SCHOOL
SAFETY

Glossary of Terms

• Baseline

  a student’s typical level and manner of behavioural functioning; a significant change in baseline can occur in any of the following ways: Recency, Frequency, Intensity

• Community-based Threat Assessment Team (CTAT)

  multi-disciplinary team that includes school staff and community partners

• Fluidity

  psychological shifting from thoughts of homicide/harming others to thoughts of suicide/self-harm

• Pathway to Violence

  the events, actions and factors that bring a student closer to threaten violence or act in a violent manner; this pathway can be interrupted at any time with targeted intervention

• School-based Threat Assessment Team (STAT)

  multi-disciplinary team of school staff that are trained in Threat Risk Assessment protocols

• Safe School Coordinator (school-based)

  each school has a Safe Schools Coordinator who is trained in Threat Assessment and is responsible for responding to safety concerns involving student behaviour, including erase reports

• Safe School Coordinator (district or organization)

  responsible to provide support and guidance to schools when necessary; can fulfill government requirement of a second school staff member trained in Threat Assessment

• Threat

  An expression of intent to do harm or act out violently against someone or something; may be spoken, written, drawn, symbolic, posted online or made by gesture; may be direct, indirect, conditional or veiled

  • Direct Threat – Indicates a specific act against a specific target, delivered in a straightforward, clear and explicit manner; eg. “I am going to…”
  • Indirect Threat – Tends to be vague, unclear and ambiguous; aspects such as the plan, the target, and the motivation are masked, or phrased tentatively; eg. “If I wanted to, I could…”
  • Veiled Threat – Strongly implies but does not explicitly threaten violence, eg. “We’d be better off without you.”
  • Conditional Threat – Warns of a violent act that will happen unless certain demands or terms are met, eg. “If you don’t, I will…”

• Threat Assessment

  The process of determining if a threat maker poses a risk to the target(s) being threatened; involves data collection, interpretation of data, and intervention planning

• Worrisome Behaviour

  Any behaviour that causes concern; may indicate that a student is moving toward a greater risk of harmful or violent behaviour and should be monitored