Hanover, Massachusetts– Less than two years after her 6-year-old son was killed Sandy Hook Elementary School In 2012, Nicole Hockley was in the basement of an Ohio church teaching the first class of a program she hoped would help prevent future… School shootings.
The program was born in the grief of one of the nation The worst mass shootingsIt teaches students how to recognize warning signs among their peers and encourages them to report any red flags to an anonymous information system or a trusted adult to avoid any violence.
Since that first lesson at Columbus Church, Say Something has been presented to thousands of students across the country. Nearly 395,000 tips were sent, ranging from school shooting threats to suicide, drug use and bullying. A tip last year led to the arrest of an Indiana student who had threatened to shoot up her school.
“It was very successful,” said Hockley, whose son Dylan was among 20 first-graders and six teachers who died at Sandy Hook in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012. “Having had first-hand experience with my two children involved in a school shooting and the death of my youngest child, I feel very compelled to honor that legacy by doing everything I can to prevent future violence and school shootings.”
Instructors from Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit founded by Hockley and other relatives of the Newtown victims in early 2013, traveled to all 50 states to show students how to spot signs of potential violence or self-harm — which can include threats on social media, an obsession with weapons or behavioral changes — as well as the importance of speaking up before something bad happens.
For students who grew up in an era when mass killings are often in the news and whose schools regularly conduct lockdown drills, having a way to take action can be comforting.
“School shootings are definitely very scary, and they go through your head as a high school student,” said Addison Hunt, a 17-year-old student at Hanover High School in Hanover, Massachusetts. “But I think being able to have these outlets where you can report things definitely makes me feel safer.”
On a recent afternoon, a Say Something teacher walked Hunt and her classmates into the school hall, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Boston.
Kelly Rogers, a 28-year-old former high school music teacher, explained to the group that research had found that nearly all school attackers showed warning signs beforehand, most commonly on social media.
“You’ll become the eyes and ears of your school through social media, right?” She said. “Teachers and staff don’t report to the same people as you. They can’t keep tabs on it. They can’t keep everyone safe.”
In the slideshow, she pointed to an Instagram post, taken from an actual tip for the group’s reporting system, which read: “Don’t come to school tomorrow if you want to live.” Someone reported the post within three minutes and action was taken, Rogers said.
Ava Khoury, senior class president at Hanover, said one of the main points of the program, for her, is not to worry about what others will think of you if you speak up.
“I think students definitely feel anxious about bringing these issues up to adults and administration at school, because they worry that they will be made fun of for being rude or getting someone else in trouble,” she said. “So I think this program definitely highlighted the fact that you’re not a gossip if you’re helping someone and helping others.”
Both Hunt and Khoury said they reported troubling behavior to parents and teachers before learning about the program.
Trained crisis counselors operate the “Say Something” anonymous reporting system 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to refer serious situations to police and school officials. The most common tips are concerns about bullying, drug use, harassment and self-harm, according to the Sandy Hook Promise.
Every now and then, the system receives a troubling report that is immediately sent to law enforcement.
Last year in Indiana, among many examples, someone used the system to report that a student was planning a shooting at Mooresville High School, near Indianapolis, on February 14. 2018 massacre At Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The 18-year-old student, Trinity Shockley, was arrested on February 12.
The tipster, a friend of Shockley, said Shockley was obsessed with the Parkland shooter and had access to an AR-15 rifle, according to the police report. Shockley’s social media posts included a post that said, “Parkland Part 2. Of course. I’ve been planning this for a year,” authorities said.
Shockley pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced in November to 12 years in prison, although her lawyer insisted Shockley would not have carried out the plan, local media reported.
Sandy Hook Promise believes its program and reporting system has prevented a shooting in Mooresville, as well as in other communities, and also stopped suicides.
“So, it’s bittersweet, because I wish this had existed before Sandy Hook,” said Hockley, co-founder.