Behavior & SELBay-Arenac ISD
K-12 Behavioral Threat Assessment & Management (BTAM) Basic Training
Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management (BTAM) is a fact-based, systematic process designed to identify, assess, and manage potentially dangerous or violent situations.
Contact: Stacey Meininger, Becky Smith
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Dates August 4, 2026 Time 8:00am-3:30pm Location Bay-Arenac ISD ESC Bay City Room Cost Free 50 people maximum K-12 Behavioral Threat Assessment & Management BTAM Basic Training Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management (BTAM) is a fact-based, systematic process designed to identify, assess, and manage potentially dangerous or violent situations. Over 20+ years of research by the Secret Service supports that BTAM is very effective in identifying and mitigating behaviors of concern by helping to engage additional interventions and supports. The school Behavioral Threat Assessment & Management (BTAM) training is based upon research and best practices developed by the U.S. Secret Service. FACILITATED BY Becky Smith Director of Special Education Stacey Meininger Whole Child Systems Supervisor Register Now! *If you are an educator in a district or ISD outside of BAISD or IRESA, additional fees may apply. BASIC TRAINING The basic training teaches threat assessment teams how to effectively conduct a threat assessment according to best practices outlined by the United States Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC). The goal of BTAM is to identify, engage, and work collaboratively with students and families to mitigate life situational factors contributing to thoughts of violence and aggression. The one-day basic training workshop covers the following topics: • Understanding school violence and implications for prevention • What is BTAM, and what it’s not. • 8 steps in developing and operating an effective school threat assessment program • Critical steps to conducting a thorough threat assessment process • Tabletop Exercise - screening, inquiry/investigation/assessing and analyzing • Developing and implementing case management plans • Tabletop Exercise - identifying resources and creating the management plan • Summary / Q & A COURSE OBJECTIVES: At the end of the course, participants will: • Understand major facts about school violence and how prevention is possible. • Be familiar with the principles of behavioral threat assessment and why schools should use it. • Know how to build a threat assessment program using the 8 Steps • Gain practice using threat assessment procedures through multiple tabletop exercises • Understand how to work a threat assessment case • How to screen cases to see if a threat assessment is warranted • How to gather information from multiple sources • How to analyze the information using 11-Key Questions • How to make an assessment • How to develop a case management plan to reduce risk We highly recommend that school/district BTAM teams attend the training together. Critical team members include administrators (principals/assistant principals/deans), school psychologists, counselors, social workers, school resource officers, and law enforcement. Other important professionals can also include behavioral interventionists, special education professionals/case managers, nurses, and community mental health professionals providing services in the schools and/or those who may help work threat assessment cases.
