With social media threats and swatting incidents on the rise across the nation, the N.C. general assembly has increased funding for school safety programs.
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CFSS has given out 74 million dollars in state funding to school districts for School Resource Officer (SRO) hiring and training, safety equipment, and services for students in crisis.
At the end of February, CFSS will begin safety training classes at a new temporary facility in Moore County for staff from all public and charter schools across the state.
"We are going to be doing critical incident training, threat, assessment, training, mental health, first aid, training, active shooter drills, and scenarios, and incident de-escalation. We are going to be doing reunification training.
They're all things related to safety," explained Karen Fairley, CFSS Executive Director.
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Fairley says CFSS is also launching student engagement programs to help students understand the seriousness of social media threats and swatting.
"We've already done a few little pilot things, but we're moving forward to touch the children, to talk to them, to go where they are, and to let them know that it's not okay to send out threats as pranks and jokes, and that kind of thing that it takes away from manpower," Fairley said.
CFSS will open a permanent 113-acre facility in 2024 at a former high school in the Montgomery County town of Biscoe. The permanent facility will also house a school bus to train bus drivers on safety issues.
WATCH | More training needed to handle social media threats targeting schools: School safety expert
School safety expert says more training needed following uptick in social media threats