District 81 Setting Up Hotline Hopes Anonymous Tips Will Help Avert School Violence

Spokane students who worry about classmates becoming violent soon will be able to call for help on an emergency hotline.

Spokane School District 81 administrators hope to avert disasters by setting up a tip line that students, parents and community members can use without leaving their names.

Educators in Central Valley School District are also considering a hotline, shaken by suggestions of unheeded warning signs before the school shooting last week in Littleton, Colo.

“We want to know about any kind of impending violent situation, whether there’s going to be a fight, or anyone will be put in any kind of danger,” said Spokane administrator Mary Brown.

“We really feel the best security is information,” she said.

“We can be proactive that way instead of reactive.”

In Central Valley, the idea received strong support at an administration meeting three days after the Colorado shooting that left 15 dead and 23 injured, said Skip Bonuccelli, district spokesman.

“It would be easier for students to contact us in a situation where they (otherwise) felt uncomfortable going and talking to somebody,” he said.

District 81 plans to set up its hotline next week and advertise the telephone number at schools and through newsletters. Central Valley administrators want to know more about tip lines before making a final decision.

School districts across the country that operate hotlines offer plenty of encouragement and advice. Some believe hotlines have headed off violence, while others worry too many students shy away from the emergency lines.

Hans Olsen swears by hotlines - especially after his big catch last week.

A message left with administrators in Granite School District in Salt Lake City warned of an eighth-grade boy carrying knives to school. School police found two knives. At his home, they found several more, including a large machete, said Olsen, director of student services.

It’s the fifth time since January that the hotline has led to knives, guns or other weapons.

In Minneapolis, security coordinator Jack Nelson expected more than the dozen calls his hotline has received since its September start-up.

“I’m a little disappointed in the number of calls,” said Nelson, considering there are 50,000 kids in the Minneapolis public school district.

He’s happy with the concept and believes it’s helped prevent two suicides. But he’s working on ways to promote the hotline, including a poster contest.

“Either we’re not promoting it well, our school system is so wonderful we don’t have any problems to report, or we haven’t entirely convinced the students of its anonymity,” Nelson said. “I think it’s all three together.”

Persuading people to use the hotline - and then reminding them again and again - is critical, said Richard Ross, superintendent of Reynolds Schools in Columbus, Ohio.

“Anybody that looks at the tragedies that occurred in the country in the last couple of years sees that in some cases, there was preknowledge,” Ross said.

In an effort to encourage students to share that knowledge, the private company that runs the Columbus hotline distributed refrigerator magnets with the hotline number, Ross said. Administrators sent letters to parents the day of the Colorado shootings, again reminding them of the phone number.

Since the hotline started in 1997, Ross has been surprised to learn many callers are parents. He’s also been disappointed in the half-dozen prank calls, with kids snickering in the background or obviously drunk.

Still, the line has led to 11 drug arrests, Ross said. “This isn’t the end-all, be-all. It’s only one part of a security plan, but it’s an important part.”

Districts vary on setting up hotlines through private security companies or running them straight to school administrative offices. Spokane, for instance, plans to have a line answered by a message phone in the student services office. Messages will be checked routinely and forwarded to police, principals or other administrators for action.

In Palm Beach, Fla., schools and law enforcement run a hotline together, offering tips of up to $1,000, said Curt Lavarello, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers.

But that’s not always necessary, Lavarello said.

Mead School District, north of Spokane, has had a hotline for several years, but it hasn’t been highly used, superintendent Bill Mester said. A few years ago, though, it did help track down kids using and selling drugs.

David Rawls noticed a similar lack of enthusiasm in Moses Lake, where a hotline was installed after the deadly shooting rampage at Frontier Junior High School three years ago.

Rawls, now superintendent of Coeur d’Alene schools, was Moses Lake superintendent at the time.

“It didn’t receive much use, so I wouldn’t think it was particularly effective,” he said.

He hasn’t instituted a hotline in Coeur d’Alene, but he’ll be watching Spokane’s progress.

“It’ll be nice having somebody close by giving it a try.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: LOCALLY Hot and cold Spokane School District 81 plans to set up its hotline next week and advertise the telephone number at schools and through newsletters. Central Valley administrators want to know more about tip lines before making a final decision. Mead schools have had a hotline for several years, but it hasn’t been highly used.