These schools are using anonymous tips programs to encourage students, teachers, staff and others in their school community to confidentially and anonymously report bullying or other potentially harmful student safety concerns. In addition to bullying and cyber-bullying, these tip programs allow for the anonymous reporting of weapons possession, drug/alcohol use, harassment or intimidation, school vandalism, physical assault, threats of violence, suicide risk, abuse and other incidents.
In one recent example of transportation safety, a high school male student completed a report online, stating that afterschool, as he was getting off of the bus, several males came up to him and verbally threatened harm. The student’s friend suggested he stay on the bus, the bus driver also told him to stay on the bus and he would drop him at the next bus stop. The following day, the school arranged a meeting with the vice principal, who followed up with the Tulsa Police Department and Tulsa Public Schools Campus Police Department. Law enforcement was able to apprehend two of the four males and successfully pressed charges for attempted assault/battery.
Tip Programs Can Help
The right anonymous tip program ensures all incident reports are tracked, documented and addressed in a proactive manner. School administrators can access on-demand reporting to see if/when reports are made, when team members received and acknowledged each report, and what steps were taken to address the report.
Team members collaborate through the platform to share ongoing findings and help connect all the dots needed to ensure a safe and responsive approach. Compliance to policy is seen in real time, through time stamped log entries, and action notes reported among team members.
Because some platforms automate what was once a labor-intensive and expensive manual process of documentation, schools can be more efficient in their response, more collaborative in interventions and investigations, and more accountable to students and their families. This 21st century approach addresses liability, accountability, management and response.
Related Articles:
- 7 Ways You can Address Bullying at Your School
- Test Tip Program Reveals Student ‘Kill List’
- Tackling School Bus Bullying
Katie Johnson handles marketing and client services for Awareity, an incident reporting platform. For more information, visit www.awareity.com or www.tipsprevent.com.
Note: The views expressed by guest bloggers and contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, Campus Safety magazine.
