NAIT workshop aims to prevent school shootings

By Elise Stolte, The Edmonton Journal

NAIT administrators brought in a former member of the American Secret Service this week to train staff and students on ways to prevent school shootings.

The focus is on identifying troubled students while there is still a chance to help them.

“(School shootings) are not impulsive; they are thought-out and planned in advance,” said Marisa Randazzo, who served in the Secret Service for 10 years and directed research on school shootings as the chief research psychologist.

“Prevention is possible,” she said. “People who engage in school shootings, and the event yesterday(at the Workers’ Compensation Board), trouble and worry a lot of people with disturbing behaviour long before they engage in violence.

“Chances are high someone is going sit up and say, ‘This behaviour isn’t right. I don’t know what to do about this but let’s bring it to someone who does.’ ”

Randazzo is leading select staff through a workshop that wraps up this morning. A session open to all students and staff is planned for this afternoon.

A NAIT planning committee has been shifting toward prevention in recent years as they’ve updated their emergency planning procedures.

The threat assessment committee has been in place for two years, bringing together staff from security, counsellors, deans and student services.

They’ve been training instructors for the first level of intervention, or recognizing distressed students in the classroom and suggesting counselling or other services.

The second level involves bringing the case to the central committee. At least two cases have come there so far, but the team was able to persuade the people identified to accept help, said Konrad Morgan, a dean who sits on the committee. “That’s what we hope will always happen.”

The challenge is convincing distressed students to accept help, and convincing students and staff that they are helping the distressed student by bringing them to the attention of the threat assessment team.

It’s important to separate the threat assessment committee from a judicial system that could get someone fired or expelled, Randazzo said. In order for people to feel comfortable approaching the committee, they have to know the student will get help and that safety, for everyone, is the first concern.

“But when any institution starts a new threat assessment team,” she said, “it does take a while to build that confidence.”

NAIT staff are also planning a series of emergency drills looking at chemical spills, tornadoes and school shootings. In July, they upgraded from contracted security guards on campus to a 31-member strong force of NAIT community peace officers.

Members received more training, said head of security Jerry Hove, and will hopefully have a lower turnover and greater ability to respond pro-actively.