Balcom brings years of expertise to LPS threat assessment program

October 29, 2025

Sarah Balcom is keeping Lincoln Public Schools students, staff and families safe with her ability to diagnose and solve threatening situations.
 
Balcom is stepping into the important role of security coordinator on the LPS threat assessment team. She works with many school and community departments and agencies to ensure people receive the best possible outcomes in safety-related situations. Cases involving stalking, child abuse, protection orders, sexual assault and interpersonal violence are included in her daily assignments.
 
Balcom said she enjoys helping both children and adults in her new position.
 
“I love being able to do threat assessment full time,” Balcom said. “I absolutely love it. This is my dream job, being able to do both threat assessment and threat management.”

 
LPS Director of Security Joe Wright said Balcom brings a deep reservoir of knowledge in both the threat assessment and education fields. She has been a classroom teacher and has worked for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, Nebraska National Guard and Nebraska Foster Care Review Office.
 
“Sarah has a tremendous number of long-term professional relationships with individuals and agencies we often work with,” Wright said. “A lot of people in the community trust Sarah, both professionally and personally. This allows us to do our work much more effectively and efficiently, which ultimately results in a better product for our students and families.”
 
Balcom earned an art education degree from the University of Nebraska-Kearney and a master’s degree in education from Grand Canyon University. She decided to pursue a threat assessment career after watching several of her students suffer trauma from stalking, family violence and dating violence situations.
 
“It was back then, years ago, that I chose to dive into the nitty-gritty and see what I could learn, find and understand to see how things could be steered into a different direction,” Balcom said. “I wanted to look into what behaviors and signs were present, as well as what was absent, that led up to lethal outcomes. I studied and learned about stalkers, typologies, behaviors, interactions with those around them, and what signs were present that signaled dangerousness and lethality.”

 
Balcom also began connecting survivors with local school systems, child protective services and housing, law enforcement and criminal justice agencies. These experiences helped her compile a vast network of resources that she used to assist people.
 
After working with shelter programs across the state, Balcom joined the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services as the staff empowerment and resiliency/victim education and support (SERVES) coordinator. She then spent time as the joint force headquarters victim advocate coordinator for the Nebraska Army National Guard. She was part of a Nebraska National Guard Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program team that worked with victims across the state.
 
Wright said Balcom’s history with adult-related safety is proving to be valuable in her new school-based setting. Children often experience similar issues that not only affect their learning but also their health and well-being.
 
“LPS’ violence prevention efforts go far beyond student concerns, and some of our most challenging issues involve families who experience issues that may start at home but then come to school,” Wright said. “We want our students and parents to know that we can effectively safety plan for them if the family has safety concerns that involve protection orders or custody issues, so that we know students are always in a safe situation even if the family is going through rough times.”

 
Balcom and fellow LPS team members assist students with behavioral health, therapy and other multi-tiered systems of support. These measures can help children process their emotions in positive ways. They can also deter them from possibly copying negative decisions that other people in their lives may have made.
 
“Now I am part of a team that does amazing work to help kids early on in hopes of getting them onto a new path,” Balcom said. “Threat assessment is about prevention. I have seen all too much what can take place down the road, and we get the opportunity to help change that.”
 
Balcom said she has been especially impressed with the large number of resources that LPS provides for threat assessment and management. Balcom, Wright, LPS Violence Prevention Psychotherapist Liesel Hogan, LPS Safety Social Workers Allyson Headrick and Kristi Lange and Lincoln Police Department Investigator Nate Hill work together with people across Lincoln on a daily basis. She said it is exciting to help make a difference for families in her dream job.
 
“Here, you have this assortment of options, and everybody is like, ‘How do we help?’” Balcom said. “You have therapists and social workers and law enforcement and teachers, and everybody is together for these kids. It’s a cool sight.”
 
Sarah Balcom is part of a team of LPS experts who are keeping students, staff and families safe throughout Lincoln. View home.lps.org/security/threat to learn more about the threat assessment process, goals of the program and ways to contact security employees about safety situations.
 
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