Frequently asked questions

Tips are triaged by Analysts in the Office of the Attorney General Crisis Center. They triage each tip to ensure there is enough information to act upon the tip, determine if the tip is life safety or non-life safety as well as conduct on-going 2-way dialog with the tipster where needed.

Yes – your contact information is built into the S2SS platform so you can see/contact them and they can see/contact you. We will set this up for you and show you where that information is located during training.

Life safety tips are sent to 911Dispatch and your school/district. It is important that both understand who is going to take what role when these tips are received. Additionally, how you will coordinate with your local police. The good news is its likely you have protocols in place already that will allow you to reference and build from together. If not, a discussion guide will be provided for these meetings.

Yes – they will go through a Kickoff Webinar and then full training.

Yes – however in other states. MOU examples exist that can be shared (upon request) with School / District officials for their legal review and implementation. Sandy Hook Promise has the MOU sample used in the state of Massachusetts.

Schools / Districts will need to meet with police and dispatch in December to develop and review protocols / operating procedures for who will do what within a district. What is most critical is who and how a child’s address will be shared with law enforcement when it is needed for a life safety intervention.

Protocols / operating procedures should be completed post-2 hour training. This will allow both sides to better understand the system and how each will work with in and across it together.

Yes – this is the current plan to allow both parties to be able to speak to the system and how they will work together.

Yes – however, only County 911Dispatch will be informed and trained on the system. Currently, local law enforcement will be informed of the system but NOT trained to use the S2SS platform as any and all information will be passed to them by 911Dispatch.

No – only County 911Dispatch and School / District officials.

Yes – in cases that involve the welfare and well-being of a student in crisis, contact information for a student may be shared with local law enforcement to allow them to respond and intervene.

Each School / District will need to work with law enforcement to ensure each dispatch/local police and district are coordinated in their efforts to action against any life safety tips. A worksheet will be provided as a discussion guide on “how to work together”.

The Office of the Attorney General and Sandy Hook Promise will manage and train all 911 Dispatch Centers in all counties. You, however, will need to work with each to ensure each dispatch/local police and district are coordinated in their efforts to action against any life safety tips. A worksheet will be provided as a discussion guide on “how to work together”.

The first awareness kit will be provided to Schools / Districts at no cost. Any additional kits needed by a School / District will cost $45 each. Instructions will be provided to the S2SS Lead on how to order additional kits.   

There is no charge for any SHP trainers to deliver and train students and/or educators/administrators. Please note that student trainer availability is limited.   

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is funding the Crisis Center and its operations through Office of Attorney General and Sandy Hook Promise is funding training and education. There is no cost to school entities, dispatch and/or individuals who download and utilize the program. Finally, it will also include awareness materials and any guides for in-school student clubs to sustain the program within each and every participating school in the state.

Both school and law enforcement will be informed as the tip was received through S2SS and both will receive it to action against it. The Crisis Center is only responsible for triaging and forwarding the tip to local school and law enforcement authorities for them to action against.

One team of 3-5 members will receive and act against a tip. We suggest identifying individuals in those buildings to whom you can share tip information with (via email). All S2SS members will have the ability to send tips to other in-district recipients. This will be taught at the regional trainings.

Yes – no matter what the size of the School / District, a 3-5 member team is needed. The driver to the number of members is availability to receive and act upon a tip. The higher the number, the more likely tips will be received and acted upon quickly. If we had just 1-2 people, you significantly increase risk of a tip not being received and acted upon as those individuals may be sick, out-of-town/range of alerts, etc..

Typically, a tip takes 1-3 minutes if all needed information is available to be sent to the School / District. If more information is needed in order to properly inform and act upon a tip, then the time will extend. As a rule, the minimum information needed is what is the event/concern, who is involved, what is their address/where are they located now. If this is available then tips move quickly. 

The 3-5 member teams are per district. They will represent and manage all tips for all schools within a district. All public, charter, and private schools are required to participate in and will be supported by this state-mandated program.

Yes – all tips are forwarded to the School / District 3-5 member team and law enforcement as needed. This is done to keep you informed as to what may be impacting a student(s).

Yes – we suggest distinct and defined roles and responsibilities to ensure there is no team, dispatch/police, and/or interaction with the OAG confusion.

Additional information about this will be provided soon.

The S2SS School / District Lead will be the administrator for her/his team. In this role, they will be able to make additions/deletions/changes to any team member.

We recommend only 5 members per team in order to ensure seamless management of tips – more than 5 members can begin to be confusing with “too many” responses and coordinated responsibilities to manage. That said, the decision rests with the School / District.

We recommend yes, but it is optional. If you decide not to be the lead for the team, then you will need to assign a lead post-launch, so the Office of the Attorney General has an ongoing contact to communicate with.

All tips will be sent to the 3-5 team members – this includes both life safety and non-life safety tips. The life safety tips will be sent 24/7 and non-life safety tips will be sent between 6am – 6pm daily. At this time, we are suggesting that all members receive tips as you get used to the system. Post initial use, S2SS District Leads can designate people to receive either both life safety and non-life safety tips OR just life safety tips. We STRONGLY encourage you to have at least 3 team members receiving tips to ensure tips are received and acted upon.

All School / District Teams will be trained on how to receive and review tips. S2SS recommends that members of your current school safety / discipline team be assigned this program – including Principals, Assistant Principals, Counselors, Social Workers, and/or School Resource Officers (SRO). All should have 24/7 access to your School / District Student Directory to be able to provide a student address to police (as needed) for life safety issues.   

There is a significant drop-off of tips, however, you will receive submissions that will need to be acted upon …. Primarily life safety, but again the number of submissions is very low.

No – this session is already scheduled and agenda complete. There is no time for training, however, there will be a presentation on the program to reinforce its presence and anticipated impact in the state of PA.

Training dates, locations and times will be sent 14 days from the date you attended the School / District kickoff Webinar. Contact information will be collected approximately 14-21 days from the School / District kickoff Webinar. You will receive an email providing training information and requesting contact information.

The regional training schedule will be released within 14 days of when you participated in the School / District Kickoff Webinar.

The community will not be trained in the program, however, they could access and submit tips as “parents / caretakers” are part of the community. Additionally, other community members may submit tips, although the number will be very low as this is a school-driven program.   

Not all individuals are comfortable calling 911 (or talking to a trusted adult). As a result, an alternative platform, like S2SS, is needed.

Additional information will be coming out regarding the coordination of student training by Sandy Hook Promise in the near future.

The program will be live and accepted tips from every school entity in Pennsylvania beginning on January 14, 2019. The district lead and team accepting tips should be trained before January 14 and if the lead so chooses to train additional staff, this can happen at any time so long as the school is ready to receive tips by January 14.  Student training will be ongoing, however, any student can hear of the program, download the app, access the website, and submit a tip beginning on January 14, 2019 whether their student training has taken place or not.

Schools can begin to train students, staff and parents on January 14, 2019. Training students is a critical component of this program and it is recommended to have Schools/Districts training as soon as possible in the 2018-2019 School Year. Only middle and high school students and the adults around them will be trained in the S2SS program.

Direct trainers are available to deliver the program in Spanish and English. Other languages may be able to be delivered (or translated) upon request.

Middle and high school students (~ grades 5 or 6-12) will be trained in 1-hour through an interactive training video or direct training by Sandy Hook Promise trainers (availability is limited). The interactive training video can be split over two periods if required. Direct training requires one session. 

S2SS will train middle and high school students only (~grades 5 or 6-12). However, tips may be received for students and adults located in K-12 schools. 

We are able to trace false submissions ONLY if a school gets a court order to uncover anonymity of a tipster. As reference, we anticipate less than ½ of 1% of tips are false submissions based on similar programs nationally. 

All schools and school entities are required by law to participate in the Safe2Say Something program. We understand that some schools and/or districts are already utilizing a tip line program. It is up to the individual school and/or district to determine whether or not they want to continue using what they have in addition to providing a contact and participating in the Safe2Say Something program.

Nevada, Oregon and Colorado have implemented similar programs utilizing the same software. We have an extensive list of School Districts as well for your reference. Please keep in mind that each state and district may setup and use the system differently from how the Office of the Attorney General and PA State Policy mandated.

This is not a requirement. It is up to the School / District.

Yes – Schools / Districts have the ability to have 2-way anonymous dialog with a tipster at any time. This information, depending on the tipsters availability to answer, can be instant. This information is also shared instantly across the platform so your teammates can see the information the same time as you – keeping all well-informed.

Yes – the program is mandated for all schools … K-12 regardless of being an Alternative School or other school type.

Yes – there is an audit function where you can go to view who has read and responded to a submitted tip.

Closeout must be completed by someone from the 3-5 member team because they are authorized to access and use the S2SS platform.

Yes – they can submit tips using any of the three platforms … app, website, and/or 24/7 crisis hotline.

It is for both and whatever the tipster deems necessary to report to School / District officials.

No – only the impacted School / District will be notified. Anyone submitting a tip using the S2SS platform is anonymous, therefore, we will not be able to determine if the tipster is submitting from inside or outside their School / District.

Yes – the platform is web-based, therefore will work with any device that can access the internet.

Currently this is not a feature of the App, however, we will be showing you how to use your phone to bypass do not disturb functions in order for you to be alerted of text, email and phone calls.

The app and website will be available for students to download and use on January 14, 2019. The app will be available for Apple and Android phones.

All tips from a tipster are received and triaged by the Crisis Center at the Office of the Attorney General (OAG). Once information has been gathered by the Crisis Center, it is then sent electronically to the School / District Team and, as needed, local police to review and act upon. Schools / Districts will sign-in to the S2SS platform to access the tip on their phone or PC.

The Safe2Say Something program is state mandated by Act 44 of 2018 and requires all K-12 schools, school districts, charter schools, private schools, cyber charter schools, private schools, nonpublic schools, intermediate units, and area vocational-technical schools operating in Pennsylvania to participate.