Assessing Student Threats - 2nd Edition by John Van Dreal (Paperback)

About the Book

This book is a manual for the application of a threat assessment system that follows the recommendations of the Safe Schools Initiative and the prescriptive outline provided by the FBI. Written from an educator's perspective with contributing authors from Law Enforcement, Publ...

Book Synopsis

This book is a manual for the application of a threat assessment system that follows the recommendations of the Safe Schools Initiative and the prescriptive outline provided by the FBI. Written from an educator's perspective with contributing authors from Law Enforcement, Public Mental Health, and the District Attorney's office, it contains an introduction to the basic concepts of threat assessment, a review of the research, and an outlined process for the application of a comprehensive, yet expeditious multi-disciplinary system.

Review Quotes

Based on years of successful experience, John Van Dreal and his colleagues have written a comprehensive, thoughtful, detailed, pragmatic, useful, and readable book on school threat assessment. This book will save lives.

John Van Dreal and his colleagues have written a threat assessment and school safety resource that is easily understood and user friendly to educators. As a superintendent of an educational servicedistrict that provides services totwenty two school districts totaling over sixty thousand students andlocated in six different counties, I have found that the Salem-Keizer system is adaptable to school systems of different sizes and resources. As an education practitioner and leader, I've found this book to be an essential guide in training staff in threat assessment and the implementation of a threat assessment system.

John Van Dreal has long been one of the most critical and innovate thinkers in the assessment and management of threats in an educational setting. Making sense of the complexity involved in managing violently inclined situations at schools is no small task, but Van Dreal and his contributing authors, have done it here. They very effectively identify ways to establish responsibilities, professional roles, and accountability.

Over the past several years, there have been numerous publications, including a variety of guides and books, on various aspects of threat assessment. None of them have provided information, either in form, format, or substance, in a manner needed by grassroots personnel (including educators, law enforcement, and mental health personnel) to develop, conduct, and manage an effective threat assessment process.
Assessing Student Threats: Implementing the Salem-Keizer System, 2nd Edition is a user-friendly guide written for those toiling at the grassroots level to construct a viable threat assessment process. It provides information and guidance on a wide spectrum of issues related to the threat assessment process ranging from basic concepts of threat assessment to processes needed for developing, operating, and managing a threat assessment strategy, and it provides the information in a practical useable form.
As an additional bonus, the 2nd edition book delves into other areas that are of growing concern to many school districts, including domestic violence, teen dating, and stalking. The book does an excellent job of describing how the threat assessment process can be used to better identify and provide appropriate services to those involved in these acts.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in developing a threat assessment strategy for their school or community, as well as those who need to update their existing strategy. Adopting processes outlined in the book today could help save lives tomorrow.

Pundits and academics talk the talk. John Vandreal has walked the walk. The Salem system is the best school based threat assessment system in the United States. I strongly recommend Vandreal and his colleague, Sgt. Dave Okada, as the "go to" individuals for developing a practical, experienced based program. They are two of the best.

Those who are developing or improving threat assessment programs at their educational institutions would do well to consider the thoughtful perspectives offered by John Van Dreal and his colleagues. This book provides detailed guidance, gained through years of experience, on how to both conduct a threat assessment and how to set up such a program. It will most certainly aid in the creation and maintenance of safe environments in our schools and universities.

About the Author

John Van Dreal is a school psychologist and the retired Director of Safety and Risk Management Services for the Salem-Keizer School District. He continues his career consulting with school districts and communities on behavioral threat assessment systems and operational security. He has over 30 years of experience in threat assessment and management, psycho-educational evaluation, crisis intervention, behavioral intervention, and security and risk management systems consultation. In 1999, he began the development and implementation of the Salem-Keizer Model, a multi-agency student threat assessment system considered by experts to be a leading practice. Through that collaboration, he has worked daily with educators, law enforcement, trial court personnel, juvenile justice, and mental health personnel in the assessment and management of youth and adult threats of aggression within the schools, institutions, and the community. He served as Chair of Oregon's Mid-Valley Student Threat Assessment Team from its inception in 2000 through 2015 and continues to provide consultation to its membership. He has served as a member of the Marion County Threat Advisory Team since 1999. He regularly provides training and consultation to audiences nationally on threat assessment systems, preventing and mitigating human violence, school security, and response options for violent intruder and active shooter situations.