CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA — Schools in Virginia are taking steps to prevent school shootings by getting in front of them through the use of Threat Assessment Teams.
These teams identify concerns about someone posing a danger to harm others in early stages, and provide consultation to schools with methods to prevent situations from escalating
University of Virginia Professor Dewey Cornell has been studying school violence for two decades.
“We’ve seen a number of school shootings that kids were alienated, angry, upset,” Cornell said.
Cornell believes expelling or suspending potentially violent students is the wrong approach.
” [It] only gave them more time to become resentful, and plan and prepare an assault,” he added.
Instead of automatically removing those students, lawmakers are using these teams to help them in the best way possible.