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SMYRNA, Del. – This fall, many Delaware schools will launch a new School Safety and Wellness Suite that incorporates a comprehensive approach to alert administrators of serious situations while providing students with the necessary tools and resources to prevent or deter a situation from escalating.
“In an emergency, the timeliness of help is critical. I’m excited this platform will make it easier and faster to access wellness resources and reach immediate support in a crisis,”Secretary of Education Mark Holodick said.
The first part of the program is SAFE DE, an anonymous reporting app that includes crisis texting, mental health education, and other resources. Available to all public and charter schools, SAFE DE enables students to communicate directly with a help center and school officials in times of need, including direct access to a “Crisis Text Line.” The goal is to improve school safety by helping identify and intervene with those at risk of harming themselves or others. Students can come forward to voice a concern or ask for help for themselves or a friend in need without the stress of having to self-identify.
The second component of the suite encompasses threat assessment and suicide risk assessment models combined with staff training. Delaware’s Comprehensive School Safety Program (CSSP) has chosen evidence-based models to provide students and staff with the same standardized process throughout the entire state.
The third piece is a case management system that stores and tracks critical information as a student proceeds in their K-12 education. The goal is to ensure that no student slips through the cracks and fails to get the care and services they may need.
“The safety and well-being of Delaware residents, especially our students, is our number one priority. This technology, which is linked to subject matter experts, ensures our students have the best resources available when it is needed most. We encourage our students, parents, and educators to utilize these resources,” said Secretary of Safety and Homeland Security Nathaniel McQueen, Jr.
Currently, many of Delaware’s 19 school districts and charter schools – over 83,000 students or more than half of the state’s 140,000 total enrollment – have onboarded and are implementing the new program. Efforts to onboard the remainder of Delaware schools could mean Delaware would be among the first states with the highest adoption rate for this new safety and wellness platform by the start of the school year.
“SAFE DE and these comprehensive safety and wellness tools are one of a number of initiatives the DEMA Comprehensive School Safety Program has brought to the community to help lower risk,” said A.J. Schall, Director of the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA).
“I appreciate the partnerships built to make sure this is available to all public and charter schools in Delaware.”
Research indicates many school safety issues might be prevented if issues and concerns are brought forward. The Centers for Disease Control reports suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 10 to 24 and this rate increased 52 percent from 2000 to 2021. According to the U.S. Secret Service, “targeted school violence is preventable when communities report concerning behaviors and intervene,” and “in two-thirds of attacks there was at least one communication (or other observed concerning behavior)… that was not reported by the bystander who observed it.” By normalizing the process of asking for help, SAFE DE aims to improve a school’s ability to assess and manage threats of violence and suicide.
CSSP selected STOPit Solutions and its HELPme™ platform to build the SAFE DE app. CSSP also partnered with Public Consulting Group (PCG) to oversee the training for the Behavioral Threat Assessment (BTA) and Suicide Risk Assessment (SRA) solutions of the suite, as well as the implementation of the case management system to house this information.
CSSP works with public and charter schools statewide to update school safety plans and offer training on all aspects of emergency management and school safety including preparation, preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery. Examples of training include violent intruders, bomb threats, severe weather responses, mental health awareness and tools, building infrastructure assessments, environmental and behavioral threat assessments, and family reunification.
STOPit Solutions is a leading provider of safety and wellness solutions that help protect the physical, social, and emotional well-being of millions of students, employees, and citizens in the United States and abroad. It provides over 8,000 schools, workplaces, and communities technology-based solutions that help intervene on safety and well-being concerns, respond, and mitigate critical incidents, and educate individuals on personal safety & wellness. As a result, STOPit Solutions has been able to save and change the lives of millions while creating safer, healthier places to learn, work, and live. Visit stopitsolutions.com/helpme to learn more.
Public Consulting Group (PCG) is a leading public sector management consulting and operations improvement firm that partners with education, health, and human services agencies to improve lives. PCG is the leading provider of case management solutions in schools in the areas of Special Education, MTSS, Health, and now Threat Assessment. Today PCG serves over half the schools in the nation. Post Parkland, PCG helped develop a system for Broward County Public Schools in Florida to manage students at risk of violence to themselves or others. PCG has since brought their threat assessment solution to schools across the country to help manage supportive interventions and engagement with at-risk students. PCG works closely with the nation’s behavioral threat assessment experts to align their solution and training to best practice. To learn more, please visit: https://www.pcgus.com/bta
