PEORIA, Ill. – Research and insight into why school shootings and violence occur will be presented to leaders in Peoria next week.
City leaders, local law enforcement, and Peoria Public Schools officials will learn Monday about the findings by two researchers from the National Threat Assessment Center on thinking and behavior patterns of students who commit acts.
Project Safe Neighborhoods is involved in organizing the presentation, and Doug Quivey is a coordinator with the group. He says it’s an issue that’s come to the forefront in the wake of a school shooting Thursday in Perry, Iowa.
“It’s a very tough and difficult process to get the systems in place and to get people reporting troubling behavior, and then to get the help that is needed to the individual students that are obviously struggling,” Quivey said.
Quivey says some of the data to be shared include some of the warning signs in students, such as withdrawing themselves from peers and lower grades. He says research also shows that there is no stereotypical type to those who commit school violence, with students from all types of backgrounds, genders, and races having done acts of violence.
Quivey says it’s vital to have everyone play a role in preventing school violence.
“It’s not just issues that happen at school per say, that might be where they resolve, but there’s issues at home, elsewhere in the community, so it’s very important to have all the stakeholders in the community aware of the threat assessment model and everybody working together,” Quivey said.
Quivey says the threat assessment model brings together groups such as principals, teachers, guidance counselors, law enforcement, and even parents, to establish protocols to provide resources needed.
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