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Virginia Tech

• VT Alerts: The university activated an alert system on July 2 that can notify people of emergencies by sending text messages, phone messages, e-mails and Instant Messenger accounts. More than 20,000 employees and students have signed up for the service.
• Police: Eleven positions, including nine officers, have been added to the Virginia Tech Police Department.
• Threat assessment team: The university tapped a group of people over the summer to deal with students who may pose a threat to others. The team is chaired by Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum.
• Case manager positions: A grant from the U.S. Department of Education allowed Tech to fund three case manager positions to follow up with troubled students.
• Director of Emergency Management: Tech created the position this summer and named John Beach as interim director in June.
• New hardware: Exterior doors with interior bars that can be chained shut have been replaced by push-panel models. Interior locks have been installed on doors of general-assignment classrooms.

Several changes have been recommended to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act:

U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy’s (R-Penn.) FERPA proposal
What’s proposed: Amend FERPA to allow schools to disclose information to parents of students who seemed at risk of hurting themselves or others.
What it means: This is debatable, as opponents of the measure say FERPA already allows schools to do this.
What happens next: The FERPA amendment was wrapped into the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2008, which passed the House in February and was referred to a Senate committee.

Sens. Jim Webb and Sherrod Brown’s (D-Ohio) FERPA proposal
What’s proposed: Direct education secretary to tell schools how information on a student’s mental health can be shared with authorities.
What it means: Clarify privacy laws.
What happens next: Nothing. The measure was attached to an appropriations bill that President Bush vetoed, and Congress was unable to override the veto.

Proposed FERPA tweaks
What’s proposed: New regulations more clearly explain that college officials may share information about students if they think it could prevent a threat to the student or others.
What it means: This may remove some of the confusion found by the state panel reviewing the Tech shootings.
What happens next: The federal education department is taking comments on the proposed changes until May 8. More info may be found here

Virginia General Assembly
What’s changed: Emergency plans required.
What it means: The assembly passed legislation requiring state colleges to develop crisis and emergency management plans, create campus “threat assessment teams” and implement notification systems to inform campus communities of emergencies.

What’s changed: Parental notification of mental health treatment.
What it means: Legislation OK’d to require state colleges to notify a parent of a dependent student who receives mental health treatment at the school’s student health or counseling center, if it is determined that there is a “substantial likelihood” that the student will, in the near future, cause serious physical harm to himself or others.

What’s changed: Spending increased for mental health.
What it means: The new state budget will include $41.7 million for mental health reforms proposed in response to the shootings. The funds will bolster monitoring and accountability of community services boards, and expand emergency services and case management capacity. It also will establish a training program for crisis intervention, provide outpatient services for children and make more outpatient clinicians and therapists available.

What’s changed: Mental health commitment law reformed.
What it means: The General Assembly passed legislation that broadens the criteria under which the state can detain or treat mentally ill people against their will, and allows people who meet the criteria to receive monitored outpatient treatment. The legislation also spells out the role of community services boards in monitoring treatment orders and the steps taken when individuals fail to comply with treatment orders.

What’s changed: People with dangerous mental illnesses barred from buying guns.
What it means: The General Assembly made permanent an executive order that requires courts to report involuntary mental health commitments to the federal database used to check the criminal records of gun-buyers.

What happened: Proposals rejected to require background checks on all gun show sales.
What it means: Committees in both houses of the General Assembly defeated proposals that would require criminal background checks for all firearms purchased at gun shows, leaving in place an exemption for unlicensed sellers. The panel that investigated the Tech shootings recommended eliminating the so-called “gun show loophole”, and the governor and parents of some shooting victims pushed for legislation.