Maryann Peratt
Protecting Our Children
Maryann Peratt has been protecting kids her entire professional career, most recently as the Director of Judicial Services and Threat Management for Jeffco Schools in Jefferson County, Colorado, for the past 18 years.
Peratt earned her master’s degree in social work from the University of Denver and is a licensed clinical social worker and a certified addiction counselor. Her 30-year career in clinical and educational environments started in hospital and residential treatment settings as a mental health clinician, and she later worked as a pretrial officer administering assessments and providing community supervision to juveniles charged with felony offenses. Peratt has extensive experience collaborating with the courts, district attorneys, defense attorneys, probation, and law enforcement agencies.
She was part of the crisis response team for the Platte Canyon High School shooting, the Deer Creek Middle School shooting, the kidnapping and homicide of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway, and the ambush and homicide of school resource officer Gordon Beeley.
Along the way, she led the national gold standard threat management program in Jeffco Schools–the district of Columbine High School–leading a multi-disciplinary team and conducting more than 9,000 threat assessments in her career.
Peratt led the development of a threat assessment tool that streamlines the process of threat evaluation, risk mitigation, safety planning, and service referral, yielding a consistent and informed response to threats of violence.
For the past 18 years, she has spearheaded the way schools respond to potential school violence and has also provided the critical support needed for recovery following crisis events. Peratt was recognized as Administrator of the Year and in 2022 was honored with the Student Advocacy Award.