State Senator Bill Powers (R-Clarksville) filed legislation last week that would require school districts and charter schools to monitor and track “early warning signs” expressed by students at their schools, and to submit lists of observed behaviors and responses from the administration.
Senate Bill (SB) 1487, submitted by Powers (pictured above) on December 16, defines “early warning signs” as, “evidence of safety, health, or behavioral issues exhibited by a student and includes, but is not limited to, indicators of a student engaging in or being the victim of harassment, intimidation, bullying, or cyberbullying; making or receiving threats of violence; and exhibiting signs of substance abuse, mental health issues, self-harm, or suicidal ideation.”
If passed, the legislation would require teachers and other faculty to report such warning signs into a computerized database maintained by the district, which must have a “threat assessment team” capable of analyzing the information provided, and determining what next steps, if any, should be taken.
Details from the database would then be transmitted to the Tennessee Department of Education in an annual report containing the total number of early warning signs recorded, including how many students were the subject of more than one entry, as well as general details about the faculty members who made the reports, what the warning signs entailed, and what correction actions, if any, were taken in response.
Should a district fail to track and report the data to state officials, the legislation would empower the Tennessee Education Commissioner to withhold funding from the school.
The bill to create the early warning system for schools comes less than one year after a student at Antioch High School in Nashville killed another student before taking his own life in January. Federal authorities later said the killer was motivated by two online extremist groups.
Another group, the 764 organization, called a Nihilistic Violent Extremist group by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI, was reported last week to have groomed a child in Tennessee. The group allegedly blackmails minors to create child sexual abuse material (CSAM), commit crimes, or engage in self-harm, to create “content” for the network.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected]. Â
Not in favor of this at all. Teachers have too much non-teaching responsibilities. Now they would be expected to be amateur psychiatrists. How about getting back to the job of education? That appears to have been forgotten for many years.