Please sign this petition requesting that Guilford County Superintendent
Dr. Sharon Contreras and the School Board implement the FREE Say Something Anonymous Reporting System developed by the Sandy Hook Promise Group in ALL Guilford County Schools. 

Over 15,000 schools nationwide have already implemented the program.

Say Something is a youth violence prevention program from Sandy Hook Promise – a national violence prevention organization. The Say Something Anonymous Reporting System allows youth and adults to submit secure & anonymous safety concerns to help identify and intervene upon at-risk individuals BEFORE they hurt themselves or others. The system enables school administrators and law enforcement to create effective interventions and to help prevent violence, suicide, bullying, self-harm and other forms of threatening behavior.

The Anonymous Reporting System is easy and completely confidential to report safety concerns to help prevent violence and tragedies and would cost Guilford County Schools zero dollars to implement. It would also prevent continued deflection and deception about the crimes taking place on school campuses. 

All GCS teachers and students should have safe and productive learning environments regardless of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity or disability. According to the Sandy Hook Promise website, research from the Secret Service found that 81% of violent school attacks involved at least one person who knew about the perpetrator’s plans but did not take action. 

The Free App was presented at the recent NC Special Committee on School Shootings meeting held in Greensboro. There was little or no local press coverage of this meeting (a google search will provide more details).

The committee, set up by the N.C. Governor’s Crime Commission, is dedicated to identifying resources and developing recommendations to strengthen school safety and is made up of representatives from law enforcement, juvenile justice, courts, schools, state agencies and other stakeholders.

Committee Chairman Evans said. “If you look at the North Carolina Constitution, it guarantees a right to basic education to our children. How can they access that constitutional right if them, their parents, their instructors, their administrators live in fear every day about something happening along the lines of what has happened in other areas of this country. So, if a child goes to school and he’s worried about getting shot or getting bullied, he can’t achieve and he cannot exercise his right to a basic education."

The event was a public forum attended by school leaders, teachers, law enforcement officers, School Resource Officers, parents and students from across North Carolina. GCS Superintendent Dr. Sharon Contreras was not present. Two school board members did attend. One of the school board members in attendance Byron Gladden stated to the Commission, "When it comes to school shootings and the fact that white males lead it, we tend to hesitate and not say that its white males who are leading this. Absolutely, it is white males. One of the things is that there should be race on there."

There were also two extreme views presented regarding gun violence - one group called Grass Roots North Carolina would like all NC teachers to have guns in their classrooms and the other group called Parents Protecting Parents would like to remove School Resource Officers from all GCS schools. 

The majority of speakers (including former and current teachers) disagreed with arming teachers and also disagreed with removing SROs on campus based on the amount of crime happening in schools. 

Most everyone who spoke was in agreement that the community needs to come together to volunteer and mentor at risk students. It was noted that there is a need for a full-time alternative learning environment for repeat and violent offenders where students can get the focused attention and the support they need to be successful. Guilford County Schools does not currently have a full-time alternative learning environment. SCALES is a temporary school. Speakers also stated that there is a serious lack of funding for school psychologists and counselors.

Please help us advocate for students and teachers who want safe and productive learning environments in Guilford County and sign this petition to bring the FREE Say Something Anonymous Reporting System developed by the Sandy Hook Promise Group to our schools. 

You can contact the NC Special Committee on School Shootings with additional input or comments at gccspecialcommittee@ncdps.gov. 

Additional information about the FREE Say Something APP is available at

www.saysomething.net