Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines Training
Threat Assessment Team Training Opportunity: Comprehensive School Threat Asessment Guidelines (CSTAG)
The Department invites all Ohio districts and schools to participate in the nationally recognized Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG). CSTAG allows school‐based teams to follow a decision‐tree process to resolve less serious, transient threats.
Ohio’s educational service centers (ESCs) will offer training in the CSTAG model to school and districts statewide. This training requires districts to create multidisciplinary threat assessment teams consisting of district and school staff from each school. This one-day, in-person event fulfills the Ohio law threat assessment training requirement.
Who should attend
The Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG) is designed for multidisciplinary school-based teams that receive and respond to reported threats of violence in their school buildings. The district multidisciplinary team should include the following:
- District Team: two or three personnel responsible for school safety;
- Elementary School Teams: three people, including the principal, a school mental health professional (counselor, social worker, or psychologist), and one other person;
- Middle and High School Teams: five people, including the principal, assistant principal, a school mental health professional, such as a counselor, social worker, or psychologist, school resources officer, if applicable, and one or two other people.
Each school’s threat assessment team should participate in the same training, if possible. Participating as school teams allows for each school to brainstorm and coordinate its threat assessment framework together.
What schools and districts will learn
The Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG) explain the following:
- Rationale for a threat assessment;
- How the team functions;
- What steps to follow in conducting an assessment;
- Identification, assessment, and management of threats;
- Resolving conflicts or problems before they escalate;
- 5-step decision tree to resolve most non-serious, transient threats in 2 steps;
- Assessment and intervention reserved for more serious substantive threats;
- How to conduct a student threat assessment;
- Mental health assessment of a student who poses a very serious substantive threat;
- Pathways to violence that must be considered;
- Intervention strategies to help troubled students and prevent their conflicts; and problems from escalating into violence.
How schools and districts may benefit
When implementing the CSTAG model, schools and districts may benefit in a variety of ways, including experiencing the following:
- Reduction of reported violence;
- Decrease of anxiety and increase of knowledge in responding to threats;
- Fewer student-reported threats carried out;
- Up to a 50 percent reduction in long-term suspensions;
- Fewer bullying violations;
- Increased parent involvement;
- Greater willingness of students to seek help for threats of violence; and
- More positive student views of school personnel.
Schools and districts may contact local ESCs to schedule CSTAG training. The CSATG model training is the perfect opportunity to meet threat assessment team needs and fulfill the Suicide Prevention, Violence Prevention, Social Inclusion, and School Safety training requirements pertaining to threat assessment teams. Please contact your local educational service center or saferschools@education.ohio.gov with questions.
The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce is committed to providing access and inclusion and reasonable accommodation in its services, activities, programs, and employment opportunities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other applicable laws. To request a reasonable accommodation due to a disability, please contact Katie Barnes, ADA coordinator, at ADAaccommodation@education.ohio.gov or (614) 387-7716 (voice) no later than 14 days before the event.
Last Modified: 9/13/2024 11:20:44 AM