Metal detectors. Clear backpacks. Bulletproof windows. As high-profile incidents of targeted violence continue to plague our schools, people argue about which one-size-fits-all solution will keep students across the country safe. However, school safety is a complex topic that requires a multifaceted, research-driven approach.

And just like there are many moving parts that make up any given school community – students, teachers, administrators, mental health professionals, school resource officers, counselors, nurses, coaches, and more – schools are best safeguarded against violence when stakeholders work together as a team towards a collective goal of preventing violence before it occurs.

With this concept in mind, the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) partnered with the Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) under an FY2019 Community Policing Development (CPD) Award to develop and implement a comprehensive school safety program. NASRO began developing Project Unite: The Four Integrated Systems for School Violence Prevention in 2020. Developed using funding from the COPS Office and in conjunction with safety experts from all over the United States, Project Unite focuses on bringing school safety stakeholders together and educating them on violence prevention initiatives using a systematic approach.

Once teams are working together toward a common goal, they are then equipped with an actionable plan and next steps for strengthening their own school’s safety. Project Unite gives all members of the multidisciplinary school safety team comprehensive procedures to follow and scale to prevent violence in their collective communities.

There are over 130,000 K-12 schools in the United States, each with unique needs when it comes to preventing violence. The Project Unite approach offers schools and their community partners clear actionable steps for preventing violence in ways that are adaptable, equitable, and culturally responsive.

Key Components

The key components, or systems, of Project Unite are: (1) positive school culture and climate, (2) bystander reporting and response, (3) information sharing, and (4) behavioral threat and suicide assessment and management. Project Unite provides step-by-step guidance for implementing each component using a comprehensive approach informed by federal recommendations, research, and community policing principles. Schools can adapt implementation of these components to their unique needs and resources and students’ age and developmental levels.

Violence prevention seeks to address the root causes of violence in the long term and avert acts of targeted violence in the short term. We build the foundation of addressing the root causes of violence by building a positive school culture and climate.

Qualities of a positive school climate include creating a space where students feel they belong, they are engaged regularly with adults building relationships, respect for diversity is encouraged, school participation is valued, and the environment is both physically and emotionally safe for adults and students. Establishing a healthy, stable, and supportive school community culture and climate is the multidisciplinary school safety team’s first and most important responsibility – everything, including violence prevention, trickles down from these efforts.

When a positive school community culture and climate is in place and students and staff are empowered to speak up, it becomes easier to notice when something is “off”. This brings us to the second system of Project Unite: bystander reporting and response.

In a 2019 Secret Service study of 41 school attacks from 2008 to 2017, 94 percent of attackers had engaged in concerning behavior at school, 77 percent had engaged in concerning behavior at home or in the community, and 74 percent had engaged in concerning behavior online. Likewise, at least one other person had some type of knowledge of the attacker’s plan in over 80 percent of the attacks, and those people were almost always the attacker’s peers. This means that creating trusting relationships with students where they feel secure speaking up is of the utmost importance.

Relationships are critical to getting students to report concerning behavior. Project Unite provides a framework that explains what types of behaviors are possible predictors of violence and what to do when those behaviors are on display and empowers school safety teams to address concerns before they escalate into incidents of violence.

Trust is critical for an effective bystander reporting system. Seeing is believing — people will believe in the system if they see positive results. This highlights why school culture and climate are the foundation of violence prevention. The other components rely on a culture of positive relationships and a trusting climate to work well.

Once information has been reported, there must be a cohesive and standardized way for teams to connect the dots and take action. This brings us to the third module of Project Unite: information sharing.

When officials do not have complete information about a student, or they do not share information, they cannot conduct an effective behavioral threat assessment or suicide risk assessment, provide an appropriate management, and support plan, or offer an effective intervention to interrupt the pathway to violence.

Sharing information about a person’s concerning behaviors is critical because an escalation in or pattern with the behaviors can be difficult to recognize when the red flags emerge over a period of several weeks, months, and years and in different settings with different people. According to a Sage Publications article, without an adequate system for sharing information, individuals in crisis can proceed unchecked and unsupported for weeks, months, or years.

The fourth and last element of Project Unite is behavioral threat and suicide assessment management. It emphasizes proactive prevention focused on identifying kids’ needs and meeting them before they manifest into longer-term, violent consequences against themselves or others. Once again, this is a team effort, and any behavioral threat or suicide assessment should be conducted through a multidisciplinary lens.

Once an assessment is completed, the team must develop a management plan that includes both protective measures (if warranted) as well as interventions and supports for the student of concern. The seriousness of the behavior, concern, or threat will inform the urgency and level of interventions and protective measures enacted.

Conclusion

Schools and school districts don’t always have the capacity and resources to do everything they want and need to have a comprehensive school safety strategy in place. In some instances, someone has convinced decision-makers to go for the shiny object — a quick fix that may not have evidence behind it. Long-term violence prevention requires a comprehensive, holistic approach that balances and integrates all the best evidence and proven strategies together, not focusing on just one or a couple of them. Project Unite offers a systematic approach to help schools assess and prioritize needs.

The why for Project Unite is simple — the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The four key systems or components of Project Unite are all interconnected. Having any one of these components is good, but you need all of them, united and working together, to be great.

Project Unite is a 16-hour training course. To learn more or to host a training in your school district, please visit the Project Unite page.

Elizabeth Simpson
COPS Office

Images courtesy of the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO).

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