UTICA, N.Y. — Oneida County is working to prevent school violence before it happens.
Oneida Herkimer Madison BOCES recently hosted a Building Safer Schools Threat Assessment Workshop.
In recent years, there has been a push for threat assessment management teams to be accessible at every school.
“They are progressing further and further in their aggressive behaviors; that is stuff that can be hopefully, with the TAM team, mitigated by implementing services and management strategy to get that person off of that pathway,” Lt. Carey Phair of the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office said.
Patricia Kilburn, OHM BOCES superintendent, said, “When we consider how much the role of school safety and security has changed over time not only in what we do within buildings to keep children safe but also have we approach mental health The idea of regularly convincing educators to learn becomes a priority.”
School safety has shifted to focus not just on security but also on student mental health.
Part of that focus is de-stigmatizing mental health so students know they have options.
Kilburn said, “Anybody can encounter mental health challenges, which is positive in general and allows it to become a topic where people can reach out to each other and they can access appropriate intervention and support.”
“We can take those lessons learned, learn from them, and really prevent a tragic event happening in the future,” Patty Cerio, safety services supervisor, said.
BOCES plans to host more workshops throughout the year to take a deeper look at threat assessment and crisis response.
All are intended to give school staff the support they need to grow.
Oneida County is working to prevent school violence before it happens.