Tennessee school threat assessment law

Do Tennessee schools have to have threat assessment teams?

Yes, through district policy. 2023 Pub. Ch. 367 changed § 49-6-2701(a) from "may adopt" to "shall adopt", making each LEA's (school district's) policy to establish a threat assessment team mandatory. As first enacted in 2019, the law said each LEA may adopt a policy to establish a threat assessment team. The 2023 act took effect July 1, 2023, for purposes other than rulemaking. The team's purpose is to develop intervention-based approaches to prevent violence, manage reports of potential threats and foster a safe school environment. The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) Safety Coordinator Manual says § 49-6-2701 requires each LEA to adopt a threat assessment team policy.

Who must be on the team?

The team must include LEA staff and law enforcement personnel. It may also include juvenile services personnel, a local district attorney's office representative, a Department of Children's Services representative and mental health service providers.

What training is required?

The team must get training from local law enforcement or mental health service providers on assessing individuals who show threatening or disruptive behavior. TDOE reports that in 2024-25, 15 behavioral threat assessment training courses were held, with 23 district threat assessment teams attending.

What must the team do?

The team must conduct threat assessments based on dangerous or threatening behavior in the school, home or community setting. It must set procedures for students, faculty and community members to report threatening or dangerous behavior anonymously. The statute has the team set its own procedures for assessment, intervention and courses of action. TDOE's manual lists "Establish a multidisciplinary threat assessment team" as step 1 of the threat assessment model it describes. The team must provide post-incident assessments and evaluate how well the LEA responds to incidents. Since 2023 the team must also coordinate with state agencies that provide support services and technical assistance to local threat assessment teams.

When is a threat assessment required?

If a student threatens mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity, the director of schools or head of the public charter school must require the student to submit to a threat assessment. If the assessment finds the threat was not valid, the student may not be expelled for a zero tolerance offense but may be suspended.

What happens after an assessment?

The team's procedures must cover courses of action, including referrals, notifying parents or guardians if appropriate, or notifying law enforcement and emergency medical services. A director of schools or charter head who knows of a valid threat of mass violence made by a student must immediately report it to the police or sheriff's department with jurisdiction. Since 2025, an LEA that reports a threat or disruptive behavior to law enforcement must also notify the parents and guardians of students enrolled in that public school of the same threat or behavior. That parent notice must go out within 48 hours of the LEA's report to law enforcement. The parent notice law also binds public charter schools when a school resource officer or armed security officer passes the report on to law enforcement. Each local board of education must report the number of incidents that required parent notice at each quarterly meeting. TDOE's manual lists § 49-6-2704 as the section on notification of threats or disruptive behavior in schools.

What about records and confidentiality?

The team documents behaviors and incidents that pose a risk to school safety or lead to intervention, and gives that information to the LEA. The LEA must consider that information when reviewing and developing a building-level school safety plan. Documents a threat assessment team produces or obtains are not open for public inspection. Threat assessment team meetings are not open meetings. After a preliminary finding, the team may request law enforcement records, which the agency may provide at its discretion. In an emergency, an LEA may share information from a student's education record with team members and their agencies. Health care providers covered by HIPAA (the federal health privacy law) may share medical record information with the team to prevent a serious and imminent threat. Teams, their members and those who provide information are not liable for damages for lawful actions taken under the law.

Must the team report its work?

The team must report its activities to the local board and director of schools "on a regular basis"; the statute sets no fixed schedule. Team reports must include numbers on team activities, including post-incident assessments. Since 2023 those reports also go to the Department of Safety, the Tennessee School Safety Center and the members of the state-level safety team. That 2023 change only added recipients; it did not add a schedule. TDOE's manual (guidance, not statute) lists mandatory threat assessment reporting as due quarterly to Homeland Security in November, February and May. TDOE lists continued fidelity and compliance with behavioral threat assessment as a 2025-26 focus.

Have there been recent laws and bills?

SB 2931 became Public Chapter 882 in 2024, adding the mass-violence assessment duty. SB 946 became Public Chapter 215 in 2025, adding the parent notice law. 2026 Pub. Ch. 706 lets the state Office of Homeland Security investigate threats to, or attacks on, schools in line with § 49-6-2701. A 2025 bill to require public charter schools to adopt threat assessment team policies, SB 386, failed in the Senate Education Committee. HB 1065 / SB 1016 (2025) were referred to House and Senate education committees in February 2025. A 2026 bill, HB 2348 / SB 2660, would require a mental health care provider's written assessment in student threat assessments.