89 claims on pp. 38–141 (fact 67, statement 5, evidence 5, conclusion 4, conjecture 7, definition 1).
Though such behaviors would appear to always fall within the remit of a BTAM team, state law or local policy sometimes requires schools to immediately involve law enforcement in some very serious situations.
cite page 38 Ch 4: What Is the Scope of Schools' BTAM Programs?
As a result, some of our respondents may have viewed such cases as outside the “jurisdiction” of their BTAM team and overall program because of their criminal nexus.
cite page 38 Ch 4: What Is the Scope of Schools' BTAM Programs?
Sample (N = 1408) · Schools with an official BTAM team (82 percent of sample)
However, majorities of school BTAM teams also included other school administrators (69 percent), school-based law enforcement (53 percent), and social workers (50 percent).
Sample (N = 1408) · Schools with an official BTAM team (82 percent of sample)
District administrators were included on BTAM teams at 36 percent of schools, and 13 percent of schools included non-school-based law enforcement on their teams.
Sample (N = 1746) · All principals, staff available at school question
Unsurprisingly, we found that some types of staff were much more common than others, with principals reporting as follows: school counselor (89 percent), school nurse (89 percent), school psychologist (67 percent), sworn law enforcement officer (58 percent), social worker (56 percent), and security guard (22 percent).
For example, middle and high schools were more likely to have school-based law enforcement officers and other security staff who are not law enforcement officers present at school.
Our survey results also suggest that non-school-based law enforcement is rarely present on school BTAM teams, regardless of size.
Many named BTAM models specific to the K–12 school context recommend involving school-based law enforcement, local police, or other individuals with public safety expertise as team members.
The rationale is that law enforcement officers can assist with decisions about keeping a school safe and secure in the event of a threat or provide access to knowledge that other school-focused professionals do not have (e.g., if a student has a prior criminal record).
They may also be able to provide police or criminal justice information as part of assessments (e.g., knowledge about resources available, if appropriate, through the juvenile justice system)
and can coordinate with their agencies if immediate action is needed to ensure the safety of the school community (e.g., conducting searches of a student’s home for weapons, if permissible).
Police involvement in BTAM has been controversial for some individuals and civil society groups, driven by concern that their involvement will increase the chance that students will end up in the justice system—i.e., that the outcome of threat assessment and management will increase the likelihood of arrest and prosecution for student behavior at school.
Our survey results indicate otherwise, given how principals described the role of law enforcement on their school BTAM teams.
In our survey, we explored the involvement of law enforcement in BTAM by asking respondents about officers’ role on the team and assessing the frequency of criminal justice–related outcomes in the BTAM process (we discuss the latter in more detail in Chapters 8, 10, and 11).
We listed five options and asked respondents to select up to two responses that best capture law enforcement’s involvement on their specific school teams.
Sample (N = 854) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
The vast majority of respondents (82 percent) selected two roles, while 14 percent selected only one.
The intent in forcing a choice was to focus on the most important roles police play on these teams, in the view of respondents.
Sample (N = 854) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
A handful of respondents (4 percent) ignored the instructions and selected more than two roles.
Specifically, we asked those principals who included either school-based or non-school-based law enforcement on their school’s BTAM team what role these individuals played on the team.
We first examined how many principals responded that law enforcement personnel play the following role(s) on their school BTAM teams:
Sample (N = 854) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
help with decisions about when safety- and security-related actions are necessary (e.g., searching student belongings, implementing schoolwide lock down) (64 percent)
Sample (N = 854) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
provide a public safety perspective about school dynamics and student behavior to help assess and manage behavioral concerns (58 percent)
Sample (N = 854) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
participate to initiate public safety responses when necessary (e.g., arrest or other criminal justice intervention) (33 percent)
Sample (N = 854) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
consult on the potential legal repercussions of student behavior (19 percent)
Sample (N = 854) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
provide information from police and court records so the team can understand past student behavior (18 percent).
Sample (N = 854) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
Two responsibilities were clearly predominant: helping with security-related decisions (64 percent) and providing a public safety perspective to the BTAM process (58 percent).
Sample (N = 854) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
Forty-two percent of schools said their law enforcement personnel only performed one or both of these actions.
Sample (N = 854) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
Another 46 percent of schools said their law enforcement personnel performed at least one of these roles on their BTAM team but also identified law enforcement as performing one of the less common roles: initiating public safety responses, consulting on legal repercussions, or providing information from police or court records.
Sample (N = 854) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
Only a small minority of schools (12 percent) responded that they included law enforcement on their BTAM team exclusively to perform at least one of these previous three functions.
Altogether, these findings are counter to some perceptions of the roles that law enforcement personnel play as BTAM team members (i.e., they are exclusively there to provide information from police or court records, which was actually the role least selected by principals).
The findings also are counter to concerns that schools treat law enforcement involvement in BTAM as a direct link to the criminal justice system (i.e., concerns that the presence of police in schools is leading to more arrests; see, e.g., Theriot, 2009; Meiners, 2011).
Rather, the specific activities and responsibilities that principals see as most important for the law enforcement members of their BTAM team suggest they view them primarily as sources of expertise (see, e.g., McKenna and White, 2018).
Sample (N = 452) · Principals answering the implementation drivers question
Few respondents selected other reasons as main drivers: Only 11 percent of principals reported that their school had concerns about being held liable in cases of school violence; 8 percent said that other organizations on which their school depends (e.g., local law enforcement) encouraged them to adopt a BTAM program; and 5 percent said their school community wanted them to adopt a BTAM program.
cite page 54 Ch 7: Why Did Schools Adopt Specific BTAM Models?
Sample (N = 452 total; column N not printed) · Principals answering the implementation drivers question
Other organizations we depend on (e.g., our local law enforcement department) encouraged us to adopt a BTAM program | 8 | 10 | 8
cite page 55 Ch 7: Why Did Schools Adopt Specific BTAM Models?
Sample (n = undeterminable of 451) · Principals answering the pre-implementation actions question
For example, principals of schools in small districts were more likely to report consulting with local law enforcement agencies (48 versus 33 percent, respectively).
cite page 56 Ch 7: Why Did Schools Adopt Specific BTAM Models?
Sample (N = 451 total; column N not printed) · Principals answering the pre-implementation actions question
Consulted with our local law enforcement organization* | 48 | 33
cite page 56 Ch 7: Why Did Schools Adopt Specific BTAM Models?
Sample (N = 451) · Principals answering the pre-implementation actions question
The most common planning activity across schools was to consult with local law enforcement (just over 42 percent of schools did that).
cite page 57 Ch 7: Why Did Schools Adopt Specific BTAM Models?
Sample (N = 1395) · Teams answering sources-of-information question
For example, 64 percent of principals said their teams sometimes use law enforcement records, but only 17 percent of principals said they use these types of records in every case, likely because few students have law enforcement records.
Sample (N = 854) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
with survey responses that examined the role of law enforcement officers who were members of BTAM teams discussed previously, in which only 18 percent indicated that providing information from police and court records was one of the officer-member’s two most important roles.
Why inferred The sentence crosses a page break: this quote is the page 61 part and the sentence begins on page 60. Full sentence (pages 60–61): “Note that this finding is consistent with survey responses that examined the role of law enforcement officers who were members of BTAM teams discussed previously, in which only 18 percent indicated that providing information from police and court records was one of the officer-member’s two most important roles.”
Sample (N = 1379) · Teams answering exclusionary discipline and arrest/prosecution questions (Figure 9.2)
Forty percent of principals said their BTAM teams never refer students to law enforcement for arrest or prosecution, and another 40 percent said they rarely make such referrals.
cite page 66 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Sample (N = 1379) · Teams answering exclusionary discipline and arrest/prosecution questions (Figure 9.2)
Sixteen percent said they sometimes did so, and 4 percent and 1 percent said they either frequently or always referred cases to law enforcement for arrest or prosecution, respectively.
cite page 66 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
In high-risk incidents with substantial concerns about violence, a home visit might be made by a law enforcement officer to assess whether the student has access to firearms or other weapons in the home.
cite page 83 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Even for the most serious scenarios, referral to law enforcement and permanent removal from school did not make principals’ lists of top interventions (although principals did frequently select temporary removal from school for a few scenarios).
cite page 83 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 1419) · Scenario observations, high severity: actions taken or recommended (Figure 11.7 note, p090)
Approximately half of respondents noted they would refer the student to law enforcement for the most severe scenarios.
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
A surprising number of principals also responded that they might refer students involved in middle-level scenarios to law enforcement, in particular for Scenarios J (history of misbehavior, history of academic issues, suspected substance use) and L (use or access to a weapon) in secondary schools.
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 351) · Scenario A respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.16
A (Elementary) | 3
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 335) · Scenario B respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.16
B (Elementary) | 3
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 131) · Scenario C respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.16
C (Elementary) | 15
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 148) · Scenario D respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.16
D (Elementary) | 3
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 136) · Scenario E respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.16
E (Elementary) | 9
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 137) · Scenario F respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.16
F (Elementary) | 22
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 133) · Scenario G respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.16
G (Elementary) | 17
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 1419) · Scenario observations, high severity: actions taken or recommended (p082, p087, p090, p092)
H (Elementary) | 41
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 734) · Scenario I respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.17
I (Secondary) | 5
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 139) · Scenario J respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.17
J (Secondary) | 32
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 128) · Scenario K respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.17
K (Secondary) | 4
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 103) · Scenario L respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.17
L (Secondary) | 26
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 134) · Scenario M respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.17
M (Secondary) | 13
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 126) · Scenario N respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.17
N (Secondary) | 25
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 105) · Scenario O respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.17
O (Secondary) | 52
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 1419) · Scenario observations, high severity: actions taken or recommended (p082, p087, p090, p092)
P (Secondary) | 53
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
For example, arrest, civil, or criminal legal proceedings.
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Although the balance between support-focused and restrictive interventions is encouraging, the number of scenarios in which at least some principals selected law enforcement involvement is likely cause for concern (Figure 11.7).
cite page 91 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Naturally, how much criminal justice involvement is “too much” in any particular case is fundamentally a policy question and also must be determined individually on a case-by-case basis.
cite page 91 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Although keeping students in school has substantial educational benefits and is likely more cost-effective than criminal justice involvement overall, some situations could be so serious that leaving student behavior management exclusively to the school would be impossible and inappropriate.
cite page 91 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
in some states, laws or regulations require schools to involve police when responding to specific incidents of student behavior (e.g., threats of violence or weapons).
cite page 91 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
For many of the schools included in our survey, police officers could become involved in responding to a subset of scenarios whether or not a BTAM team was in place.
cite page 91 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Law enforcement action | [unlabeled] | [unlabeled]
cite page 92 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 914 | 854 by column) · Table A.22 columns: Official BTAM teams and other school-based teams | Official BTAM teams only
Law enforcement provides a public safety perspective about school dynamics and student behavior to help assess and manage behavioral concerns | 57.8 | 57.5
Sample (N = 914 | 854 by column) · Table A.22 columns: Official BTAM teams and other school-based teams | Official BTAM teams only
Law enforcement provides information from police and court records so the team can understand past student behavior | 17.5 | 17.5
Sample (N = 914 | 854 by column) · Table A.22 columns: Official BTAM teams and other school-based teams | Official BTAM teams only
Law enforcement helps with decisions about when safety- and security-related actions are necessary (e.g., searching student belongings, implementing schoolwide lock down) | 64.3 | 64.3
Sample (N = 914 | 854 by column) · Table A.22 columns: Official BTAM teams and other school-based teams | Official BTAM teams only
Law enforcement consults on the potential legal repercussions of student behavior | 18.9 | 18.8
Sample (N = 914 | 854 by column) · Table A.22 columns: Official BTAM teams and other school-based teams | Official BTAM teams only
Law enforcement participates to initiate public safety responses when necessary (e.g., arrest or other criminal justice intervention) | 32.4 | 33.2
Sample (N = 1607 | 1378 by column) · Table A.47 columns: Official BTAM teams and other school-based teams | Official BTAM teams only
Never | 42.4 | 39.8
Sample (N = 1607 | 1378 by column) · Table A.47 columns: Official BTAM teams and other school-based teams | Official BTAM teams only
Rarely | 38.6 | 40.0
Sample (N = 1607 | 1378 by column) · Table A.47 columns: Official BTAM teams and other school-based teams | Official BTAM teams only
Sometimes | 14.7 | 15.6
Sample (N = 1607 | 1378 by column) · Table A.47 columns: Official BTAM teams and other school-based teams | Official BTAM teams only
Frequently | 3.7 | 3.9
Sample (N = 1607 | 1378 by column) · Table A.47 columns: Official BTAM teams and other school-based teams | Official BTAM teams only
Every time | 0.7 | 0.8
Sample (no n: a percentage change, not a share of a sample) · a percentage that is not a share of a sample (e.g. a percentage-point change or a weighted estimate of the population)
Columns may not sum to 100 percent because of rounding.
Only respondents who said their school has a school- or district-level BTAM team (or an alternative team that performs BTAM-like functions) saw this question.
Sample (N = 122) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
Very rarely | 23.6
Sample (N = 122) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
Rarely | 23.2
Sample (N = 122) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
Sometimes | 31.9
Sample (N = 122) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
Frequently | 17.9
Sample (N = 122) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
Very frequently | 3.4
Only respondents who said their school is served by a BTAM team external to the school or district and that they were somewhat or extremely familiar with the operation and processes of this outside team saw this question.
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