WILLIAMSTON – Martin County Schools is officially launching the “Say Something” Anonymous Reporting System (SS-ARS) for students, which most North Carolina public school districts will be adopting this year to meet the reporting guidelines and standards developed by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and the Center for Safer Schools.
Say Something is a youth violence prevention program from the national nonprofit organization Sandy Hook Promise (SHP), which has funding to provide the program and training at no cost to the district.
The SS-ARS allows youth and adults to securely submit anonymous safety concerns – anytime, from anywhere – to help identify and intervene upon at-risk individuals before they hurt themselves or others. The system enables school administrators and law enforcement to create effective interventions and to help prevent violence, suicide, bullying, self-harm and other forms of threatening behavior.
“If a student needs to speak up about a concern – whether it’s about themselves or someone else – but they don’t know who to turn to, Say Something is here,” said former Executive Director of the Center for Safer Schools, Bo Caldwell. “It’s a robust system that’s always on, always accessible, and it allows students to voice their concerns anonymously, while making sure their messages are heard by the right adults.”
Designed specifically for use by students in grades 6-12, SS-ARS provides three reporting platforms (mobile app, website, 24/7 phone hotline) for users to submit tips – and a crisis center to examine and triage those tips. When credible tips are received, the crisis center will notify school-based representatives, even after hours when tips are life-threatening and require immediate intervention. And, in cases of imminent threat, the crisis center will contact local 911 dispatch and involve law enforcement.
Students can submit a tip through the online Say Something system by visiting www.saysomething.net directly, the Say-Something App, or navigate from the lower portion of the district and schools’ website homepages by clicking the SAY Submit A Tip icon. The free app is available for download from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and students can submit tips through the hotline by calling 1-844-5-SAYNOW.
As of January, 2,364 schools and school districts are participating in the Say Something system, with more than 1.7 million students and adults trained in the SS-ARS, according to Sandy Hook Promise.