School Safety Blog

The Arizona Auditor General recently released the findings of an audit conducted of schools throughout the state and their preparedness for an emergency.  As SUSD’s Director of Safety and Security, the safety and security of every person who enters our campuses and facilities rests on my shoulders.  There are many people throughout the district and cities, including our partner public-safety agencies, who share this burden and help support our mission to keep everyone safe in our facilities.  The Auditor General’s report gave our district an opportunity to reexamine the challenges we face in security and how we currently prepare for and mitigate threats and vulnerabilities.

I want to assure you that your children are safe coming to Scottsdale Unified School District facilities.  While no person can ever tell you that a location is 100% safe unless they lie to you, I am telling you that we have procedures in place, we practice our procedures, and we continually meet with our local emergency partners to make our procedures better.  The audit gave us some great points to consider and things to look at from a different perspective.  While I cannot ‒ for security reasons ‒ discuss all the things we have in place to ensure the safety of people on our campuses, I am always open to discuss what I can, answer questions or hear solutions or ideas you may have to increase the safety and security of our facilities and the people on them.  

Josh Friedman, CEM
Director of Safety and Security

Learn More at the Source

According to Common Sense Media, 71% of children have a cell phone by age 12 and 91% have one by age 14.   The survey, conducted in 2021, showed that 57% of children between 8 and 12 and 88% of children between 13 and 18 have smartphones.

This is just one of many surveys that show that children - before they turn 18 - are using cellular phones on a regular basis.  Twenty years ago, cell phones were used for calls; 15 years ago, we had to pay per text message.  Today, plans are unlimited, and kids walk around with computers in their pockets.  We do the best we can to limit the usage of all phones during the school day, but do you know what happens outside of school?

We understand that cellular devices are a tool for both children and parents.  They help with communication and making sure our kids are available or “protected” when their parent is not around.  

It is also a toy that kids are using to do things that can cause great harm now or later in life.  Companies look at social media accounts prior to hiring people, and things do not disappear from the web.  Kids post funny things, political things and things they just may not understand today that will follow them well into their future. Take time to educate yourself, not just on the device and technical solutions to protect your child, but what they are actually doing on their device.

Remember: Kids don’t think about the “big picture” or long-term impacts as they are chatting on their devices with someone they think is a friend.  Stay safe.

Learn More at the Source

Schools are a safe space.  We provide locations for children to come to learn and be children.  That includes the poor decisions they make, the adolescent drama that occurs and everything else that comes along with growing up.  SUSD’s safety and security team works hard to keep the outside drama of the world outside the fences of the campus.  We coordinate with every staff member and numerous other organizations, including law enforcement, to keep problems off our campuses.  We encourage discussions within our campuses about life outside but hope they can be civil and, in many cases, facilitated by teachers in educational classroom discussions.

There are many opportunities for adults to be involved and on our campuses.  We encourage and want every parent to be a part of their child’s school community.  Some parents have lots of time and get involved in school-based parent organization; others don’t have that luxury but spend time attending their child’s specific school activities.  

No matter who is on our campus, we ask that wear your correct identification badge.  Visitors and volunteers should have a sticker visible at all times. The sticker comes from our new Raptor system and allows you to be accounted for, should there be an incident on campus.  Students should be wearing their current year identification badge.  The barcode on the badge also allows students to purchase cafeteria lunches and check out books from the library.  The RFID inside the badge only works with our transportation system, allowing us to be able to tell when a student got onto and off an SUSD school bus. Finally, our staff all received new identification badges this year.  These badges work with our card access systems and timeclock systems. 

Identification badges are tools and not fashion statements.  They don’t need to match your wardrobe, nor do they need to be pretty.  They need to be worn and visible.  The purpose of the badge on all persons on our campuses for everyday use is to be easily able to spot someone who does not belong.  But the main goal is that in the event of an emergency, we can identify and account for every person on that campus.  If the incident is serious enough that people need to be transported to a hospital, we will not be able to look at your student’s phone to determine their identification, nor will we be able to identify you from a “VISITOR” sticker.  Please help us ensure that everyone on campus during the school day is wearing the appropriate identification visible for all to see.

 

When will it stop? 

The SUSD Security Department, along with our law enforcement partners, has investigated more than 30 hoax threats to our schools over the past few weeks. These hoaxes have come in the form of writing on desks, posting on social media and word of mouth. Thankfully, none of them have been valid, to date. They have originated in other parts of the Valley, other states and even other countries, but we have had to interview hundreds of students to be able to make those determinations. 

Once again, we ask that you please help us:

REPORT ‒ DO NOT REPOST! If you or your student see, overhear or hear of something threatening, alert the police, SUSD Security or a school administrator immediately. 

We need to work together to put an end to this rash of threats and keep our kids in school, where they can learn and be kids. On Sept. 30, we hosted a town hall with leaders of the Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Phoenix Police departments to discuss, in-depth, school safety and what happens when a threat is made. You can watch the video of the event here. 

The Q & A below may also further your understanding of the challenges SUSD and school districts around the nation currently face with this spate of highly irresponsible and potentially criminal hoaxes.

What is a threat?
School threats can come in many forms. The threat can be verbal, written, or electronic. 

What happens when a threat is reported?
If a threat is made verbally and the student can be identified, the student is separated from their backpack and other belongings and brought to the school office to meet with school administration and, in most cases, district Security and local law enforcement. 

If a threat is made over text, written somewhere, or posted on social media, an investigation is required to attempt to identify the origin of the threat. This investigation can include security camera footage, student interviews, and police searches of meta data. 

What does it mean if a threat is “transient”?
A transient threat is more like an outburst. It is a threat typically said in the heat of the moment after an argument or when a child “reaches their limit.” The threat is still investigated, however. The student will receive appropriate consequences based on the SUSD Student Code of Conduct and violations of the law as determined by law enforcement. In conjunction with the family, we typically try to provide the student with the services they need to teach them better coping skills and how to better deal with whatever issues they are facing. 

How do you determine if a threat is a hoax, unfounded or not credible?
Every threat is investigated in cooperation with our law enforcement partner agencies. When they complete the investigation, it is they that make the final determination if the threat is a hoax, unfounded, or not credible. This determination is reached after meeting with the parents and student, as well as examining evidence contained in the post or chat, if that is how the threat was made. Law enforcement examines things such as the ability for the threat maker to carry out the threat: do they have access to weapons, do they have the ability to get to the location (many social media threats are from out of state or out of country), and many other factors. 

Why do we often not hear of the conclusion of an investigation ‒ only that it has been determined to not be credible?
The district can only release certain information. The investigation into a threat is a law enforcement investigation. While the district works alongside our local law enforcement agencies, the release of any information is governed both by what the police will allow us to release (it is still a criminal case, even if it is unfounded), by district policy, and state and federal laws, such as FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act). 

Why do we see the student back at school?
Not every student is expelled. We follow the SUSD Student Code of Conduct, based on the actual offense. Some students may be part of our Special Education programs, and their outburst may have been a manifestation of their disability. This does not mean they get a “free pass,” but the district is required to follow specific steps in such instances. 

Every student who has been found to be part of a threat, no matter the credibility, must undergo a threat assessment prior to returning to school. This assessment is conducted by a team of individuals that is trained at least annually in conducting such assessments. The assessment also includes school site administration and law enforcement. 

Based on that assessment, a student may be placed on a safety plan. These plans can include things such as checking in with the office every morning, not being able to use a backpack at school or bring any bags from home, or submitting to a bag search prior to coming on campus each morning. We often restrict the student’s movements around campus to keep them in visible places or away from certain other students. 

Why does the district keep asking us not to share the posts or information? Won’t it help save the other people at the school if it is a real threat?
More than 98% of the threats that are posted ahead of time are not credible. The reason we ask that you not share it is that law enforcement needs the original post to conduct its investigation. If an individual shares it 10 times and then those people share it 10 times, that’s 100 interviews before we get to the source, which is time-consuming. If you receive a post and send it directly to the police or site administration, they are able to track the post backwards. Every time it is shared as a screen shot or as a chat, the original metadata (computer-speak behind the original post) is either lost or altered. That is the most important reason not to share it. Any person who shares a threat can be subject to criminal charges, and students can be disciplined based on the district’s Student Code of Conduct. 

How do we make this stop?
As many of you know, once something is on the internet, it never goes away. So, threats that mention a specific school will continue to come back up and get regenerated because someone will see it and think it is new and warn their friends. The only way to make it stop is to report it and not share it until we get an opportunity to investigate it and determine its validity. REPORT: DO NOT REPOST. 

As parents, what can we do?
Educate your children about the dangers of reposting. Educate them on what to do if they see or hear something. Schools are already limiting or eliminating the use of cell phones during the school day, but it is parents’ responsibility to monitor their students’ activities after-hours. As a school district, we are not telling you how to parent or what to allow or not allow ‒ we are asking you to please educate your children about not reposting or sharing any threats and instead report them to their school’s administration or the police so that we can get a quick start on investigating them. 

What should we tell our kids to do during a lockdown? 
Please encourage your students to follow directions and listen to the adult in charge (teacher, administrator, security or police officer). 

While it is tempting for them to start calling and texting home, we also know that during a lockdown it is important to stay quiet. We ask that you simply reassure them. 

Additionally, many students have their cell phones tucked away for the day in their backpack. Once a situation is resolved, students will be allowed to text or call home. 

Thank you.

Josh Friedman, CEM
Director of Safety and Security

Learn More at the Source