We are digging a little deeper into the recent spate of school threats and what can be done to stop them. Sen. Lisa Seminara (R- Avon), ranking member on the Education Committee and a licensed clinical social worker, talks with Mike Hydeck about the importance of educating students on the consequences of these crimes.
Mike Hydeck: In the last few weeks, we've seen about three dozen threats at schools all over the state, some ending up with children as young as 13 facing charges. The impact affects our whole community? So how do we address this? Tougher penalties, more school counselors, or something else entirely. Joining me now is Senator Lisa Seminara, Republican from Avon, ranking member on the Education Committee. Also a licensed social worker, clinically licensed. You have kids. I have kids. This is a big concern for all of us. When you hear, together as parents, we got to try to figure out how to work on this. When you hear about the program we just talked about, meeting kids where they are trying to deal with anxiety, coming up with goals. How do you feel about something like that? Is that something we should explore for schools statewide?
Lisa Seminara: We absolutely should. I mean, anywhere we can meet the children or meet kids in their setting and have a conversation with them and really try to get down to the issues, we should be doing that.
Mike Hydeck: Now, you were also on the Avon school board. You understand what it's like to try to set policy for a school system. How are schools doing, in your estimation, when it comes to talking to the kids or trying to you know, we're all trying to guard our kids' cell phones, whether it's the teachers or the parents. I mean, how can they kind of interact with kids in a way that could actually help, do you think?
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Lisa Seminara: I think every school district, by the way, every school district, has to have a plan in place should some sort of emergency arise. It's called an All Hazards Plan. They vary from district to district. You have to have a plan, but how they go about it varies, and primarily that's a result of what kind of resources are available. I think each district does a great job in educating their kids. Most of the time it's around, if you see something, say something. And most districts are trying to work with the parents as well, so that the parents are monitoring their kids' cell phones and social media so that we can hit it off at the pass before it happens.
Mike Hydeck: Can this, or should this, be addressed as a mental health crisis, do you think? We're still having kids catch up with COVID, both scholastically and mentally. If it is addressed as a mental health crisis, like named that, could that open up something for funding, whether it's on the local level or the national level? Could we say, 'Look, this is a crisis that we have to deal with in our schools statewide.' How do we jump in and maybe fund a program like the one we just mentioned? Is that a possibility?
Lisa Seminara: It is a possibility, yeah. And I think you know, once again, if this threat, if these threats happen, it's automatic that a kid gets a risk assessment. If they're able to find out who's making the threat, it's automatic that a kid would have a risk assessment, whether that's in the school district, within the school district, or if that's contracted out. And in that situation, usually, if there's a determination made, mental health services follow as part of the plan.
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Mike Hydeck: So as we've seen, the other things that happen, and this has been a struggle. It started a couple of summers ago with a lot of cars being stolen by teenagers and they end up being repeat offenders. We started talking statewide about how the punishment would change for a repeat offender on certain things. Do we address some of these things from stricter legal penalties, do you think, when it comes to this? I mean, we don't want to send a kid off on the wrong path, but there needs to there needs to be consequences, right?
Lisa Seminara: Absolutely. And I do think children, students need to be made aware, whether that's by the school or from their parents, they need to be made aware of the consequences of what can happen. I mean, they can be charged with a felony doing this, and there are strict consequences as to what should happen. And those consequences should happen. In some cases, expulsion could happen. So they should be made aware of that, and hopefully that would be a deterrent from them acting in this manner.
Mike Hydeck: Because we've seen even when they admit it, they think, 'Oh, it was just a prank or I thought it was funny, or we could get out of a test.' But there really needs to be real life consequences. And then as a community, we need to make sure they understand those, right? Parents, schools.
Lisa Seminara: Absolutely. And something that's very often not taken into consideration is the expense that goes along with making if you want to say a prank like this. If they have to have the buses come back in, the staff, the police, there's a lot of players that are involved in executing a plan, and it shouldn't be taken lightly. There's a financial consequence. There should be a legal consequence. And hopefully, if it's a child that needs help, we're getting them the help that they need and also providing the parents the education and the help that they may need to deal with their kid.
Mike Hydeck: If you're a single parent household. Right. So that goes to my next question. I have a little less than a minute. Funding school programs or finding money for anything to try to enhance is difficult. Do you think we should change the cost sharing program the state has with schools right now? We've amended it in years past. Should we amend it again to try to address this situation, do you think?
Lisa Seminara: It's worth consideration. It's worth consideration.
Mike Hydeck: Senator Seminara, we have to leave it there. Thanks for joining us this morning.
Lisa Seminara: Thank you.
