«Information»
«Headlines»
For Immediate Release:
April 22, 2008
Contact: Sara Anderson
(573) 526-0407
Jefferson City – The Missouri Department of Social Services’ (DSS) School Violence Hotline (SVH) announced today that it has received an overwhelmingly positive response from law enforcement officials and school administrators utilizing the service through its annual evaluation. The SVH in the Children’s Division (CD) operates predominately through a grant from the Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Missouri Juvenile Justice Advisory Group.
The School Violence Hotline takes reports from callers regarding instances of school violence and relays that information to local law enforcement and school administrators. The hotline has been in operation since 2001.
“It is important that we partner with Missouri schools to help create a safer and more secure learning environment for our students,” Gov. Blunt said. “I am pleased that the School Violence Hotline continues to serve as a successful resource for students, parents and educators to promote safety in our schools.”
“The ultimate objective of the school violence hotline is to promote collaboration between local schools and law enforcement,” said Jennifer Hunter, SVH supervisor. “Our goal is to strengthen the partnership between these two parties so that small instances of school violence are prevented from turning into major tragedies.”
When a report is taken at the hotline, SVH dispatchers immediately notify the school and local law enforcement. School officials work with law enforcement to determine the appropriate response and action. Thirty days following a report, a follow-up evaluation is conducted with the involved parties. The results of these evaluations show that in 90 percent of the surveyed reports, callers, law enforcement and school administrators felt the hotline was a useful service to gain information on threats of school violence. More than 70 percent of schools and law enforcement surveyed reported that collaboration improved as a result of the report.
“We are thrilled by the results of the latest evaluation. They confirm that this service works best with the people at the local level identifying and addressing potentially harmful situations before they escalate,” said CD Director Paula Neese. “I encourage communities to continue to take advantage of the hotline as a way to foster school safety.”
The SVH received more than 1300 calls resulting in more than 300 reports from October 2006 to September 2007. Reports were made by students, teachers, parents and concerned citizens and included allegations of assaults, fights, bullying, weapons, threats, theft, property destruction, cyber-bullying, sexual misconduct and sexual assaults.
To report threats of school violence concerning students, teachers or schools call the School Violence Hotline at 1-866-748-7047. Callers have the option to remain anonymous.
Gov. Blunt is committed to ensuring the safety of Missouri students. In addition to the Hotline, Gov. Blunt announced the state’s partnership with the MSBA to create the Missouri Alert Network last August to provide critical and timely information alerts and warnings to Missouri schools during an emergency to protect the safety of Missouri students. More than 500 public school districts and private schools are signed up for the Missouri Alert Network. Recently Gov. Blunt announced the expansion of the Missouri Alert Network to colleges and universities.
