Arlington ISD Taking Extra Steps Addressing Campus Threats
ARLINGTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - A month into the school year, the Arlington ISD Board of Trustees received an update on the district's new Multi-Disciplinary Threat Assessment Team (MTAT), working to help students who pose a public safety concern.
Arlington Police said they've already received several tips district wide.
Their team, consisting of AISD school officials, police and My Health My Resource of Tarrant County, looks into them, gathers data and acts if need be.
If they find a student's actions concerning, the goal is not to remove them, but restore and reintegrate them.
Police can't go into detail on what tips they've received so far, but say they're seeing results.
Board members said they started looking into having a threat assessment team after the Parkland school shooting.
The team was made possible in part by a federal grant aimed at combating future threats. With the money, the district was able to hire additional staff.
"I think any opportunity we have as a community to intervene and understand what some students are going through that helps both in the education component on educating individuals about behavioral health issues and helping provide a safe environment for our students to learn," said Arlington Police Deputy Chief Os Flores.
"I just think that it's such a big concern in today's society," said Joey Hartley, a Lamar High School senior.
Anyone can report a threat anonymously here.