Threat Assessment and HIB - Program Supervisor

State of Washington•Thurston County – Olympia, WA

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) seeks to fill the Threat Assessment and HIB Program Supervisor position. This full-time position is based in Olympia, Washington. This position may be eligible for partial to near full-time telework. Telework is a combination of in-building and off-site days. During your onboarding period (first 6 - 8 weeks) you will be required to be in the office 3 days per week. After you’ve completed your onboarding period, you may have the option to work a flexible telework schedule (days of the week to be determined with Supervisor approval). While we’re happy to offer this balance of in-office connections and telework flexibility, this isn’t a fully remote position. OSPI is the primary agency charged with overseeing public K–12 education in Washington state. Working with the state's 295 public school districts and 7 state-tribal education compact schools, OSPI allocates funding and provides tools, resources, and technical assistance so every student in Washington is provided a high-quality public education. At OSPI, we recognize that our employees are the key to the success of the agency. We are committed to our work but value the balance with our personal lives. We demonstrate our commitment to employees by providing an environment that stimulates professional growth and values them for their expertise. OSPI is a great place to work and has several initiatives to help create a great working environment, including: We support a healthy work/life balance by offering flexible/alternative work schedules and mobile and telework options. (Depending on job duties and work location.) We have an Infant at Work Program that is based on long-term values of newborns and infant-parent bonding. Eligible employees who are new parents or legal guardians can bring their infant (six weeks to six months) when returning to work. (Depending on job duties and work location.) We value and are actively involved in promoting diversity, equity and inclusion within OSPI by way of cross-divisional, collaborative committee. The focus of the committee includes employee engagement and education; reinforcing OSPI values; and maximizing the value of diversity and identifying strategies for inclusion. Vision : All students prepared for post-secondary pathways, careers, and civic engagement. Mission : Transform K-12 education to a system that is centered on closing opportunity gaps and is characterized by high expectations for all students and educators. We achieve this by developing equity-based policies and supports that empower educators, families, and communities. Values : Ensuring Equity, Collaboration and Service, Achieving Excellence through Continuous Improvement, Focus on the Whole Child Equity Each student, family, and community possesses strengths and cultural knowledge that benefits their peers, educators, and schools. Ensuring educational equity: Goes beyond equality; it requires education leaders to examine the ways current policies and practices result in disparate outcomes for our students of color, students living in poverty, students receiving special education and English Learner services, students who identify as LGBTQ+, and highly mobile student populations. Requires education leaders to develop an understanding of historical contexts; engage students, families, and community representatives as partners in decision-making; and actively dismantle systemic barriers, replacing them with policies and practices that ensure all students have access to the instruction and support they need to succeed in our schools. The Student Engagement & Special Programs (SESP) Division advances an equitable education system that provides whole-child supports in partnership with communities so that every student is safe, supported, and equipped to thrive and learn. Grounded in a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS), SESP provides integrated statewide leadership and system supports that respond to the full range of student experiences, reduce barriers to learning, and strengthen attendance, engagement, inclusive learning environments, educational opportunity, and long-term sustainability. The division works through shared practice, strong partnerships, and effective use of data and public resources to drive continuous improvement, fiscal stewardship, and coherent system impact. This position is housed within SESP and reports to the Director of Student Support. It serves as OSPI's statewide content authority for behavioral threat assessment and harassment, intimidation, and bullying (HIB) including bullying prevention, cyberbullying, digital safety, and violence prevention — translating law, policy, and evidence into accurate guidance, training, and sustainable systems for districts, ESDs, families, and partners. The Program Supervisor leads the ESD Threat Assessment Coordinator network, supports HIB Compliance Officers statewide, and responds directly to complex district and family inquiries. The role requires balancing rapid response with legal accuracy, sound complaint-handling and referral judgment, and clear communication with distressed families, districts, and agency leadership on matters involving significant legal, safety, or reputational risk. This portfolio operates primarily under RCW 28A.300.630 (State School Safety Center), RCW 28A.310.510 (regional school safety centers), RCW 28A.320.123 (school-based threat assessment), and RCW 28A.600.477 (harassment, intimidation, and bullying), along with other applicable state and federal school safety, civil rights, privacy, and student-support requirements.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in education, law, public administration, public policy, behavioral or social sciences, psychology, social work, public health, criminal justice, or a closely related field; and at least three (3) years of progressively responsible experience in behavioral threat assessment, HIB or bullying prevention and compliance, student behavior or mental-health supports, school safety, policy implementation, technical assistance, or related public-sector work.
OR An equivalent combination of education and professional experience totaling seven (7) years that demonstrates progressively increasing responsibility in behavioral threat assessment, HIB or bullying prevention and compliance, student supports, program leadership, policy implementation, technical assistance, or public-sector program management.
Knowledge of Washington’s K-12 education system and the roles of state, regional, Tribal, district, school, and community partners.
Ability to interpret laws, policies, complaint pathways, data requirements, and/or compliance expectations and translate them into accurate, actionable guidance — strong analytical and legal-interpretation skill is essential; a law degree is not required.
Demonstrated systems-level thinking: able to identify gaps, inconsistencies, or emerging risks across statewide practice, and translate them into policy, training, or guidance improvements.
Ability to lead complex statewide programs or initiatives from planning through implementation and improvement.
Demonstrated ability to lead and facilitate a statewide coordinator or practitioner network — such as the ESD Threat Assessment Coordinator Team or HIB Compliance Officers — building shared practice, consistent statewide implementation, and sustained engagement among participants who operate independently across districts and ESDs.
Demonstrated success working across agencies, districts, ESDs, Tribes, behavioral health, law enforcement, OEO, families, community organizations, advisory groups, or comparable partners.
Experience providing technical assistance, training, facilitation, coaching, complaint-response support, or capacity building for varied audiences, including distressed or upset callers.
Strong communication skills, including the ability to develop plain-language guidance and synthesize complex or sensitive information for field, leadership, and public audiences.
Ability to use data, stakeholder input, and implementation evidence to inform decisions, identify risk, and support continuous improvement.
Ability to manage multiple priorities, respond effectively to emerging issues, meet deadlines, follow through, and exercise sound independent judgment.
Demonstrated ability to advance equitable, culturally responsive, inclusive practices and understand how safety systems and policies affect historically underserved students and communities.
Demonstrated stewardship of public resources, relationships, sensitive information, and public trust.
Considers impacts beyond the individual program(s); communicates concerns and feedback early and supports shared decisions; builds trust through respectful collaboration; and seeks feedback, learns, adapts, navigates change effectively, and helps others do the same.
Experience engaging with or serving diverse communities — through professional, volunteer, educational, or lived experience — and a demonstrated ability to work effectively with people from a wide range of backgrounds.
Periodic statewide travel, including travel to districts, ESDs, trainings, coordinator meetings, conferences, interagency meetings, or incident-related activities.
Must reside of in the state of Washington as a condition of employment

Nice To Haves

Experience handling sensitive, urgent, or high-profile inquiries from districts, families, community members, or agency leadership with composure, political awareness, sound judgment, legal accuracy, and appropriate confidentiality.
Experience developing HIB or threat assessment supports, trainings, resources, compliance modules, training materials, data products, complaint guidance, or other district implementation supports; HIB knowledge will be weighed more than threat assessment knowledge for this position.
Solid, hands-on knowledge and experience in behavioral threat assessment and/or HIB law and/or practice, process, prevention, and compliance, gained through progressively responsible experience developing, implementing, evaluating, or improving complex systems, policies, practices, or statewide supports.
Experience working in or directly supporting schools or ESDs with student behavior, threat assessment, or HIB is highly desired.
Demonstrated fluency with RCW 28A.600.477 and HIB model policy, training, complaint-process, and data requirements, gained through experience such as serving as a HIB Compliance Officer, Title IX coordinator, civil rights investigator, or comparable role.
Legal or compliance-adjacent background is valued; a law degree is not required.
Experience personally designing and delivering HIB-specific training and technical assistance directly to districts and Compliance Officers is especially valued; threat-assessment training delivery can lean more on the ESD network.
Working knowledge of multidisciplinary, behavior-based threat assessment models consistent with RCW 28A.320.123 — sufficient to serve as a credible statewide liaison and quality-assurance point of contact for ESD-led assessment teams, not to personally conduct assessments.
Experience supporting rural, remote, Tribal-serving, or historically underserved schools and communities.
Experience navigating referrals between school complaint processes, the Office of the Education Ombuds, civil rights processes, and other appropriate oversight or support bodies.
Demonstrated political awareness and comfort engaging agency leadership on emerging, sensitive, or high-profile issues.
Experience with statewide regional coordinator networks, legislative analysis or reporting, contracts, vendor management, complaint and referral coordination, and/or data collection and interpretation.

Responsibilities

Serve as OSPI's technical content authority on HIB and behavioral threat assessment for school districts, ESDs, legislative work, and cross-agency initiatives.
Lead statewide behavioral threat assessment, violence prevention, HIB compliance, bullying prevention (including cyberbullying and digital safety), and related initiatives.
Facilitate and coordinate with the ESD Threat Assessment Coordinator network and support HIB Compliance Officers statewide, building shared practice and consistent implementation across districts and ESDs.
Design and deliver technical assistance, training, coaching, and professional learning for districts and partners.
Respond to districts, HIB Compliance Officers, families, caregivers, community members, and partners regarding requirements, complaints, implementation challenges, and emerging situations — often serving as the point of contact in a difficult or urgent moment; provide guidance or referrals within OSPI authority.
Understand and articulate laws, rules, policies, and grant requirements and translate them into actionable guidance for districts and partners.
Monitor program implementation, outcomes, access, equity, fiscal performance, and service quality; analyze quantitative and qualitative information to identify progress, needs, risks, disparities, and opportunities; and use data, stakeholder input, and equity analysis to improve program design, technical assistance, and recommendations.
Develop practical guidance, tools, templates, timelines, modules, and communications for the school districts.
Lead, facilitate, or support advisory groups, workgroups, interagency meetings, and stakeholder engagement, using resulting district and partner feedback to inform program, policy, funding, and implementation decisions.
Coordinate and partner within OSPI, OEO, Office of Equity & Civil Rights, and Office of Legal Affairs complaint and referral processes; and with behavioral health partners, law enforcement, districts, ESDs, Tribes, families, students, community organizations, vendors, and other partners.
Identify emerging needs, risks, and opportunities and recommend adjustments to strategy, operations, policy, or resources.
Lead assigned statutory data collections and reporting, including the threat-assessment three-year cycle and annual HIB data collection; support assigned federal data submissions.
Prepare required reports, dashboards, data products, issue briefs, executive summaries, legislative reports, incident summaries, complaint-response guidance, presentations, and partner communications.
Oversee program operations, legislative and internal requirements, resources, grants, contracts, reporting, and implementation activities, including establishing priorities, work plans, deliverables, and implementation approaches aligned with agency and division direction.
Manage or influence assigned budgets, grants, contracts, subawards, staffing, and other public resources, including monitoring grant and contract performance, deliverables, reporting, allowable uses, audit readiness, corrective action, and sustainability.
Integrate program work within the division's MTSS framework by coordinating across SESP teams, identifying connections across tiers and initiatives, and supporting a coherent continuum of whole-child supports for districts and students.