At a recent gathering of the national Council of School Attorneys here in Philadelphia, one of our speaker colleagues remarked that what goes on in schools is a reflection of our culture at large. Sadly, there is no exception when it comes to shootings, other criminal activities and tragic occurrences. With Act 44 of 2018, the legislature created a Safe2Say initiative with the intent to curb school violence and shootings by providing a means by which “students, teachers and community members can report behavior perceived to be threatening to an individual or a school entity.”

This relatively new law applies to all K-12 schools, school districts, charter schools, private schools, cybercharter schools and nonpublic schools. As of Jan. 14, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General (OAG) and all Pennsylvania school districts and schools are responsible to implement the mandated Safe2Say Something Program (S2SS). Article XIII-D of Act 44, 24 P.S. 13-1301-D, et seq., sets forth measures by which members of the community may anonymously contact authorities with suspicions or concerns impacting a school community. Tips may be submitted through telephone, app or the website. These reports go directly to a triage team at the OAG that makes the initial determination as to whether the matter involves a threat to life safety or not, based on the information received. Examples of life safety matters include, inter alia, activity that is imminent and in progress, such as an active shooter, gang violence or a planned attack. Nonlife safety matters are a much broader category and may include events such as hate crimes, sexting, alcohol possession, anger issues, eating disorders and inappropriate use of technology. Once a tip is received, the OAG staff must categorize the tip as either life safety or nonlife safety and refer it to the appropriate entities. Life safety tips are referred to 911 dispatch as well as the impacted school, no matter what time they are received. Thus, school officials, like first responders, may receive a call at any time of the day or night. Nonlife safety events are referred to the school between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily.