(1) At a minimum, a school-based threat assessment program must:

(a) Provide for timely and methodical school-based threat assessment and management;

(b) Be prompted by the behavior of a student rather than some combination of a student’s demographic and personal characteristics;

(c) Convene a multidisciplinary, multiagency team, including special education teachers and practicing educational staff associates, to:

(i) Identify and assess the behavior of a student that is threatening, or potentially threatening, to self, other students, staff, school visitors, or school property;

(ii) Gather and analyze information about the student’s behavior to determine a level of concern for the threat that focuses on situational variables, rather than the student’s demographic or personal characteristics;

(iii) Depending on the determined level of concern, develop and implement intervention strategies to manage the student’s behavior in ways that promote a safe, supportive teaching and learning environment, without excluding the student from the school; and

(iv) In the case of the threatening, or potentially threatening, behavior of a student with disabilities, align intervention strategies with the student’s individualized education program or plan developed under section 504 of the rehabilitation act of 1973 by coordinating with the student’s individualized education program or section 504 plan team;

(d) Create guidelines for each threat assessment team to collect, report, and review quantitative data on its activities; and

(e) Prohibit suspension or expulsion based merely on threat assessment referral or performance.

(2) By the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, each school district shall adopt a policy and procedure to establish a school-based threat assessment program that meets the requirements of subsection (1) of this section. The school district policy and procedure must be consistent with the model policy and procedure developed under RCW 28A.300.640, and with other school district policies, procedures, and plans addressing safe and supportive learning environments.

(3) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(a) “School-based threat assessment” means the formal process, established by a school district, of evaluating the threatening, or potentially threatening, behavior of a student, and the circumstances surrounding the threat, to uncover any facts or evidence that the threat is likely to be carried out.

(b) “School-based threat management” means the development and implementation of a plan to manage or reduce the threatening, or potentially threatening, behavior of a student in a way that increases the physical and psychological safety of students, staff, and visitors, while providing for the education of all students.

Findings—Intent—2019 c 333: See note following RCW 28A.300.630.

Intent—2019 c 333: See note following RCW 28A.320.124.