CO School Safety Handbook, Information-Sharing Ruling Released

COLORADO – Attorney General Cynthia Coffman on Tuesday announced the release of several safety resources for schools for emergencies.

The first is the state's Colorado School Safety Guide, which was compiled with input from the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado Boulder. The second is an official ruling, and explanatory video, by Coffman on the acceptable information sharing between schools and law enforcement under the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Colorado's early experience with the 1999 Columbine High School mass-shooting gave the state an early and painful introduction to the now-national problem of school mass violence. The Attorney General's office under Coffman has developed resources under the Safe Communities Safe Schools program. Those include overseeing the statewide Safe2Tell program, which allows students to quickly report threats to their safety or their schools. The number of tips reported to the program has increased exponentially and Safe2tell is now in a pilot program to go nationwide.

“From threat to action, from risk to reality, our state and nation are experiencing an unprecedented rise in school-related violence,” said Coffman in a press release. “Those who work in school safety shoulder a tremendous load whether it is counseling students through crisis, participating in threat assessments, coordinating lockdown drills, intervening to prevent a planned school attack, or supporting parents struggling to raise healthy children in a stress-filled environment."

Coffman partners with retired former former Columbine High School principal Frank DeAngelis, to introduce the video, which encourages information sharing between schools and law enforcement to protect students and staff from school violence.

"The video ... works to clear up some of the confusion over the laws around information sharing, and dispel some of the misconceptions about FERPA and what it does or does not permit schools to do when proactively responding to safety concerns, including threats of school violence," the AG's office said in a press release.

Coffman's office also released a ruling clarifying the information that can be shared between schools and law enforcement.

For more information about the Safe2Tell program go to https://safe2tell.org/

For a copy of the Colorado School Safety Guide, go to: https://coag.gov/sites/default/files/coloradoag_schoolsafetyguide_final_electronic.pdf

To see the FERPA video, go to: https://coag.gov/OCE/foster-school-safety/FERPA

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