§ 79-3104 — Safe2HelpNE report line; department; duties; contact; confidentiality; report line staff; duties

Nebraska § 79-3104

• Jurisdiction: Nebraska
• Ch. 79: Schools

Text

(1) The department shall establish the Safe2HelpNE report line as a statewide, anonymous reporting system to support threat assessment teams and reduce potential risks and incidents of violence resulting in harm to self, others, or school property.
(2) The Safe2HelpNE report line shall be multi-modal to allow students, school staff, parents, and community members to anonymously report concerns and information about concerning behavior or possible harm to persons or property by telephone call, mobile application, website, or email without charge. The Safe2HelpNE report line shall be available to any public or nonpublic school that has a threat assessment team and that maintains a current list of the contact information for at least five team members designated to receive alerts from staff at any time of the day or night.
(3) Except as otherwise required by law, the identity of any individual who contacts the Safe2HelpNE report line shall be confidential and shall not be revealed.
(4) The Safe2HelpNE report line shall be staffed seven days per week and twenty-four hours per day by professionals trained to receive concerns, use de-escalation techniques to minimize law enforcement involvement, and alert the appropriate threat assessment team for review, assessment, and action to protect persons and property. The report line staff shall also be trained in threat assessment and management processes, suicide prevention, recognizing mental illness and emotional disturbance, and applicable confidentiality and privacy laws. The report line staff shall have access to clinical consultation and support seven days per week and twenty-four hours per day from a licensed mental health professional.
(5) The report line staff shall immediately alert the appropriate threat assessment team of any concern directly regarding a student, school staff member, or school property or that is likely to impact a student, school staff member, or school property. If there is an immediate life safety concern, emergency services shall be contacted prior to any threat assessment team. Each alert that is not referred to emergency services, law enforcement, or child protective services shall be assessed by the threat assessment team receiving such alert. If a threat assessment team decides a report regarding a student is credible, a representative of the school administration shall, within a reasonable period of time, attempt to notify a parent or guardian of the student except when such notification could reasonably be believed to contribute to the endangerment of the student or others. Such notification or attempted notification shall be documented in a manner prescribed by the department.
(6) The department shall track and evaluate the effectiveness and usage of the Safe2HelpNE report line. The report line staff shall report the number of calls received, disposition of calls, referrals made to threat assessment teams, and other metrics as determined by and in the manner prescribed by the department.
(7) Any information or material in the possession of the threat assessment team shall remain separate from educational records and shall be considered security records.

Legislative History

Source: Laws 2021, LB322, § 4.