ACPS expands 'Help Me' reporting, staff say two‑way system yields more actionable alerts

Albemarle County Public Schools staff told the board on Jan. 9 that the district’s new Help Me reporting system, adopted last July to replace an older anonymous-alert line, is producing more actionable reports and has been rolled out with staff training and student outreach.

Miles Nelson described the district’s change in emphasis from a one‑way “snitch line” to a two‑way resource that routes reports to the appropriate administrator or counselor and connects users to community resources. "It fundamentally shifted the focus from what can you do for me to how can we support one another," Nelson said.

Nelson and colleagues said Help Me routes most reports first to school administrators during school hours; after hours the vendor’s third‑party responders gather information and escalate imminent safety concerns to the district’s designated contacts. The district reported 434 total alerts for the school year to date, with 331 verified alerts that administrators were able to act on. The most common category reported was bullying/harassment.

Administrators presented local practice examples. Josh Walton (school administrator) said his staff introduced Help Me in student town halls and emphasized appropriate use: that the tool is for safety concerns and to be an "upstander," not a mechanism for resolving every interpersonal problem. Walton also noted the system’s integration with Lightspeed alerts (the district’s web‑filtering/monitoring system) and said Lightspeed entries can be pulled into Help Me for triage.

Staff described training and outreach: more than 23 hours of staff training, a staff resource site with videos, communications via newsletters and the district’s community engagement channels, and targeted outreach to student groups such as student senate. District staff said usage of the mobile app and posters has increased and that phone submissions now represent roughly 15% of reports (previously nearly all submissions were web‑based under the old system).

Board members and the student representative asked about age and use limits. Staff said student training has focused on grades 6–12 to date, while Help Me is accessible on K–5 pages for families; the district is considering whether to introduce the tool to younger elementary students in later grades. Staff encouraged detailed reporting (who, what, when, where, how) and said attachments such as screenshots or usernames help investigative follow‑up.

Staff said Help Me complements the district’s counseling and safety resources; when reports indicate imminent danger the district coordinates with Albemarle County Police Department and emergency responders.