Mar 18, 2019 3 min read

Across Pennsylvania, a new school safety reporting system has gotten underway.

In its first six weeks, Safe 2 Say Something fielded more than 7,070 tips, and almost a third of those were considered serious enough to report to local police and school officials, according to Joe Grace, director of communications with the state attorney general’s office.

The attorney general’s office partnered with the nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise to implement the anonymous reporting system, which was approved by lawmakers last June and launched statewide on Jan. 14.

All of the state’s 500 public school districts, along with private and charter schools, rolled out the program.

The purpose of Safe 2 Say Something is to report troubling behavior, talk, social media posts or other situations tipsters believe could pose a danger in school.

In the first month-and-a-half, 1,439 tips were determined “life safety” tips that included suicide threats and situations where students may have harmed others had there been no intervention, said Grace. Tipsters also reported incidents of bullying, harassment and mental-health issues.

Kurt Kesneck, assistant principal at Chartiers-Houston High School, said the school district has received 57 tips, and of those, three were serious enough to follow up on.

“It is a great program if it’s used properly,” said Kesneck.

People have three options for reporting a concern: a Safe 2 Say Something app that can be loaded onto mobile devices; the safe2saysomething site at www.safe2saypa.org; or the hotline phone number, 844-723-2729.

Anyone can send a tip to Safe 2 Say, and that information is funneled to the attorney general’s crisis center that is open 24/7.

Jared Edgreen, school police officer in West Greene School District, welcomes Safe 2 Say Something as another tool to help keep students, teachers and others safe.

“In this atmosphere in America today, we see an epidemic of multiple threats, not only with school shootings but with suicides and also cyberbullying, which is at an all-time high with the emergence of new apps and ways kids communicate with each other,” said Edgreen.

So far, 622,000 Pennsylvania students have been trained through Safe 2 Say.

West Greene introduced Safe 2 Say Something to students in grades five through 12 with a presentation about the program, which encourages people to report something before it’s too late.

It matters, according to Safe 2 Say Something’s statistics: for example, 80 percent of school shooters told someone of their plans, and 70 percent of people who complete suicide confided in someone and gave other warning signs.

The false report rate for Safe 2 Say is less than 1 percent, according to the attorney general’s office. Making a false report under the program is a misdemeanor criminal offense.

Kesneck said the school district has received some prank calls, and in one case they are prosecuting a student whose false report resulted in police being dispatched.

Pennsylvania is the first state to implement Safe 2 Say Something in all districts.

Said Attorney General Josh Shapiro, “Pennsylvania students deserve a safe place to learn – free from the threat of violence from classmates or other individuals.”