Creek Speak September 2017 | Page 12

Posters in the hall and our student IDs serve as a constant reminder that Safe2Tell is an available resource. Reporting situations seen as a threat is something all students are encouraged to do to maintain a safe environment. Although the service is widely known, many students are unclear of the purpose and what the service is appropriate to be used for.

Safe2Tell is a highly emphasized “hotline” used to address societal issues, such as suicide prevention, school threats, and threats to other individuals. After the tragic school shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, Colorado's Attorney General, Ken Salazar, and Governor Bill Owens began studying ways for all schools in Colorado to prevent a similar situation from happening again. In 2003, a rough model of Safe2Tell was established, and four years later, the final website was released to the public. It instantly became a well-known and authoritative resource most commonly used by students. To make its use easier, a mobile Safe2Tell app was introduced in 2015 and has been extremely successful. Thanks to Safe2Tell, thousands of suicides and threats have been prevented over the last decade.

Does your call make a difference?

Our school was recently hit with two very serious threats, one in the fall of 2016 and the other in the fall of 2017. Safe2Tell, the Longmont PD, school supervisors, district personnel, and teachers effectively worked together to provide security and safety for all of Silver Creek’s students. Shockingly, these threats were a hoax, but Creek’s staff was fully prepared and did not take the threats lightly. To avoid similar situations, it is important that students get the most clear understanding they can of a situation before reporting it. That way, false information will not erupt into a massive misunderstanding.

By Emma Bonca, Maya Biekert, Holly Kuyt