South Sanpete School Districts Response to Crisis and Threats

We care deeply about the safety of our schools, students, and staff. There are times we are made aware of threats of violence at our schools. While we never wish for situations like these, our district and law enforcement partners collaborate to respond as quickly as possible. Our primary objective when facing these situations is to maintain the safety of every single student and staff member in our care. The following outlines the process the district follows whenever it receives information that may pose a threat to the safety of our school environment. 

When someone makes a threat or a crisis impacts our schools, we act immediately. Action involves gathering facts, collaborating with our SROs, local law enforcement, and other key partners, ensuring our communication with the public, both staff and families, is in accordance with the law and ethical standards that support kids, and then getting that communication out in a timely manner in the most efficient and appropriate notification process available.

Gathering the facts:

Administrators work closely with the School Resource Officer (SRO) and local law enforcement whenever there is a threat or crisis that affects a school. We do not make decisions based solely on rumor or conjecture; we act on facts and evidence. Each threat is thoroughly investigated to determine its credibility. We follow the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines, or CSTAG, an evidence-based model that all Utah school districts have been using since 2023. The model has been extensively examined through field tests and controlled studies that demonstrate its utility and effectiveness. More information about CSTAG can be found at https://education.virginia.edu/documents/yvpcomprehensive-school-threat-assessment-guidelines-overviewpaper2020-05-26pdf. This process can take time, as it may involve obtaining search warrants, conducting interviews, making home visits, or taking additional steps.

This can be one of the most difficult times for families and often produces the most anxiety and fear. You may have heard about a situation from your child, but as it is investigated, you will likely not receive much information from official sources, such as the school, district, or police department. This is intentional because communicating before we have all of the facts can delay or impede the investigation and unnecessarily escalate a situation. This stage of the process likely doesn’t feel good to you, and it doesn’t feel good to us either—we want you to have information as soon as possible, when and if it is pertinent. We rely on you to trust us and have patience during this time.

Ensuring communication complies with law and ethical standards:

State and federal law, as well as district policy, restrict what information is public about students and investigations. When it comes to students, very little information can be shared publicly—and districts must comply with data practices and investigatory requirements. That means we are often unable to share any information about a student who is involved in an incident, including whether they are a student at our school, whether they are attending on a particular day, and any disciplinary action they will receive.

Even if that weren’t the case, though, there are instances in which we wouldn’t want to share all of the information. We exist to support children—and the fact of the matter is, children are learning and growing every day. Along the way, they make mistakes, just as we all did when we were growing up. Students will be held accountable, but they still deserve dignity even when their mistakes are big. This accountability is maintained by keeping them responsible for their actions, which we do in accordance with our district policies. This approach differs from sharing information about their mistakes publicly.

In a moment when you don’t have all the information you want to have, please know we are making decisions to keep our students and staff safe, hold people accountable for their actions, and, when possible, help them to learn from their mistakes. To do this most effectively—and legally—we cannot share most of the details that could provide reassurance to some families in a scary situation.

Notifying affected staff and families:

Once we gather facts and make an initial assessment of what information can be shared, we begin a second period of reviewing that communication for any inaccurate or misleading information with law enforcement and our legal advisors.  We then send notification to you through the district’s communication systems. Please be aware that while you wait to receive a message, many school leaders, district administrators, law enforcement officials, and legal professionals are working diligently to gather information and share it with you as quickly as possible. It matters to us that you are informed as quickly as possible, and we appreciate your understanding as we work to make that happen. And, if at any point during this process you decide not to send your child to school, we support your right as a parent or guardian to make that decision.

Here’s how members of our district community can be supportive in times of threat or crisis:

1.     Trust us, and our law enforcement partners, to keep your children safe at school. We all receive extensive training and practice emergency response, so we are prepared to manage these situations. Our decisions are based on facts  
         and deep situational understanding.

2.     Have conversations with your children about social media and their digital citizenship, and actively monitor their online activity.

3.     Continue to keep us informed at any time you learn of information that could affect student or school safety. We take all reports seriously, investigate them, and take appropriate action.

4.     Show grace and practice empathy. Being a school staff member can be one of the most rewarding and the most challenging careers—and our staff go far above and beyond for our students, families, and one another. In critical
        situations like these, we ask our community to support our staff members, just as they support our students every day.

Response to Crisis and Threats