Report Of Threatening Student Prompts Safety Message From Natick

NATICK, MA—Last week, Natick Superintendent Anna Nolin got a call from a TV reporter who said that they had received a tip about a threatening student in the schools. They called to say they were interviewing parents looking for information.

Nolin, knowing that it could potentially cause panic, addressed the school community with a message.

"I wanted to take a moment to reassure you that safety is our first priority at all Natick schools," she said. "We work to ensure that students have trusted adults to talk to about possible issues, student peer leaders bring forward information from the students and serve as advocates, and lots of reporting mechanisms in order for community members to share information with us."

Nolin said that when they receive troubling reports in the schools, authorities work quickly with other agencies to figure out first if the issue or threat is real or not.

"We work with Natick Police, our school resource officers, Department of Children and Families, Student Services, and local mental health providers to ensure all of our schools are safe," she wrote. "When reports come to us through students, staff, parents or our anonymous reporting site, we run through an established risk and threat assessment protocol to ensure safety. This assessment can include visits to the home, interviews with kids and families, interview with students, and meetings and assessments with school psychologists. We also belong to a peer review group called NEMLEC (Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council) which is a collaboration between school administrators and law enforcement. They act as a critical peer group advising school districts when they deal with crises of all types (school threats, deaths, grief counseling, etc.)."

No incident or report that had been shared with school officials this year so far has risen to the level where there was a need to inform the community at large.

"If there was a credible threat we would inform as appropriate to the scope of the situation," she wrote. "We want to reassure you of the schools' safety — striving always to protect students and staff physically and emotionally, while respecting student and staff privacy."

Explore the school safety website and view this recent video.

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