We go directly to the student. A social worker visits the student's home to see if perhaps we have a situation like that at Columbine where the parents seemed to have been oblivious to their kids building bombs in the garage. The social worker also looks for issues like access to guns at home or within the family. Findings from the second stage are passed to the school board, which can order the parents to pursue remedial treatment for the student. If they refuse or fail to comply, the superintendent says the student would be placed in an alternative educational program of the board's choosing.
Expulsion is used only as a last resort.
We want teachers, staff and others to relay their suspicions and observations. If they do that, we'll take it seriously and make the appropriate referrals. Not everybody thinks student profiling is an unabashedly good idea. Some wonder if it even works. And the lack of research is just one of many issues here.