Prevent and Respond to Violence

When the educational community thinks of workplace violence, the aftermath of a mass shooting often comes to mind. While violence in such settings can also include adult-on-adult crimes committed by disgruntled employees or acts of revenge against estranged partners, it’s the thought of innocent young victims that chills society.

The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Ct., in which 20 students and six faculty members died, shocked the world, and everyone is asking why it happened and how such tragedies can be prevented.

There are no easy answers. But threat assessment specialists, security experts, and K-12 and higher education administrators are committed to preventing and mitigating violence at schools and campuses through threat assessment and management, physical security measures, training, and collaboration with law enforcement agencies and first responders.

“I’m hopeful that as schools look hard at their physical security in the wake of Newtown that they’ll also look at threat assessment. But I bet if you were to go look at a lot of K-12 settings, you’re not going to see threat assessment teams or pathways or reporting structures and the encouragement to bring information forward,” says Jeffrey Nolan, an attorney with Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew in Burlington, Vt., one of UE’s Select Counsel.

Physical security is important, “but gathering intelligence to identify and then help you assess and manage potential threats … is at least as important and has a lot more potential to be more universally successful than trying to just shelter down in a bunker,” he says.

“I’m hopeful that as schools look hard at their physical security in the wake of Newtown that they’ll also look at threat assessment.”
—Jeffrey Nolan, Attorney, Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew

As institutions work to bolster safety efforts, six UE members recently described their approaches to workplace violence prevention and mitigation. Learn how Middlebury College, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Landmark College, Cushing Academy, Virginia Tech, and Ventura County, California public schools are managing this risk.