The Dallas Morning News recently published an article titled “Texas arresting dozens of students after a surge in school threats.”
In September alone, at least 40 students across the state were arrested in connection with making threats against schools, according to a review of news articles, law enforcement statements, and district alerts. They face charges for a variety of offenses, including making terroristic threats, threatening to use a firearm, and generating false alarms.
Texas School Procedures has developed and updated some protocols and documents to help districts and campuses that face threats of harm to others.
School threats received in an office: includes 4 checklists for office staff to document incoming phone calls for a threat to the campus, a threat made by an individual on the campus or at a school event, a suspicious package/note/envelope, or receiving a threatening email or computer cyberattack notice.
Notification to parents. TxSP has developed a protocol to guide districts on when to notify parents and the community of received threats. Included is a sample policy and a sample text or email to send out.
Threats made against others. This section has had a complete overhaul. It has a much easier flow to the process, and the protocol includes step-by-step instructions with links to each document as needed. Additionally, we have prepared a protocol for the District level on Behavior Threat Assessments. We are in the process of updating the accompanying training sessions.
