Speak Up, Speak Out annual report

The Wisconsin Department of Justice Office of School Safety (OSS) today (Tuesday) released the 2023-2024 annual report for Speak Up, Speak Out (SUSO). Speak Up, Speak Out is a free statewide threat reporting tip line available to all Wisconsin schools. Speak Up, Speak Out also serves as the hub that connects all Office of School Safety initiatives and the entry point where schools can access comprehensive services offered by the Office of School Safety as well as local, state, and national partners.

Speak Up, Speak Out received 5,270 tips during the 2023-2024 school year, a more than 40 percent increase from the previous school year. Since the inception of Speak Up, Speak Out in 2020, bullying has consistently been the number one tip. It is also common nationally for bullying to be the most reported tip. Awareness of these incidents helps schools intervene early, before grievances and upsets can lead children down a pathway to violence.

Numerous students across Wisconsin have contacted Speak Up, Speak Out each year since its inception, reporting concerns, resulting in safer school communities. The significant increase in tips and the rich dialogue that many students have with Speak Up, Speak Out staff indicate that the program has earned a reputation among youth as a safe, accessible, and credible place to report concerns.

The 2023-2024 annual report reflects the Office of School Safety’s comprehensive approach to prioritizing preventing violence in our schools and when crisis events do arise, responding appropriately to mitigate trauma and get students back to learning more quickly. The Office of School Safety assisted several schools with crisis response and recovery during the 2023-2024 school year.

The Office of School Safety also offers a variety of free training concerning violence prevention, protection, mitigation, crisis response, and recovery. These include training for Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management (BTAM), Standard Response Protocol (SRP), and the Standard Reunification Method (SRM). From September 1, 2023, to August 31, 2024, the Office of School Safety provided Standard Response Protocol and Standard Reunification Method training to 838 people from 98 public school districts, private schools and tribal schools, 55 law enforcement agencies, and 28 other agencies such as Emergency Management, EMS, Fire, City Administration, bus companies and other community agencies.