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Education Leaders Launch Statewide System To Report School Threats

North Carolina's traditional public school enrollment is 1.8 million K-12 students. KERI BROWN/WFDD

North Carolina's public schools have a new tool to help keep their campuses safe. The system was created by several family members who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting.

State Superintendent Mark Johnson says the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System will launch during the 2019-20 school year. It's designed to prevent school violence and will be available in middle and high schools.

“Students play a critical role in helping to keep schools safe,” Johnson says. “They may see and hear concerns that adults need to know about but may be reluctant to report it.”

Tips can be sent in through an app or website or a phone hotline.

A crisis center will be staffed with trained counselors 24/7 to assess and categorize the information. It will be delivered to school officials and in some cases law enforcement.

The nonprofit group known as Sandy Hook Promise will partner with schools across North Carolina to help train students and teachers on how to identify signs of a potentially troubled individual and how to properly report those concerns.

“With these comprehensive violence prevention systems in place, North Carolina schools will be safer, protecting millions of lives and empowering youth to be upstanders in their communities," says Nicole Hockley, co-founder and managing director of Sandy Hook Promise, and mother of Dylan, who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.

The state Department of Public Instruction piloted a reporting app a few years ago in a handful of schools. In that pilot year, the center received tips related to bullying (39 percent), danger (25 percent), drugs (24 percent), weapons (5 percent), fighting (5 percent), and underage drinking (2 percent).

In 2018, the North Carolina General Assembly included development of a statewide app in the 2018-19 budget bill.

More than 5,100 schools nationwide are currently using Sandy Hook Promise's anonymous reporting system. North Carolina will be the second statewide partnership for the program.

Pennsylvania began using the system in January.

You can follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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