American school districts are using AI to prevent school violence, detecting threatening language and notifying administrators, but the pre-diagnosis rate is only 25%

Another shooting occurred in the United States.

On May 24, a shooting occurred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. At least 19 children and 2 teachers were killed. This is the deadliest school shooting in the United States since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. It is also at least the 30th kindergarten, primary and secondary school shooting in the United States in 2022.

According to French media reports, the perpetrator of the shooting may be a 17-year-old teenager.

On the 29th local time, US President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden went to the scene of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. They visited the A memorial place was set up outside the primary school and flowers were laid to the victims.

After every mass shooting involving teenagers, we wonder: How on earth did all these signs come to be discovered? Missed?

AI is stopping violence in schools

Targeting individuals with early intervention is crucial.

Schools are also increasingly relying on monitoring software to check the posts and articles they publish online, as they almost always document these initiatives.

These software systems, from companies such as Gaggle, Lightspeed Systems and Bark, can monitor communications on school-issued devices and networks. Among them, the AI ​​​​can detect some language that indicates that students have a tendency to harm themselves or others.

Emails written on Google Docs and Microsoft Office or plans for violence, as well as Internet searches for weapons or suicide methods, are flagged to administrators, who must then decide whether the threat is credible and how Take action.

"This is an early warning system to alert us to things that might happen, so we can help them get back to a level of relative normalcy." Quintin Shepherd said.

While it’s impossible to know how many school shootings have been prevented, users say the technology can flag warnings where students are using school services to communicate, and schools must be prepared to do so. Prepare to take action when an alert occurs, evaluate warnings, and react.

Alerts typically include the wording that was flagged, the type of threat, and where the student chatted and typed. When a threat is deemed credible, such as when a student writes about having suicidal thoughts rather than for a class project, school counselors are required to conduct home visits.

School officials say parents often express surprise. Depending on the situation, students may be hospitalized, referred to a therapist for treatment, or monitored more closely by a counselor.

The teenage man accused of killing 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, earlier this month had also been transferred to the hospital. Medical staff determined that he was not in danger or mentally ill and sent him home.

The Victoria district uses Gaggle, which costs about $6 per student a year.

However, Shepherd said school districts cannot rely solely on technology to prevent violence in schools. When he became superintendent four years ago, he asked community members about their concerns, and student safety ranked high. Adults have expressed the need for more physical safety measures, such as school police and notification systems. Students say they need more mental health support and help developing coping skills.

## School districts have received billions of dollars in relief funding to address mental health issues and learning loss, They are also working to use all the tools at their disposal to detect and prevent violence.

Shepherd said his district has eliminated 300 operational, administrative and teaching jobs to provide more mental health services to students. Victoria is a district of 13,500 students from a low-income Hispanic community. It adds a social-emotional behavioral specialist to each school to help struggling students and families.

"We realize that every student comes to school with some feeling, and sometimes those feelings are sad, angry or frustrated. If we can see that early, we can Help kids not let their feelings hijack their emotions, that's when bad things happen."

94% of plans are shared in advance

Last year, the U.S. Secret Service analyzed 67 averted violent plots against schools and found that in 94 percent of the cases, the attackers shared the plans verbally through electronic messages or online posts. Others have outlined their plans in journals, documents, videos or recordings that have not been shared.

The gunman at Uvalde University sent a text message to an overseas girl on Facebook, saying he planned to kill his grandmother and students before the shooting. He is also said to have posted photos and videos of guns and self-harm on social media.

According to an FBI report on the shooter's behaviors leading up to the attack, active shooters display four to five behaviors related to those around them, such as changes in mental health, Difficult interpersonal interactions and discussions of violence.

The gunman also experienced multiple problems in the year before the shooting, ranging from disciplinary action at school to abuse at home. Mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, or paranoia are common among these shooters. However, only about 25 percent of the cases investigated by the FBI received a formal diagnosis before the attack.

The FBI found that for shooters under 18, classmates were more likely to observe their actions than family members. The behavior was reported to law enforcement in 41% of cases, and in most cases the only discussion about the behavior was between the shooter and his companion.

Suicidal thoughts are also common among teens who go on to harm others, according to the FBI and other officials.

"Those who are homicidal tend to be suicidal and are a potential threat to the area." Colorado Law David Watson, director of safety and security for School District 49 in Irvine, said the district uses Bark to alert administrators to threats to students.

Watson said his district began noticing a rise in youth mental health issues during the 2017-2018 school year, and since then there has been a spate of student suicides in Northeast Colorado Springs.

Bark provides schools with a free artificial intelligence service to scan their communications. The software is not a standalone application or a filter used across the school network; instead, it is implemented within the school's Google and Microsoft Office 365. For an annual fee of $2 per student, school districts can have reviewers come out after school to review possible serious threats.

But as Shepherd said, we cannot rely entirely on technology. To what extent AI can solve such problems, we still need to continue to observe and explore.

Related reports: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-do-schools-spot-possible-shooters-before-tragedy-strikes-this-tech-can -help-11653602532​

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