New Jersey school threat assessment law

Does New Jersey require school threat assessment teams?

Each district board of education, and each charter school or renaissance school project board of trustees, must develop and adopt a policy setting up a threat assessment team at each school. The team's purpose is to help teachers, administrators and other staff identify students of concern, assess their risk of violence or other harmful activity, and deliver intervention strategies. The coverage sentence names only district boards of education and charter school or renaissance school project boards of trustees; it does not name nonpublic (private) schools. The law, P.L.2022, c.83, was approved August 1, 2022. It took effect immediately and first applied to the first full school year after enactment. New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) guidance lets a district use one central team to serve each school where individual schools lack enough staff to meet the membership requirements.

Who must be on the team?

The team must be multidisciplinary and, to the extent possible, include the members the law lists:

• A school psychologist, school counselor, school social worker or other school employee with expertise in student counseling.
• A teaching staff member.
• A school principal or other senior school administrator.
• A safe schools resource officer, or a school employee who serves as the school's liaison to law enforcement.
• The designated school safety specialist, if not already on the team in another role.

Other school employees may serve as regular members or be consulted, as the team decides. NJDOE's 2023 guidance, not the statute, says a special education representative must be on the team for a student with an IEP or 504 plan.

What must the local policy include?

The policy must align with NJDOE guidelines. It must include guidance for students, teachers and staff on recognizing threatening or aberrant behavior in a student. It must name the members of the school community to whom threatening behavior is reported. It must cover assessing and intervening with students whose behavior threatens the school community, and the actions to take, including social, developmental and law enforcement resources. That response provision sets no duty to notify parents. It must provide for coordination and consultation with the school safety specialist. For a student with an IEP or 504 plan, the team must consult the IEP or 504 team to decide whether the behavior is a threat to school safety.

What training is required?

Each team member must take training provided by the school safety specialist. The training must at least cover adverse childhood experiences, childhood trauma, cultural competency and implicit bias. It is meant to make sure teams do not have a disparate impact on students based on race, ethnicity, homelessness, religious belief, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status. NJDOE must provide training through the New Jersey School Safety Specialist Academy. NJDOE's guidance says districts must make sure all team members attend initial and refresher training from its Office of School Preparedness and Emergency Planning (OSPEP). An October 2024 NJDOE broadcast says each team member must complete OSPEP's full-day Basic BTAM (Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management) training.

What does the state guidance say about the process?

NJDOE must develop guidelines on setting up and training threat assessment teams, working with state law enforcement and the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness. NJDOE published its BTAM team guidance in 2023, with model policies and procedures for a team in each school building. The guidance's process is adapted from the U.S. Secret Service threat assessment model, and organizes threat assessment forms around 11 investigative questions. It says districts should set up one or more anonymous reporting mechanisms. Under the guidance, if a report presents an imminent danger, the team notifies law enforcement immediately. It says the district's Title IX Coordinator must be notified right away when a report involves sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking or domestic violence. It calls for a case management plan to reduce risk.

What about records and confidentiality?

The local policy must bar the team from sharing information from an assessment beyond the purpose it was given for. The team may disclose information to applicable agencies to pursue appropriate action. NJDOE's guidance says all threat assessment documentation must be kept in a confidential and secure location, under Department of Treasury record retention rules. The guidance notes that under FERPA's emergency exception, relevant information can be released to other schools when a student transfers.

Do schools report to the state?

The act's state-level section gives NJDOE duties to write guidelines and provide training; it sets no duty for schools or districts to report threat assessment data to the state.

How is it paid for?

OSPEP delivered its virtual BTAM training through the Homeland Security Grant Program.

What recent bills matter?

Pending S2523 (2026) would make district in-service safety training include a component on setting up a behavioral threat assessment team in each district. It was introduced and referred to the Senate Education Committee on January 13, 2026, with no later action as of October 28, 2026.