Goshen Local School District strives to foster a safe, supportive, and empowering environment for all students, staff, and families.

Our plan reflects a continuum of programs, supports, and dedicated personnel who serve across all grade levels. Click the building name below to see some of the programs in place to support students.

Crisis Response Protocols

Suicide Risk Identification and Response

The district’s response protocol for suicidal risk begins with identification. Identification comes from sources including but not limited to: parents, teachers, peers, school administration and community members. 

Students of concern are met with by a member of the Mental Health Team the same day a concern is identified. Students are met with immediately when the threat is identified as imminent. 

• Mental Health Team members include on-campus mental health agency workers, the District Mental Health Specialist, and Guidance Counselors.

• Mental Health Team members utilize the Columbia suicide risk assessment to understand the risk level of the students. Parents and school administration are notified of all completed risk assessments.

• Students identified as high or medium risk are supervised at all times until a safety plan is established with the student, the parent/guardians, and relevant mental health personnel. 

• In the circumstance that hospitalization is recommended, the Mental Health Team member conducting the assessment contacts the Children’s Hospital Psychiatric Intake Response Center (PIRC). PIRC interviews the student and family, followed by connection with Children’s Hospital inpatient and/or outpatient crisis services. 

• In the event that an imminent risk is identified and the student is off-campus, parents and law enforcement are contacted immediately.

• Once a student’s safety is secured via a low risk outcome on the Columbia risk assessment, or via crisis services provided by Children’s Hospital or equivalent, on-campus and off-campus treatment options and support are discussed with the student and family. 

• When recommended and agreed to by the family, school personnel work with educators to create a plan to support the student’s mental health needs at school, including outlets for self-care and the identification of trusted staff within the building.

• Based on the student’s level of need and the recommendation of mental health professionals, multi-disciplinary teams are created to collaborate and align services and safety planning across settings.

School Threat Assessment

Clear and specific procedures to examine school threats are crucial to ensuring school safety. Therefore, Goshen Local Schools partnered with several Clermont County school districts and Child Focus to create a district threat assessment protocol designed to provide best practice guidance regarding threat assessment. The goal of the Threat Assessment Team was to create a threat assessment model for consistent use across school and district multidisciplinary teams. 

In order to ensure congruence with best practices, Threat Assessment Protocol combines the key recommendations from the Secret Services’ National Threat Assessment Center, University of Colorado’s Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, the Colorado School Safety Resource Center (CSSRC), and Dr. Dewey Cornell and Dr. Peter Sheras from the University of Virginia. 

The Threat Assessment Team conducted extensive training and review of national literature and best practice recommendations in the field of threat assessment. The Team also reviewed current threat assessment models utilized in Southwest Ohio. Ultimately, the Team adopted as its foundation the threat assessment model, which is based upon the United States Secret Service’s suggested Eleven Key Questions for completing a successful threat assessment.