Task Force Releases Report on School Safety

Thursday, November 19, 2015

GoLocalPDX News Team

The Oregon Task Force on School Safety released their report to the Oregon State Legislature yesterday and highlighted the need for a statewide school-floorplan database, standardized terminology for emergencies, a tip line, a statewide threat assessment system and additional online resources.

“The Oregon Task Force on School Safety began meeting in August 2014,” the report reads. “Within the first four months of convening, there were 10 shooting incidents at schools in the United States — in Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, Washington, Oklahoma and Oregon, at Rosemary Anderson High in Portland. This does not include the shooting at Reynolds High in Troutdale, Oregon in June 2014. Incidents since then include the October 2015 tragedy at Umpqua Community College, which resulted in 10 dead (including the shooter). It is clear that the need for consistent, statewide school safety measures has reached a critical level.”

As a result, the report made four made recommendations. First, the establishment and funding for a statewide tip line.

“Oregon needs a resource where students and others can anonymously report information about potential threats, including bullying, self-harm and other concerns,” the report reads. “Youth-oriented tip lines that allow multiple reporting options are successful in Colorado and Michigan.”

The report also recommended a statewide threat assessment system. The report cited research which shows that students who intends to commit an act of violence typically tells someone else about their plans. The assessment systems would offer early intervention strategies that can provide students with ways to deal with others who may have spoken about plans for violence.

A statewide school floorpan database was also recommended, as was establishing standardized terminology among all school districts and first responders. The report said that both of theses features would be “critical” to first responders and school districts in providing “effective, streamlined communication during an emergency response.”

"This report is the result of countless hours of work with our partners in school safety," Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts, Chair of the Oregon Task Force on School Safety, said. "With the recent shooting on the UCC campus in Roseburg and other incidents across our state and nation, it is clear we need to do everything we can to help make our schools safer."