Updated May 27, 2022: The Sandy Hook Promise’s Say Something Anonymous Reporting System will be available to students throughout the summer break.
Original Story: With student safety being the top district priority, Dallas ISD today is officially launching the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System at all schools that include grades 6 to 12, to help address any serious concerns like violence, or help students who may be struggling with unpleasant or harmful thoughts.
The Say Something Anonymous Reporting System (SS-ARS) is designed specifically for use by students in grades 6-12 and includes a mobile app, website, and telephone hotline for users to submit tips 24/7/365 to the National Crisis Center for analysis and response. “Tipsters” can send reports on anything from school threats they’ve seen or overheard to personal crises including sexual harassment, self-harm, abuse, bullying, and depression.
“Students are grappling with all kinds of challenges since the onset of the pandemic,” said Dallas ISD Deputy Superintendent Susana Cordova. “We believe it is also our responsibility to help identify behaviors before they escalate into problems, and the See Something model does that, ultimately preventing serious acts from ever occurring.”
When credible tips are received, the Crisis Center notifies the school-based representatives of those that are life-threatening and require immediate intervention. And, in cases of imminent threat, the Crisis Center contacts the local 911 dispatch and involves law enforcement. This enables school administrators and law enforcement to work together to effectively prevent shootings, suicide, bullying, self-harm and other forms of violence and victimization.
The Say Something Anonymous Reporting System is the only anonymous system and National Crisis Center exclusively serving schools. Critical to its proven success is the Say Something training that teaches youth and adults the warning signs of potential violence and self-harm. It is a youth violence prevention program from the national nonprofit organization Sandy Hook Promise (SHP), which provides the program and training at no cost to the district.
Students can submit a tip through www.saysomething.net directly or navigate from the schools’ website homepages by clicking the Say Something icon under Campus News and Announcements. The free mobile app is available for download from the Apple App Store and Google Play. Students can also submit tips through the hotline by calling 844-5-SAYNOW.
More than 5,000 schools and school districts nationwide are participating in the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System, protecting more than two million students and educators. Locally, administrators and “Say Something” response teams at each school have been training with the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System since the fall of this school year, and middle and high school students are learning how to use the system during trainings in school starting this week.
Visit www.dallasisd.org/saysomething to learn more.
