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Nicole Hockley helped bring “Say Something” to students as a response to what she described as the legacy of Sandy Hook. Less than two years after her 6-year-old son was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, Hockley was in an Ohio church basement teaching the first class of the program that aims to prevent future school shootings.
The program, which Hockley helped create, teaches students to identify warning signs among their peers and to report red flags to an anonymous tip system or to a trusted adult. Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit founded in early 2013 by Hockley and other relatives of the Newtown victims, has since taken trainers to all 50 states to show students how to spot signs of potential violence or self-harm. Those signs can include threats on social media, an obsession with weapons, or behavioral changes, the program’s trainers say.
Hockley, whose son Dylan was among the 20 first graders and six educators killed in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012, said she believes the program has been effective. “It’s been very successful,” Hockley said. “Having had direct experience of both of my children being in a school shooting and my youngest one dying, I feel very compelled to honor that legacy by doing all that I can to prevent future acts of violence and school shootings.”
In Hanover, Massachusetts, “Say Something” was taught to students at Hanover High School, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Boston, during a recent afternoon presentation. Instructor Keely Rogers, a 28-year-old former high school music educator, told students that research has found that nearly all school attackers showed warning signs beforehand, most commonly on social media. “You are going to become the eyes and ears of your school through social media, right?” she said, adding that teachers and staff do not follow the same people as students do and cannot keep an eye out for everyone.
Rogers also used a real tip from the reporting system during a slideshow. She said the tip was taken from an Instagram post that told students, “Don’t come 2 school tomorrow if you wanna live,” and that someone reported the post within three minutes and action was taken. During the session, Rogers also emphasized the role of speaking up even when students worry about repercussions.
Students who took part said the program addresses how students can be reluctant to raise concerns. Addison Hunt, a 17-year-old junior at Hanover High School, said school shootings “definitely very scary, and they do run through your head as a high school student,” but added that having outlets to report concerns makes her feel safer. Ava Khouri, Hanover’s senior class president, said one key point was not worrying about what others think if students speak up about potential harm. “I think that definitely students are wary to bring these issues up to adults and administration in the school, because they’re worried they are either going to be made fun of for tattling or getting someone else in trouble,” Khouri said. “So I think that this program definitely gave light to the fact that you’re not a tattletale if you’re helping someone and you’re helping others.”
Hunt and Khouri both said they had reported troubling behavior to parents and educators before learning about the program. Sandy Hook Promise says the anonymous reporting system is staffed by trained crisis counselors 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and that serious situations are referred to police and school officials. The nonprofit said the most common tips it receives are concerns about bullying, drug use, harassment and self-harm.
Sandy Hook Promise also described an example involving an Indiana student accused of making threats. It said that last year someone used the system to report that a student was planning a shooting at Mooresville High School, near Indianapolis, on Feb. 14—an anniversary of the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Authorities said the student, 18-year-old Trinity Shockley, was arrested Feb. 12, according to the program’s account, and the police report cited in that account said Shockley was obsessed with the Parkland shooter and had access to an AR-15 rifle.
In the same account, authorities said Shockley’s social media postings included one that said, “Parkland part two. Of course. I’ve been planning this for a YEAR.” Shockley pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced in November to 12 years in prison, while her lawyer insisted she would not have carried out the plan, local news outlets reported, the program said. Sandy Hook Promise said it believes its program and reporting system prevented a shooting in Mooresville and in other communities and has also stopped suicides.
“It’s bittersweet,” Hockley said, “because I wish this had existed before Sandy Hook.”