Wisconsin Attorney General launches Office of School Safety’s Behavioral and Threat Assessment Management Trainings

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Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul kicked off the first of eleven Behavioral and Threat Assessment Management (BTAM) trainings that will be taking place around the state of Wisconsin.

These trainings are designed to provide school administrators, school mental health professionals, security personnel, community partners and law enforcement with an understanding of why threat assessment is an important part of violence prevention in schools.

Participants will offer remarks and take questions starting at 11:30 am Monday.

Kaul was joined Monday by OSS Director Trish Kilpin and Greendale Schools Director of Pupil Services Rachel Ledezma.

“We must be proactive in working to keep our schools safe,” said Kaul. “The Office of School Safety is providing Behavioral and Threat Assessment Management trainings around the state to assist schools with their efforts to stop violence before it happens,” Kaul added.

Trainings will be held in eleven regions around the state throughout the first half of the year, to ensure as many locations as possible have access to BTAM trainings. Training locations include Pewaukee, Whitewater, Fennimore, West Salem, Portage, Oshkosh, Green Bay, Gillett, Tomahawk, Chippewa Falls, and Turtle Lake, according to officials.

OSS’ training will provide school specific applications and best practice recommendations for BTAM teams. School teams have an opportunity to provide proactive, effective alternatives to reactive and exclusionary disciplinary practices. The focus of this session is to familiarize participants with the BTAM process, clarify team member roles and responsibilities, increase understanding of who poses a threat in a school, and how to respond effectively through development of an intervention plan of support and management. Additionally, assisting community bystanders with tools on what to report and where to report it, officials noted.

In addition to the training, OSS offers a free eLearning module titled, “Foundations of Targeted Violence Prevention,” open to all community members. The course was created in partnership by OSS, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, and the Department of Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis, National Threat Evaluation and Reporting office. The goal of the course is to educate the public on threatening or potentially concerning behaviors and where to report them, providing an opportunity for intervention to prevent targeted violence from occurring.

About the Office of School Safety

OSS was initially supported by more than $2 million in federal grant funding from the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance. Wisconsin DOJ requested the legislature permanently fund OSS in the recent biennial budget, but the request went unfilled. After Wisconsin DOJ’s request went unfilled by the legislature, Wisconsin DOJ re-allocated $1,340,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to extend the operations of OSS including the Speak Up, Speak Out 24-hour tipline, critical incident response teams, and threat assessment consultation. The re-allocated money will fund OSS through the end of 2024, officials said.

As previously reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Office of School Safety (OSS) announced Friday the Speak Up, Speak Out (SUSO) tipline has received its 10,000th contact since its inception on September 1, 2020.

SUSO is a free statewide threat reporting tipline available to all Wisconsin schools. SUSO provides students with immediate, accessible confidential adult support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The willingness of bystanders to come forward with concerns for the wellness and safety of themselves or others is a key component of student health and violence prevention efforts in schools. SUSO harnesses the power of bystanders, addresses concerns early, and provides opportunities for early intervention and harm prevention, officials said.

In addition to SUSO being a proven effective tipline, SUSO is the hub that connects all OSS initiatives and the entry point where schools can access comprehensive services offered by OSS as well as local, state, and national partners, officials noted.

“Reaching this milestone shows how much trust and confidence students and educators have in SUSO,” said Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul.

“By extending this impactful program beyond the end of 2024, our legislators can help keep kids safe in Wisconsin schools,” Kaul added.

This story has been updated.