By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
ssoldan@mihomepaper.com
Oxford — During the regular meeting on June 10, Dr. Allison Willemin, executive director of school safety, operational technology, and student services gave a year-end report of threat assessments and suicide risk assessments.
For the 2024-2025 school year, the district gave 88 threat assessment screeners and 19 full threat assessments.
“As you can see, much like last year, our screeners are still the norm,” said Willemin. “Each screener, as well as each full threat assessment, has a multidisciplinary team, which consists of a school administrator, a school-based mental health professional with at least a master’s degree, and a school resource officer. And part of our process for screeners and full assessments is there is an inquiry about access to weapons.”
Of the 88 screeners completed, 13 were at Clear Lake Elementary, 13 were at Daniel Axford Elementary, three at Lakeville Elementary, five at Leonard Elementary, five at Oxford Elementary School, 27 at Oxford Middle School, one at Bridges High School, one at Oxford Virtual Academy at the elementary level, four at OVA secondary level, and 16 at Oxford High School.
Of the 19 full threat assessments conducted, seven were deemed minimal priority, with one at Lakeville Elementary, one at OES, one at OMS, two at OVA, and four at OHS. 10 were deemed moderate priority, one at OES, four at OMS, one at OVA, and four at OHS.
None of the threat assessments were deemed high or imminent priority.
“What this means, kind of the difference, is if it’s considered low priority, low level interventions would include just thinking about what supports would be available for everyone,” she said. “The student does not appear to pose a risk of violence or serious harm to self or others, and anything could be supported through those existing support structures. When you go to moderate, the individual or situation also does not appear to pose a risk of violence or serious threat to harm self or others, but there may be additional interventions that are needed, additional supports that are needed.”
Compared to the 2023-2024 school year, numbers are down.
Last year, a total of 105 screeners were performed, and a total of 27 full threat assessments were done.
“People are reporting, but we’re learning and growing as a team,” said Willeman. “Things that may have been reported three years ago are being looked at differently, it might not be at the level of a threat assessment.”
For suicide risk assessments, there were 82 screeners conducted, with 14 at Clear Lake Elementary, two at Daniel Axford Elementary, 10 at Lakeville Elementary, one at Leonard Elementary, one at OES, 30 at OMS, eight at OVA secondary level, and 16 at OHS.
“Similar to a threat assessment, whether it is a screener or a full assessment, there is an inquiry about access to dangerous instrumentalities, including lethal weapons,” she said. “It’s not just lethal weapons when we’re talking about suicidal ideation.”
In addition to the screeners, 62 full suicide risk assessments were done.
26 were deemed low risk, three at Clear Lake, one at Daniel Axford, one at Lakeville, one at OES, 11 at OMS, one at Oxford Bridges, one at OVA secondary level, and seven at OHS. 19 were deemed moderate risk, one at Lakeville, one at Leonard, eight at OMS, one at OVA, and eight at OHS. 11 were deemed high risk, one at Daniel Axford, one at OVA, and nine at OHS.
“If a student is found at a high risk for suicide, it’s an immediate parent contact,” she said. “There is a possibility, even as we’re contacting parents, that we may need to call 911. In a high risk, we’re looking at that student has plans. We’re wanting to be able to get them care as quick as we can.”
This school year there were more suicide risk assessments and screeners done, compared to the 2023-2024 school year when there were 100 total screeners done and 50 full assessments.