escWorks

With the passage of Senate Bill 11, Texas now joins the short list of states in our country to legislatively mandate the implementation of behavioral threat assessment teams in its Texas public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools. Behavioral Threat Assessment provides a proactive, evidence-based approach for identifying individuals who may pose a threat and for providing interventions before a violent incident occurs.

The board of trustees of each school district is now required to establish a Safe and Supportive School Program Team that conducts behavioral threat assessments to serve at each campus of the district. The Board must also adopt policies and procedures for the teams that are consistent with the model policies and procedures developed by the Texas School Safety Center (TxSSC). In addition, each team is required to complete training provided by the TxSSC or a Regional Education Service Center.

This training is open to Texas public ISDs, open-enrollment charter schools, school-based law enforcement, and any state agency that serves on an identified Threat Assessment team. Because this training is legislatively mandated, we are encouraging all School Behavioral Threat Assessment team members to complete the training. Completion of this in-person training will meet the State requirements for threat assessment training.