | Virtual
Feb. 20 - 1:30-3:30 p.m. (EST) Session One, Introduction to Threat Assessment for Targeted Violence Prevention, provides an overview of basic threat assessment theories and concepts. Learn current research-based models of threat assessment that focus on identifying opportunities for intervention based on observable factors and behaviors that may indicate a person of concern is at risk of committing targeted violence. Research, reading and resources for team members will also be discussed.
Feb. 21 - 1:30-3:30 p.m. (EST) Session Two, Introduction to Threat Management for Targeted Violence Prevention, provides an overview of basic threat management theories and concepts. This session focuses on intervention and managing behaviors of people of concern through the public health perspective to prevent targeted violence. Research, reading, and resources for team members will also be discussed. Completion of Introduction to Threat Assessment for Targeted Violence Prevention is highly recommended but not required.
The “I Love U Guys” Foundation is hosting its upcoming Briefings Symposium in Duluth, MN on April 16-17. Connect and learn from individuals in schools, districts, departments, agencies, and organizations worldwide.
Enhancing School Safety Using Behavioral Threat Assessment Virtual Training
Friday, March 8, 12 – 2 p.m. EST Wednesday, May 8, 12 – 2 p.m. EST Thursday, July 11, 12 – 2 p.m. EST
In this virtual training event, National Threat Assessment Center researchers highlight the key findings and implications of their research on school violence prevention. Learn about the background, thinking and behavior of school attackers and how some schools discovered and stopped plots before violence occurred. This training will provide guidance on how schools may develop or improve existing violence prevention programs utilizing a behavioral threat assessment model.
This training is intended for school teachers, administrators, counselors, mental health professionals, school resource officers (SROs), law enforcement officers, and other school safety stakeholders.
When a school crisis occurs, immediate access to school safety support from a high-quality, trusted resource is integral. Center for Safe Schools (CSS) understands the critical need for flexibility to address changing needs during your school year. All of this is included as part of our CSS Subscription Service.
