The horror of shootings at schools, as well as other violence toward students, teachers, and staff, are all marks on our culture which coincide with the documented explosion of mental illness struggles and diagnoses among students and young adults and the obvious growing in ability to deal with conflict, conflict resolution, and to end bullying and intimidation.
Hamilton County Public Schools Superintendent Justin Robertson, PhD, issued a community letter aimed to address and assure the local area as headlines have featured multiple arrests made at schools throughout our county for threats of mass violence or the possessions of weapons. Dr. Robertson’s letter opened with a framing statement to communicate the priority of HCPS of safety and security.
“Safety is the highest priority for Hamilton County Schools and the heaviest burden,” the open letter begins as Robertson related his empathy as a father with concerns of school shootings in recent days, one of which was in Georgia involving an armed student, and last year’s Nashville school shooting involving the forced entry to a relatively secure private school by a troubled teen struggling with internal gender confusion influenced by a society of external pressures.
Why the sudden and curious uptick in arrests in Hamilton County? News consumers are not surprised by headlines about our local schools, which is the number one budget item in both the state and local county government which fund and operate our area schools. The emphasis on literacy and comprehension has been a key focus since the lagging test scores and the dramatic performance drop post-COVID. Those are routine points of conversation and concern.
Yet, since the first day of school on August 7th, a steady dominance of news stories has included student arrests for threats of mass violence. Is there some contagion that has created a local epidemic of sorts in students returning from summer vacation? What has changed?
A Tennessee law now enforces school safety measures stating that “A person who recklessly, by any means of communication, threatens to commit an act of mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity commits a Class E felony.” The law, Tenn. Code § 39-16-517, even includes a provision that “Any person who has knowledge of a threat of mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity and knowingly fails to report the threat commits a Class B misdemeanor.”
Now in Tennessee, if you see something or hear something, you say something to an authority who is charged to act–no exceptions. Those responding actions hold no gray or compromise. The communication involves “any act which a reasonable person would conclude could lead to the serious bodily injury…or the death of two or more persons” whether verbal, written via a text, a social media post, or any other method. Discuss this serious situation with your students. Safety is indeed the priority. Arrests are certain deterrents and punishments. Instruction, modeling, and learning conflict resolution is a key part of correcting a real problem.