A digital threat assessment form is helping Arlington, Virginia, school leaders better monitor concerning student behavior, Superintendent Francisco Durán said at a school board meeting Thursday.
As part of his year-end presentation to the school board, Durán detailed how the electronic threat assessment form is helping to keep classrooms and schools safe.
The tool, he said, has allowed the school district to “better monitor concerns in real time for individual student crisis and needs.”
It launched this year, and has made reporting troubling behavior more accessible and easy to do, according to school board documents. It also gives the school system the option of monitoring concerning behavior in real time.
As of June 3, the county received over 410 reports “of concern,” according to board documents.
“This has resulted in early interventions,” Durán said. “Early interventions meaning preventative for more than 220 students this year, and making sure that we can give those students the help that they need. And it didn’t turn into a crisis or situation for the classroom or for the school.”
The safety upgrades are essential because school leaders are “committed to providing learning environments that are healthy and safe, as well as ensuring our schools are secure as possible,” Durán told board members.
Arlington created a threat assessment team, which included administrators, teachers, security personnel and mental health professionals, to step in if it appears there’s a student or employee whose behavior may threaten school safety or security, according to the school system’s website.
As part of its work this school year, the district expanded its Threat Assessment Oversight Committee, and is using a $342,000 grant to bolster its threat assessment program.
During its first school system emergency preparedness week, Durán said the district trained almost 300 staff members and tested its notification system put in place to communicate with families about school emergencies that may be occurring.
The county used over $1 million to upgrade the public address system at five schools, and adopted a new system that helps parents monitor their students’ internet activity on school system-issued devices.
Durán also used his annual report to the school board to detail the school system’s recruitment and retention efforts.
Almost 1,400 staff members were hired this year, Durán said, “representing a 7% increase in workforce diversity.” More than 130 staff members were promoted and started in new positions.
As of Durán’s presentation, the district had a 97.5% employee retention rate, and is giving employees an average 3.55% raise for the 2024-25 school year, which he called significant in a “tight budget year.”
“This has got to be a continual area of focus for us, about making sure that our compensation rates are among the best in the area,” Durán said.
Durán touted the work of the district’s human resources support desk, which “has seen an improvement in the response rates,” and said he launched a new initiative focused on speaking with over 100 staff members in small groups during the school year.
But, Durán said to help retain teachers, the school system needs to “think about how we can better expand our benefits and wellness program that we have available” and make sure teachers’ professional development time is effective and helpful.
“We need to think about, ‘How do we ensure better offerings, how do we make sure they’re relevant?'” Durán said. “How do we ensure that they are not overwhelming, that they are not interrupting planning time that teachers need for their own classroom and things of that nature?”
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