Lee County schools hosts meetings on threat assessments to stop future school shootings

Preventing another Parkland-like school shooting.

That’s the goal as Lee County schools host a series of behavioral threat assessment meetings for parents.

One of the first sessions is happening Saturday.

The meeting will focus on warning signs and risk behaviors of students that could take part in any targeted violence.

Warnings signs to look out for include whether your child has a fixation on prior school shooters or an unusual fascination with firearms and extreme violence.

In a behavioral assessment threat, they look at problems at home, possibly developmental or mental health issues, bullying and whether they have friends or at least one trusted adult in their lives.

“Our idea with this type of training is that it’s everybody’s concern,” said Rick Parfitt, a threat assessment coordinator with the Lee County school district. “We try to train as many people as we can to be observing as to, to seeing these types of concerning behaviors or troublesome behaviors, and to properly report them to, because we there, we can have an earlier intervention.”

Parents will have the opportunity to ask questions during the Zoom meeting.

The presentation is from 10 a.m. to noon.

For more information on the meeting, click here.

The next meeting is on March 29.