In Depth: NC school tip line, threat assessment teams work to stop violence before it starts – WRAL

RALEIGH, N.C. — A school safety reporting program created in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting is showing measurable results across North Carolina, helping officials identify safety concerns and intervene before violence occurs.
The “Say Something” anonymous reporting system allows students to submit safety concerns and tips directly to school administrators. Last school year, Wake County Schools received more than 1,500 reports.
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The system has seen real results. In February, at Millbrook High School, an anonymous tip alerted administrators to a loaded firearm on campus. An 18-year-old student was arrested and later pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the incident.
The app serves as an intake mechanism, but the primary responsibility for evaluating reports falls to specialized Behavioral Threat Assessment teams. Under North Carolina legislation passed in 2023, all public schools are required to establish or have direct access to a threat assessment team.
State law requires that each team include multidisciplinary professionals covering counseling, instruction, administration and law enforcement. These teams evaluate incoming reports, determine risk levels, and coordinate interventions ranging from mental health counseling and monitoring to direct law enforcement involvement.
The North Carolina Center for Safer Schools, the state agency providing guidance and training for the teams, says evaluating threats can be nuanced.
“Each year that we do it, it will be a little bit better because we will have learned something and the districts will have learned something,” said Karen Fairley of the Center for Safer Schools.
Fairley noted that staff face challenges when categorizing threats across the state’s four-tier evaluation system: low, moderate, high and imminent.
“They’re a little concerned about how to mark it,” Fairley said. “Whether it’s a ‘high/imminent,’ which is easy to mark.”
Data show that the vast majority of student submissions do not involve weapons or imminent attacks. Of the more than 1,500 tips submitted in Wake County last school year, 102 were classified as a “planned school attack.” The most commonly reported categories were self-harm, bullying, suicide and harassment.
Federal research indicates that lower-tier behavioral concerns frequently overlap with severe safety risks. A U.S. Secret Service analysis of 41 targeted school attacks between 2008 and 2017 found:
Publishing note: AI assisted in the formatting of this article. All reporting, research, interviews, fact-gathering and fact-checking were conducted by WRAL journalists.

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