Members of Aspen School District’s Safety Team spent a week at the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) convention discussing School Safety best practices with colleagues and experts from across the country.

The team returns to the 2024-2025 school year armed with new ideas and evidence-based practices and strategies to continue to build on ASD’s School Safety program.

NASRO, a nonprofit founded in 1991, is the world’s leader in school-based policing for school-based law enforcement officers, school administrators, and school security and safety professionals who work as partners to protect schools and their students, faculty, and staff members. The organization hosts an annual conference where thousands of School Resource Officers (SROs) and school safety leaders attend to discuss and learn about threats students and schools face.

Members of the ASD Safety Team who attended the conference are: ASD School Resource Officers, Deputy Cameron Daniel, Officer Alyse Vollmer and Deputy Dru Lucchesi; Aspen High School Assistant Principal Becky Oliver, Aspen Middle School Principal Amy Kendziorski. Also in attendance and representing the Roaring Fork Valley was Pitkin County Sheriff Michael Buglione and SRO Basalt Police Officer Jason Hegberg.

In recent years the ASD School Safety Team has been working to increase collaboration with community partners to bolster the district's safety protocols and ensure that the district is current with evidence-based best practices.  The team has been focused on intentional and campus-wide safety that includes but is not limited to building security upgrades, strengthening partnerships with area first responders and law enforcement, and continuing the use and practice of Standard Response Protocols (SRPs).  The SRP provides a unified approach and common language when responding in emergency situations. Learn more about ASD School Safety here.

Among the guest speakers at the conference was Dr. Bernie James, a professor of law at Pepperdine University, who implored educators and School Resource Officers and educators to embody the mantra, “you exist to intervene.”

Dr. James is a leading expert on education law, which is the subject of one of many courses he teachers at Pepperdine. He is a contributing editor to NASRO’s Journal of School Safety and is author of the School Safety Law Blog.

He stressed that although acts of school violence are of “low probability, they come with high consequences.” It’s the reason schools must always be prepared and have a comprehensive safety program. The safety team members from the Roaring Fork Valley were lucky to get their own Q&A session with Dr. James.

Oliver, who co-chairs the ASD Safety Team, said something of utmost importance in designing a comprehensive school safety plan is the development, use, and importance of what is called Behavioral Threat Assessments (BTA),  which must include mental health professionals, law enforcement, and school staff.  BTAs are conducted when a student makes a threat of violence or engages in concerning  behavior that risks the safety of others and the school community. BTAs are an evidence-based practice of investigating and assessing these behaviors with a focus on understanding the situation and how best to mitigate safety concerns and support the student. These  assessments are part of the overall, comprehensive, evidence-based school safety plan.

Building a Comprehensive School Safety Plan

A comprehensive School Safety Plan needs to consider all of the dangers schools and students face and what safety strategies and preventative measures will be used to ensure students are educated about such dangers.

What should a comprehensive, evidence-based school safety program include?* Mental health support

• Behavioral Threat Assessments
• Suicide Risk Assessment
• Online safety education and support
• • Sextortion/Sexting
  • Human trafficking
  • Social Media platforms
  • Access to substances
• Substance misuse prevention and intervention
• Bullying prevention and intervention
• Building/Campus Security

"Our safety team is grateful for the opportunity to have spent time together at NASRO, learning from leading industry experts in school safety," Oliver said.

Some other key takeaways for the team: 

• Encourage students, parents, and staff - “If you see something, say something.” Safe2Tell is a great anonymous report system. 
• Help students and staff with situational awareness, thinking fast, and taking action. This is meant to help students and staff should they be in a situation where they need to take action and do not have the opportunity to lockdown in the practiced fashion.
• Consider adding “Stop and Think” drills, where students have an opportunity to take one minute to stop and think about what they would do in an emergency situation. This is especially important during transition times and lunch.* Understand that school laws are laws of intervention and that the expectation of law enforcement and school officials is to intervene whenever safety is at risk. Current case law supports, and in some cases, requires immediate intervention.
• Continue work on a reunification plan, tabletops, and community-wide collaboration on emergency planning. 

 "ASD has a dedicated safety team focused on continuously updating our protocols, researching best practices, and learning from law enforcement and experts to ensure a safe learning environment for our students and staff,"  Oliver said.

For more information on the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO), click here.