Idaho officials recommend ways to prevent school shootings

By KEITH RIDLER

Associated Press

BOISE — Schools should set up confidential tip lines that can be used by students and others to report concerning behavior as a way to prevent school shootings, a report reviewing an eastern Idaho school shooting said.

That’s one of 29 recommendations in the report released Monday by the Idaho State Board of Education following a review of a school shooting in eastern Idaho last May.

Authorities said a sixth-grade girl injured two other students and a custodian after the girl pulled a handgun from her backpack and fired multiple rounds inside and outside Rigby Middle School.

The report said students saw behavioral changes in the accused attacker, but that didn’t come to light until after the shooting.

The report, made by the School Safety and Security Program, noted that the behavior change was not apparent to school staff because the girl was in her first year at Rigby Middle School after moving up from elementary school.

The same school had another incident last week when authorities said a 13-year-old girl brought a gun to school, but was disarmed by a school resource officer in the bathroom, and no one was injured.