JONESBORO — There was an increase in the number of calls and notifications from August to September through the Clayton County Public Schools digital media monitoring program, but numbers have gone down from the same time period as last year.
According to statistics shared at the Oct. 30 Clayton County Board of Education work session, the number of calls and notifications through the Gaggle Safety Management System for September was 444 — a 289% increase from August. However, the numbers compared to last year have gone down as there were 568 calls and notifications in September of 2022.
Gaggle is a technology that monitors students’ district digital media accounts and identifies those who are in crisis.
The goal is to attempt to ensure the safety of students by combining technology with real people in an effort to intercept key words that may reveal a student’s intent to cause harm to others or themselves.
The September 2023 numbers revealed there were 117 suicide/self harm notifications and 136 for violence toward others. There were 110 notifications for nudity/sexual content, 56 for harassment, and 20 classified as “Other.”
In the report given at the work session, the nearly 300% increase in calls and notifications was because the Gaggle system recognized assignments and items by students about mental health awareness and suicide prevention.
Field Operations Division Commander Maj. Ericka Lewis said the Safety and Security Department has several procedures in place to help students who may be at risk of suicide and self harm.
Some of the procedures include sometimes doing home visits to make sure students are OK and partnering with DFCS and other organizations to make sure students are connected to services they might need.
In other statistics shared at the work session, two weapons were found on campus in September 2023…
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