Orono Schools unveils comprehensive safety framework focused on prevention and mental health

The Orono Public School District presented and adopted a comprehensive school safety framework Monday night that organizes existing security, health and prevention practices under one model and emphasizes mental-health supports and threat assessment as primary prevention strategies.

District Superintendent Dr. Fleisher told the school board the framework “truly aligns with how we have approached safety for many years” and noted the district adapted the model from Safe and Sound Schools. The district posted the framework on its safety and security webpage the same day.

The framework maps a multilayered approach that the district described as spanning prevention, caring climate and connectedness, physical security, emergency management and crisis response, environmental and workplace safety, and leadership, law and policy. Staff said the district’s work prioritizes threat assessment and student supports so that staff can identify and interrupt predictable paths to violence.

“We start with this picture because we take serious the language, in loco parentis,” Dr. Fleisher…