The North Carolina General Assembly passed a bill this week to require public schools across the state to establish threat assessment teams.
The bill charges the North Carolina Center for Safer Schools with giving school districts guidance as they set policies to establish the teams.
The center's director Karen Fairley said a threat assessment team could be composed of a school psychologist or other mental health professionals and educators. They would intervene with children who may be a threat to themselves or others...
“It allows that child to sit in a room with advocates to talk about what brought them to that particular behavior that has been flagged, and then to help them,” she explained.
The Center for Safer Schools has worked on training teams like this for several years, but this bill would standardize the practice across the state.
Funding to support the work will depend on the final state budget.