In 2023, the legislature amended Section 1001.212(12), F.S. to task the Department of Education’s Office of Safe Schools with developing a statewide behavioral threat management operational process, a Florida-specific behavioral threat assessment instrument, and a threat management portal. The threat management process is designed to identify, assess, manage, and monitor threats to schools, school staff, and students.

The goal of all school safety efforts is to prevent violence or harm to members of the school community. Threat management uses a methodology that identifies students exhibiting threatening or other concerning behavior, gathers information to assess the risk of harm to themselves or others, and identifies appropriate interventions to prevent violence and promote successful outcomes. The process applies a non-punitive assessment to distinguish between innocuous and serious situations. The aim of the threat management process is to intervene at the earliest stage to provide assistance to students and to alter or disrupt concerning behavior for the benefit of the student and school. (Florida Harm Prevention and Threat Management Model, Florida Department of Education, 2023)