LANSING, Mich. — “I absolutely think there’s a psychological component to school threats and school shootings,” said Ashlee Barnes-Lee.
Barnes-Lee is an assistant professor of social work at Michigan State University . We talked with her after multiple schools across the state, including Okemos High School and Jackson High School, experienced fake shooting threats that forced the schools into lockdown.
She said typically students who are involved with school shootings or threats are acting out because they feel ostracized.
“It’s really important for schools to understand that when students don’t feel accepted, not only by their peers, but the other teachers in the school, and if there are policies and practices in which students don’t feel accepted, it’s going to be associated with more violence in the school,” she said.
Nationally, schools have tried to decrease the violence by hiring school resource officers.
Recently, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer awarded nearly 200 schools in the state funding to hire these officers. But Barnes-Lee said there needs to be more done like resources to improve mental health.
“I absolutely think that it's critical that the school districts are supported with additional funding for counselors and psychologists to be in schools. Schools are definitely under resourced in that area and our kids need this resource,” Barnes-Lee said.
