Every school district in Onondaga County will take part in a school threat assessment initiative later this year. A two-day training session in December will help educators root out potential threats to their schools.
The county is signing on with a nationally known violence prevention practice out of Oregon. Jim Mikesell brought the idea to county leaders to create a process to identify risks for potential violence in schools. After a request for proposals, the county hired John Van Dreal Consulting to lead training. Mikesell said the program will be part of every school district.
"It's very easy to adopt into each school in a systematic way and as part of what makes it a best practice, which is a national goal," Mikesell said. "So from a behavioral science standpoint, it's readily made, and it's easily learned, and of course with any follow-up collaboration with him or other teams here locally, hopefully, it then takes the momentum within each school and across each district."
Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said it's part of a post-pandemic mental health support program, which brought county resources into every school district in the county.
"It made a lot of sense for us to get heavily engaged because of the relationships we've developed with the districts," McMahon said. "We worked with school districts in ways that we never had before."
The training will cost $24,000 and is part of funding earmarked for the county’s mental health in schools initiative. Officials said not only will this turn up direct threats to districts, but also help other students with behavioral and mental health struggles.
