Officials with the state Office of School Safety report, since 2020, the Speak UP Speak Out app has received more than 10,000 tips. PC: Fox 11 Online
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – With the start of the school year just weeks away, state and local officials are highlighting student safety concerns and how administrators strive to ensure a safe learning environment. A big focus is on prevention, supporting students before they feel a need to act on negative ideation.
School may be out for summer, but that doesn’t mean teachers, school counselors and other educators aren’t preparing for the upcoming academic year.
In Appleton, a group of educators is learning about behavioral and threat assessment management – ways to prevent a school tragedy from happening. It’s an important issue, since the latest result of the state’s Youth Behavior Risk Survey show kids have concerns about feeling safe in school.
“We have big work to do in terms of creating communities, creating school climates where kids feel safe in their schools, they feel seen, heard and respected and they know if they have a concern it will be efficiently handled by the trusted adults,” said Trish Kilpin, Director of Office of School Safety.
In September of 2020 the state Office of School Safety launched the “Speak Up Speak Out” app where students, their families and community members can report school safety concerns. It has been utilized be used to report everything from bullying and dating violence to suicide and potential school threats.
Since launching, the app has received more than 10,000 tips, including roughly 250 about planned school attacks.
“What they allow us to do is to get information into trusted adults who can act and prevent violence before it happens and can also address concerns on impacts on school climate,” said Attorney General Josh Kaul.
The Appleton Area School District community has used the SUSO app a lot, accounting for about 10 percent of the tips reported.
“That tells us we are reaching our families, we’re reaching our community, we’re reaching our students and they have a way to share that information,” added Laura Jackson, Executive Director of Student Services with the Appleton Area School District.
It’s information that’s making a difference.
Without getting into specifics, Appleton Police say tips to the SUSO app have prevented several situations from escalating. The information is vetted by law enforcement and school officials as soon as it comes in, allowing matters to be dealt with before students even know something was a concern.
According to Capt. Jack Taschner with the Appleton Police Department, “It’s really invaluable and because law enforcement is a 24/7 service they’re able to contact people and we can get so far ahead of these things and really help mitigate any safety concerns. You’re perfect but the opportunity is there and that’s what’s great about it.”
As classes start up again, soon, the hope is more people will take advantage of the app to continue to keep schools safe.
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