NORFOLK, Va. — Holly Anderson's 5-year-old son Wade starts kindergarten this year. She said it isn't easy to approach the subject of violence with him.
"At his age, it's hard to know what the balance is to talk about without scaring the life out of him, you know, to go to school," she said.
Fortunately, Anderson said her son is a talker.
"He will tell you everything that's going on, you know," Anderson said. "Teachers are [going to] know everything that happens."
But other children, especially older ones, may not be as vocal. So, the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety (VCSCS) is now urging children and young adults to speak up when something may be wrong.
"The adults are often not in the know with what's going on," said James Christian, K-12 school safety and threat assessment manager at VCSCS.
The center created a PSA campaign called "Ok2SpeakOut," which encourages students to share their concerns about potential violence with a trusted adult.
"It's important to, sort of, change the culture in schools so that students understand this is appropriate, this is safe, this is good for my school climate," Christian said.
The campaign launched in April on popular social media platforms, like Instagram and TikTok.
"Social media is sort of the modern version of the playground," Christian said.
"It's where a lot of students are communicating."
Now, Ok2SpeakOut runs TV and radio PSAs, reminding children their input could save lives, including their own.
"This isn't a 'gotcha'. It's not... the school and law enforcement's trying to find reasons to suspend someone or, you know, seek out criminal charges," Christian said.
"It really is about getting that information, and then putting the interventions in place."
Anderson thinks the campaign is a good idea, but said she plans to take extra steps to keep her son safe.
"The things that me and my husband and my family were looking into are these ballistic shields," she said. "They're inserts that go into the backpacks."
"Buying something like that is a little bit of peace of mind that I can try to protect him, even when he's at school," Anderson said.
Christian said VCSCS is constantly working to improve the state's threat assessment plan within schools and provide more training for teachers, staff and law enforcement.
Students, parents, and schools can download and share safety resources from the Ok2SpeakOut website.