Safe2Say Something Link

Program Overview

In 2018, the General Assembly passed Act 44 mandating the establishment and use of the "Safe2Say Something"

(S2SS) Anonymous Reporting System by every Pennsylvania school entity by Jan. 14, 2019.

S2SS is a life-saving and life-changing school safety program that teaches students, educators and administrators how

• to recognize the signs and signals of individuals who may be at risk of hurting themselves or others and (2) to anonymously report this information through the S2SS app, website or 24/7 Crisis Center The following provides an overview of how the program works and will be implemented in schools:

• S2SS works through five easy steps:

  1. A tip is submitted via mobile app, website or by calling the PA-based 24/7 Crisis

  2. The tip is then triaged by the crisis center to gather enough information to act on

  3. The tip is then delivered to the impacted school and, as needed, local law

  4. The school and, as needed, local law enforcement assess and intervene with the at-risk

  5. The school then closes out the tip and reports actions taken as a record for their

• The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has established S2SS and will manage and maintain the The OAG, in partnership with Sandy Hook Promise - a leader in anonymous reporting systems - is building out the app, website and PA-based 24/7 Crisis Center platform.

• PA Crisis Center analysts are being trained to receive and triage tips to: (1) ensure there is enough information to act upon, (2) conduct two -way anonymous dialogue with tipsters to gather missing information, (3) categorize the tip into "life safety" or non-"life safety" for ease of prioritization by recipients and (4) deliver the tip to the impacted school and, where needed, its local law

• The S2SS platform allows the official users (Crisis Center analysts, school entities and local law enforcement) to view and act against tips using their PC or mobile Additionally, the platform allows for real -time, two-way dialogue with a tipster and the viewing and sharing of attachments (such as screen shots and videos) that a tipster has submitted. The platform permits communication between the official users on each tip, allowing for up-to-the-second information sharing and action that all see and read at the same time.

• A district, charter school, cyber charter school, private school, nonpublic school, intermediary unit and/or area vocational-technical school will form a team of 3-5 members to receive, view and act upon the tip. These members will be alerted via phone call, email and text for life safety tips and email and text for non-life safety tip s. These 3-5 member teams will be trained to view and act on tips using th e above online plat for Training takes two hours and is delivered by external experts.

• A district, charter school, cyber charter school, private school, nonpublic school, intermediary unit and/or area vocational -technical school must have a S2SS Lead to coordinate the establishment and training of a 3-5 member team who will have the responsibility to receive and act upon tips. Additionally, the team will help maintain and sustain S2SS long-term in partnership with Sandy Hook Promise local coordinators who will in-turn support the efforts of the S2SS

• County -based911 dispatches will, as needed, receive life safety tips from the Crisis Center via phone Like the 3-5 member school team outlined above, the dispatchers will use the platform to view and act upon the tip, conduct two-way dialogue with a tipster and, as needed, communicate with the school team. Training takes two hours and is delivered by external experts.

• Once a tip has been acted against, the 3-5 member school team will then close out the tip and briefly describe the actions taken. Districts, charter schools, cyber charter schools, private schools, nonpublic schools, intermediary units and/or area vocational-technical schools can then run reports to analyze the types, times, of tips received, and, over time, view trends to demonstrate where change is taking place or is needed.

• Students, educators and administrators will be trained to recognize the signs and signals of individuals who may be at risk of hurting themselves or others along with how to use the S2SS anonymous reporting system to submit tips of the signs and signals they Training takes one hour and will be made available via an interactive training video, the downloading of materials to self-lead and/or direct S2SS-certified trainers.

• Safe2Say Something Anonymous Reporting System will be sustained via support by Sandy Hook Premise's School Outreach Coordinator, in-school awareness materials (at no cost), annual training of new incoming classes and educators/administrators and, critically, establishment of in-school student clubs (existing or new clubs) to empower students to create sustained

• S2SS is mandated to launch 14, 2019 - therefore, trainings for schools and dispatches will take place in October, November and December, followed by a statewide test to ensure all are ready to go LIVE. Finally, students will be trained (starting Jan. 14) given that "once you train, you are live and students will start submitting tips."

• As reference - The OAG has partnered with Sandy Hook Promise (SHP) to rollout the S2SS program. SHP is a national non-profit committed to creating safe schools and communities through their four evidenced-based Know the Signs intervention programs. To date, SHP has delivered its programs to 7,000+ schools and trained 5 million youth and adults in every state, resulting in countless suicide, school shooting and firearm threat interventions and countless interventions on bullying, drug use and other acts of violence and victimization interventions.

S25S Lead Roles and Responsibilities

In 2018, the General Assembly passed Act 44 mandating the establishment and use of the "Safe2Say Something" (5255) Anonymous Reporting System by every Pennsylvania school entity by Jan. 14, 2019.

S25S is a life-saving and life-changing school safety program that teaches students, educators and administrators how: (1} to recognize the signs and signals of individuals who may be at risk of hurting themselves or others and (2} to anonymously report this information through the S25S app, website or 24/7 Crisis Center (please see the S25S Overview for more details).

To launch the program in every district, charter school, cyber charter school, private school, nonpublic school, intermediary unit and/or area vocational-technical school in Pennsylvania, each district, charter school, intermediary unit, parochial school and/or technical school must establish a S25S Lead. The following outlines the roles and responsibilities of this S25S Lead:

• Be the key contact and champion of the program for your district, charter school, cyber charter school, private school, nonpublic school, intermediary unit and/or area vocational-technical school - any and all communication and actions needed will flow through you on any S25S

• Attend a mandatory webinar kickoff meeting introducing all S25S Leads from across the state to the S25S program.

• Coordinate the establishment of a 3-5 member team who will have the responsibility to receive and act upon

• Provide (or confirm where information can be gathered) the name, address and contact information at all schools in their district, as well as the name, address and contact information for the 3-5 team members. Confirm the overall "contacts" setup of the S25S

• Lead and facilitate discussion with your local county 911 dispatch to out line and fully understand how you will work together when a "life safety" tip is received within your district, charter school, cyber charter school, private school, nonpublic school, intermediary unit and/or area vocational-technicalschool.

• Coordinate the registration and attendance of the 3-5 member team to one external two-hour training session to learn how to use the S25S plat fo rm.

• Help and encourage your 3-5 member team to practice and play with the S25S program prior to launch to ensure comfort level in accessing and viewing

• Communicate and coordinate the final "test" of the system for your 3-5 member team prior to launch.

• Coordinate the training across the district for the students via an interactive training video, the downloading of materials to self-lead and/or direct S25S-certified trainers.

• Help maintain and sustain the program, post-launch through partnership, with Sandy Hook Promise local coordinators who will support the efforts of the S2SS This support includes technical support, helping with in-school awareness and (re)training of new administrators and the incoming class of students.