Step 6: Develop Risk Management Options

options Once the Team has completed a thorough assessment of the student, it can evaluate whether the student is at risk for self-harm or harming someone else at school.

Concern may be heightened if the student is struggling emotionally, having trouble overcoming setbacks or losses, feeling hopeless, preoccupied with others who engaged in violence to solve problems, or has access to weapons.

Remember, the Team is not attempting to predict with certainty if violence will happen. Instead, evaluate the presence of factors that indicate violence might be a possibility.

Teams can then develop risk management strategies that reduce the student’s risk for engaging in violence and make positive outcomes for the student more likely.

Each student who comes to the Team’s attention will require an individualized management plan. The resources and supports the student needs will differ depending on the information gathered during the assessment.

Often, the Team will determine that the student is not currently at risk for engaging in violence, but requires monitoring or is in need of guidance to cope with losses, develop resiliency to overcome setbacks, or learn more appropriate strategies to manage emotions.

Sometimes management involves suspension or expulsion from school. When this is necessary, Teams and school administrators should consider how it might affect their ability to monitor the student.

Removing a student from school does not eliminate the risk to the school community. Several school attacks have been carried out by former students who had been removed from the school or aged out of their former school.

A suspended or expelled student might become isolated from positive peer interactions or supportive adult relationships at school.

Teams should develop strategies to stay connected to the suspended or expelled student to determine whether the student’s situation is deteriorating or the behaviors of concern are escalating so that they can respond appropriately.

Management plans should remain in place until the Team is no longer concerned about the student or the risk for violence. This is accomplished by addressing the following basic elements that can reduce the likelihood a student will engage in violence and provide support and resources for those in need.

Notify law enforcement immediately if a student is thinking about or planning to engage in violence, so that they may assist in managing the situation.

Resources to assist the student could take the form of peer support programs or therapeutic counseling to enhance social learning or emotional competency, life skills classes, tutoring in specific academic subjects, or mental health care.

Most programs and supports will be available within the school, but the Team may need to also access community resources to assist with managing the student.

Make efforts to address the safety of any potential targets by altering or improving security procedures for schools or individuals and providing guidance on how to avoid the student of concern.

Create a situation that is less prone to violence by asking the family or law enforcement to block the student’s access to weapons, while also connecting the student to positive, prosocial models of behavior.

Another option may involve removing the student from campus for a period of time, while maintaining a relationship with the student and the student’s family.

Remove or redirect the student’s motive. Every student’s motive will be different, and motives can be redirected in a variety of ways.

These strategies may include bullying prevention efforts or offering counseling for a student experiencing a personal setback.

Reduce the effect of stressors by providing resources and supports that help the student manage and overcome negative events, setbacks, and challenges.

In one recent case, a school principal described a situation when a student was suspended from his high school for drug possession. Soon after, a fellow student discovered a concerning video he posted online and notified school personnel.

A school administrator met with the student and his father. While the administrator had no immediate safety concerns about the student, he was aware that the student was experiencing a number of stressors.

The student’s parents were divorced and he was living with his father, who was diagnosed with a terminal illness and was receiving frequent medical treatments. His mother was dealing with a mental illness, was a source of embarrassment to him, and was unlikely to be able to serve as his guardian after his father’s passing. He was also recently removed from the wrestling team, and due to his suspension, banned from attending the matches. While suspended, the student was required to attend tutoring sessions in lieu of school, but was unable to make his sessions because he was transporting his father to medical appointments.

The administrator reported that he would have alerted their school resource officer and local sheriff’s office if he had safety concerns about the student, but instead the school worked with community services to provide access to resources and supports, including transportation services for his father to his medical appointments so the student could attend tutoring sessions, and counseling and support services that would assist the student after his father’s passing.

The school also worked with the student and his father to develop a plan for the student to return to campus and remain on track to graduate.