As part of ongoing violence prevention efforts funded by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant, the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) and the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) will partner on a community presentation on Wednesday, Nov. 29, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Centaurus High School, 10300 S. Boulder Road, Lafayette.
The program, intended for BVSD students, parents and family members, aims to share the warning signs for violence and strategies for being an upstander. Boulder Valley School District’s Safety, Security and Emergency Management Department will also discuss the district’s multi-dimensional approach to school safety.
This will be the fourth presentation at Boulder Valley schools, with previous presentations at Boulder High School, Fairview High School and Superior Elementary School.
Sarah Goodrum, research professor at CSPV, said research on averted school attacks finds that students and parents are often the first to notice that an adolescent is in crisis, but may not always know the best way to share that information.
“Understanding the warning signs for violence and the role of community members in promoting safety is critical to violence prevention. We're thrilled to be partnering with BVSD to raise awareness about the prevention of school violence and strategies for upstander reporting,” she said.
The community safety presentation will also cover the use of Colorado’s Safe2Tell as an anonymous reporting resource. Goodrum spearheaded CSPV’s Violence Prevention Project, raising awareness of the tool and access to resources and support among CU Boulder students, faculty and staff. The CU Boulder Police Department also promotes Safe2Tell as a reporting option.
“Research on mass shootings consistently finds that people had concerns about the perpetrator prior to their deadly attack, but they often did not know who to tell or how to intervene. These concerns represent critical opportunities for intervention, if we know the warning signs and how to address them,” said Goodrum, adding that raising public awareness about the warning signs for violence and the importance of upstander reporting has been at the forefront of CSPV for more than 30 years.
