Section 2. Prevention

A. The Role of School Administrators, Teachers, and Staff

While school boards and administrators set the climate of safety within schools, teachers, especially, must be directly involved and supported in all stages of developing and implementing programs to achieve safer schools. Teachers establish the first line of school safety, because they have the most direct contact with students. Often, they also have great insight into the potential problems and realistic solutions applicable to their school.

1. School Security

Administrators should initiate a comprehensive security assessment survey of their school's physical design, safety policies, and emergency procedures. The assessment should be conducted in cooperation with law enforcement, school security staff, physical facilities personnel, fire and other emergency service personnel, teachers, staff, students, and other school community members. Using the conclusions of that survey, administrators should assign a safety and violence prevention committee composed of all of the above representatives to develop a comprehensive security plan (School Site Safety Plan). Based on each school's needs, school safety plans may include some or all of the following suggestions:

a. Utilize School Resource Officers, who may be provided by local law enforcement. SROs often provide law enforcement, law-related counseling, and law-related education to students, faculty, and staff. Continuity of officers within individual schools should be encouraged, so that students and SROs develop rapport.

b. Consider seeking one or more probation officers for use on campus to help supervise and counsel students. This would be especially appropriate for high schools with a significant caseload of juveniles on probation. For more information, see "Probation: Win-Win," below.

c. Utilize paid, trained personnel hired specifically to assist teachers and administrators in monitoring student behavior and activities. Continuity of monitors within schools should be encouraged to facilitate good rapport with students. The number of monitors used should be based on the number of students, the extent of problems at the school, and the space and layout of school grounds.

d. Encourage screened and trained parents/guardians and other volunteers to provide monitoring of students. Ensure volunteers have adequate training and guidelines outlining their duties.

e. Develop and enforce restrictions about student loitering in parking lots, hallways, bathrooms, and other areas. Publish restrictions in the student handbook/code of conduct.

f. Consider the use of metal detectors only in special circumstances to deter weapons on campus.

g. Adopt policies for conducting searches for weapons and drugs. Publish policies in the student handbook/code of conduct.

h. Require visitors to sign in and sign out at the school office and to wear visible visitors' passes. Post prominent signs at all school entrances instructing visitors where to sign in and out. Publish the policy in the student handbook/code of conduct.

i. Encourage school personnel to greet strangers on campus and direct them to sign in if they have not. Also instruct school personnel to report visitors who have not signed in.

j. Require students and staff to carry with them and/or wear their school photo IDs during school and at all school-related activities.

k. Establish a closed campus policy that prohibits students from leaving campus during lunch.

l. Establish a cooperative relationship with law enforcement and owners of adjacent properties to the school that allow for joint monitoring of student conduct during school hours. Encourage neighboring residents and businesses to report all criminal activity and unusual incidents. Establish a protocol within the school to handle calls from the neighborhood.

m. Consider providing and making use of alarm, intercom, cell phone, building paging, two-way radio, and mounted and hand-held camera monitoring systems on buses and school campuses.

n. Develop a school bus rider attendance checklist for each bus and use it daily.

o. Consider the need for employing outside security personnel during school functions.

p. Patrol school grounds, especially in areas where students tend to congregate such as parking lots, hallways, stairs, bathrooms, cafeterias, and schoolyards.

q. Develop threat and crisis management plans and provisions as outlined in Sections 3 and 4.

r. Develop a comprehensive set of violence prevention strategies based on the guidance provided in this document and ensure that it is fully implemented.

2. Reporting

a. Within the limits of legal guidelines and statutes, maintain confidentiality.

b. Develop and adequately communicate reporting procedures with input from district school officials and local public safety agencies. Standard procedures should include definitions of pertinent information and how and where information should be distributed.

c. Consider establishing a properly staffed, confidential hotline for reporting issues of harassment, safety, vandalism etc. If answering machines are used, calls need to be retrieved in time to effectively address threats of violence. Aggressively advertise the hotline number to students and parents /guardians in student handbooks, on posters throughout the school, on pencils, student IDs, lockers, etc. Parents and students should also be advised when to use 9-1-1 rather than the hotline.

d. Obtain training to recognize whether reports of threats or acts of violence are false and/or malicious.

3. Student Rules

a. Establish rules of conduct pertaining to improper student behavior using input from students, parents/guardians, staff, public safety officials, mental health agencies, and legal counsel.

b. Annually review, and if needed, revise rules of student conduct.

c. Ensure that all rules have a purpose that is clearly understood. They should be clear and communicated to all students in both written and verbal formats. Students' comprehension of the rules should be assessed.

d. Post summaries of rules of student conduct in classrooms and throughout the school.

e. Send rules home to be read by students and parents/guardians. Include an acknowledgment form for students and parents/guardians to sign and return to the school. Hold meetings to communicate rules to parents/guardians, and to the extent practicable, make sure they understand them. Invite parents/guardians to call if they have questions about the rules.

f. Communicate rules in as many languages as needed and possible for each school's population.

g. Apply rules in a consistent manner. Have pre-established consequences for rule violations.

h. Develop a consistent, timely, and effective means to notify parents/ guardians of rule violations and consequences.

i. Establish clearly defined rules and appropriate consequences for all types of harassment, intimidation, and disrespect. Rules should cover adult and student behavior at all school events. Parents/Guardians and teachers need to act as positive role models for students.

j. Suspend and recommend expulsion of students and dismiss or discipline of staff for serious rule violations. Serious rule violations include:

1. Possession of a firearm on school property or at school events. The 1994 Gun-Free Schools Act mandates a one-year expulsion for students who bring a firearm to school. The chief administrating officer of the local education agency is able to modify the expulsion requirement on a case- by-case basis. All local education agencies that receive funding from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) must require all students found carrying a firearm to be referred to the criminal justice or juvenile justice system.
2. Possession or use of a weapon on school grounds or at school events that is capable of inflicting serious bodily harm.
3. Physical assault of a teacher, administrator, staff member, or student.

k. Suspend and consider the appropriateness of expulsion for the following:

1. Verbal threat to a teacher, administrator, staff member, or student.
2. Possession, sale, or use of illegal drugs on campus.
3. Actual or threatened retaliation against persons who report threats or acts of violence.

4. Support for Teachers and Other Staff

a. Take quick, consistent, and appropriate actions toward students who are reported by teachers and other staff for rule violations.

b. Provide times and locations for teachers to meet and discuss ways to maintain classrooms that are conducive to learning. Group teachers and other personnel who work with the same troubled student into teams to enable them to discuss that student and strategies for dealing with him/her.

5. Programs for Suspended/ Expelled Students

a. Provide an alternative educational program in a separate environment. Appropriate programs should be available for elementary, middle, and high school grade levels.

b. Provide a low student-to-staff ratio.

c. Consider requiring their participation in community-based programs where they would learn while helping others. Possibilities include working with neighborhood beautification efforts or with victims of violence where they would directly witness the effects of causing injury to others.

d. Consider reducing length of suspensions in exchange for successful completion of community service.

e. Consider providing extra counseling in areas such as anger management, conflict management and resolution, respecting the rights of others, and social skills. Use behavior modification or other applications of rewards and punishments to reduce delinquency.

f. Consider providing parents/guardians with counseling or training in parenting skills oriented toward reducing problematic behavior by students in school and at home.

g. Recognize the risk involved in putting troubled students together. Take appropriate security measures in light of that risk.

h. Provide students of the appropriate age with career counseling and information about employment opportunities.

6. Student Court

a. Consider having qualified adults oversee peer courts.

b. Provide adequate training to peer court participants.

c. Inform "defendants" they must abide by the student court's decision and inform them of consequences for not complying.

7. Positive Incentives

a. Create recognition rewards for students who perform good citizenship behaviors.

b. Invite community leaders to discuss different ways students can achieve success.

c. Consider the potential value of school-wide assemblies in which effective motivational speakers address such topics as anti-drug, alcohol, and violence messages.

d. Invite responsible adults to mentor and serve as positive role models for students.

e. Promote press coverage of all types of students who have done well.

f. Create programs that promote positive values, incorporate building blocks for developing character, and recognize students who exhibit positive traits.

g. Promote partnerships between schools and law enforcement, community businesses, and service organizations to recognize and reward positive student behavior.

8. Employee Screening

Use one or more of the following means in a manner consistent with applicable law to screen potential teachers, staff, and other non-students who are regularly on-site:

• State sex offender registry check.
• Criminal background check.
• Fingerprint check.
• Employment, personal, and education reference checks.
• Personal interviews.
• On-the-job observation.
• Students' evaluations of teacher performance.
• Professional disciplinary board background check.
• Alcohol/drug testing.
• Psychological testing.
• Mental illness/psychiatric history check.

9. Class and School Size

b. Organize community-wide efforts to determine the most appropriate size of schools in each district. Schools where students are more connected to their school environment (e.g., people, facility, operations, and activities) tend to have lower rates of violence.

10. Parent Outreach

b. Seek and promote innovative ways to increase the extent to which students and parents/guardians connect with their school, faculty, and staff. Examples include having parent advisory meetings, using parents/guardians as mentors and/or guest speakers, providing parents/guardians attending school functions with childcare for their children, establishing a parent lounge, and offering parenting classes.

11. Utilization of the School

b. Promote free and attractive after-school activities for all students. Examples include sporting activities, assistance with schoolwork, and social events. Try to have at least one activity that would be of interest to every type of student. The After-Schools Enrichment Grant Program can be used to help provide funding for such activities. (More information on after-school programs is provided below; Addresses of web sites with information about funding are provided in Section 10.)

c. Seek and promote partnerships with external programs to provide supervised after-school on-site activities. Programs selected should contribute to students' safety and to their physical, moral, academic, emotional, or social development (e.g., 4H, Scouts, Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCA, community youth sports programs, etc.).

12. School Physical Environment

a. Maintain the appearance of schools to decrease vandalism and violence.

b. Employ Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) techniques to reduce problems. These measures utilize internal and external facility designs to increase the likelihood that acts of misconduct on school premises will either be physically discouraged or observed and acted upon. CPTED can also yield designs that facilitate more effective emergency response to critical incidents.

c. Establish and enforce a dress code policy for students, faculty, and staff with input from all constituents. Consideration also should be given to requiring school uniforms. Dress codes can simplify recognition of intruders, improve discipline, decrease violence and other forms of misconduct, and minimize the impact of gangs and other fringe groups on school property. For an example of an incident where a school uniform policy may have prevented a violent act, see Case 2, below.

13. Counseling Services

Schools should ensure students in need have access to counselors qualified to treat their respective problems. Counseling services should be of adequate duration and provide continuity of treatment. When student needs exceed the counseling resources of the school, recommendations for community assistance should be provided. Cooperative arrangements may be possible with neighboring school districts or with other city, county, or state organizations that provide or utilize these types of services.

a. Provide counseling services in a manner consistent with national professional standards (e.g., National Association of School Psychologists, American Counseling Association, National Association of School Social Workers) regarding appropriate treatment and student-to-counselor ratios.

b. Establish training programs under the supervision of a trained counselor where students can be taught to help other students. Match students with peers who can relate to the student receiving advice and to his/her problems.

c. Ensure counselors have adequate information about and access to community resources.

d. Ensure students are informed of the different types of counseling services available and know how they can obtain them.

e. Identify at-risk students and provide counseling.

14. Conflict Resolution Programs

a. Conduct a needs assessment to determine the types of conflicts that tend to occur and how they are best resolved.

b. Select which conflict resolution program(s) would be most appropriate for the school.

c. Find trainers to implement the program.

d. Commence training at the earliest age-appropriate school level. Continue the training throughout students' education.

e. Obtain support and involvement from faculty and parents/guardians.

f. Teach conflict resolution to students using activities incorporated into the curricula and by having teachers and staff model appropriate behaviors.

g. Evaluate the success of the program against pre-established goals.

15. Social Skills Training

a. Encourage faculty to instruct and model positive social skills.

b. Implement life skills training throughout the curriculum to teach students how to recognize problem situations, manage stress, achieve self-control, and demonstrate emotional maturity.

16. Cognitive Skills Training

a. Teach means-ends thinking, in which students learn how to reach a goal by step-by-step planning, identifying potential obstacles, and accepting that problem solving often takes time.

b. Teach analytical thinking, in which students learn how to weigh the appropriate pros and cons when deciding whether to carry out an act.

c. Teach alternative solution thinking, in which students learn to find new solutions to a problem.

d. Teach consequential thinking, in which students learn to consider different outcomes that might result from a given action.

17. Diversity Issues

a. Design and distribute a diversity acceptance policy to students, parents/guardians, teachers, and staff. Include a description of forbidden behaviors, responsibilities of students and staff, consequences of engaging in prohibited behaviors, and locations of pertinent school and community resources.

b. Provide diversity acceptance training to all staff and faculty.

c. Give all students diversity acceptance training in the classroom and in assemblies, incorporating small group discussions to augment awareness and sensitivity. Consider activities that celebrate the school's cultural diversity. Make sure that all activities are appropriate for the particular age and cultural groups with and for whom they are being implemented.

d. Use progressive discipline for acts of intolerance. Use non-disciplinary actions, (e.g., counseling, parent conferences, community service, or awareness training) for minor first-time infractions. Progressively increase discipline (e.g., detention, suspension, or expulsion) for recurring or more serious violations.

e. Recognize that certain types of graffiti, literature, and actions may be indicators of hate-crime or harassment. Collect, store, and monitor data on these types of occurrences and share this information with police. Consider photographing graffiti.

18. Anti-Bullying Programs

a. Clearly define what constitutes bullying activity with input and involvement from the school community (students, staff, parents, teachers, volunteers, and law enforcement). Communicate that definition to students, teachers, parents, and staff. The definition should include physical, verbal, and psychological aspects of bullying.

b. Based upon the above, establish specific rules prohibiting, and consequences for, bullying activity as part of a comprehensive school code of conduct.

c. Seek information about the motivations behind specific incidents of bullying.

d. Establish a reporting mechanism by which incidents of bullying can be reported and recorded immediately after they occur.

e. Ensure reporting procedures address with whom and under which circumstances information will and will not be shared. Care should be taken to:

• Protect witnesses and victims from retaliation.
• Meet applicable standards for confidentiality.
• Ensure that personnel involved with victims and bullies have the information they need to effectively work with them.
• Protect the accused from false allegations.

f. Notify parents/guardians of both victims and perpetrators whenever a report of bullying is formally filed. Establish a policy regarding the circumstances under which parents/ guardians of bullies and/or their victims should be called in for an on-site conference.

g. Continually monitor the number of reported incidents of bullying.

h. Regularly conduct a survey assessing the prevalence, location, and kind of bullying activities that are occurring. Include students, parents, teachers, and staff. Also address bullying activities that occur on the way to and from school. Work with community policing efforts to help make students' journeys to and from school safe and free from acts of intimidation. For surveys requiring student input, follow administration guidelines regarding the possible need for parental approval.

i. Consider holding focus groups on an on-going basis to discuss the nature of the problem of bullying and ways to solve it.

j. Identify community resources that can be utilized to intervene immediately, as well as those that can be used to develop additional intervention and/or prevention programs. Ensure adequate social service and mental health resources are both available and being utilized.

k. Take actions to identify bullies and victims and to promote intervention at the classroom level and at other student contact points within schools. Develop a program that provides victims with immediate support services and referrals, as well as teaches avoidance techniques and coping skills. Refer offenders to available support services.

l. Advise teachers and staff to record events, as well as the interventions and strategies that are implemented to address different instances of bullying.

19. Programs to Reduce Isolation and Alienation and to Promote Respect

a. Establish standards for how people should treat each other.

b. Promote and ensure that classroom standards are consistent with school and district policies.

c. Ensure classroom standards are reviewed in class and that a copy of them is sent to the parents/ guardians.

d. Coordinate a cooperative effort to create and disseminate statements of values that all affiliates of the school will be expected to follow. All members should be able to state their school's values. For examples of school values statements, see below.

e. Establish better lines of communication with students who may feel alienated or isolated and/or have low self-esteem.

f. Increase the number and diversity of positive extra-curricular activities available to students.

g. Help students become more successful in achieving desirable short- and long-term goals and increase the likelihood that their progress is recognized and rewarded.

h. Teach students how to resist others' efforts to intimidate or isolate them.

i. Initiate a community service requirement for middle and high school graduation.

j. Model and reinforce values such as learning, respect, character, and cooperation.

k. Encourage students to work together through the use of cooperative learning techniques such as team projects.

l. Encourage the contemplation of core values (respect, responsibility, trust, sharing, etc.) through the use of age- and curriculum-appropriate writing assignments and class discussions.

m. Encourage students to become actively involved in the school community.

n. Recognize and reward students who exhibit positive and responsible behavior.

o. Offer troubled and withdrawn students, including victims, help outside of class with schoolwork and personal problems.

p. Develop a climate that encourages open communication between students and adults. It should maximize the options by which students can transmit their concerns about violence to school personnel, foster an environment of trust, and be sensitive to their fears of retaliation.

20. Drug and Alcohol Education

a. Educate students about the dangers and illegality of drug and alcohol use.

b. Identify and implement age-appropriate programs that include discussions about how students can resist negative peer pressure. Use role-playing and other types of activities to supplement discussions.

c. Educate parents/guardians and enlist their support in addressing the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. Parents/Guardians and teachers need to realize that their own behaviors in these areas influence children.

d. Avoid programs that are based predominately on fear arousal, moral appeal, or the simple distribution of information.

e. Establish a contract requiring students who participate in extra-curricular activities to agree not to use alcohol or drugs.

f. Identify community resources to which parents/guardians and students with alcohol or substance abuse problems can be referred for information and/or intervention.

21. Anti-Gang Programs

a. Establish partnerships with law enforcement in order to exchange information and educate teachers and staff about the presence of gangs and their activities.

b. Establish and fund gang resistance and violence prevention teams to implement community, family, and youth education programs and to provide alternative activities in which children can participate. Teams should include educators, law enforcement, probation officers, community leaders, students, school resource officers, gang specialists, mental health professionals, and parents.

c. Become aware of gang-related clothing, paraphernalia, and behavior. Establish a school dress code that would exclude outward manifestations of gang membership.

d. Inform parents/guardians if their children are suspected of involvement in gangs and give them relevant information, counseling, and access to available pertinent resources.

22. Suicide Prevention

a. Develop a plan that specifies how to identify students at risk, how to handle threats, and what actions to take in the event of a suicide.

b. Ensure that students have, and are aware of, easy ways to get help, such as access to suicide hotlines, counselors, and written/visual materials.

c. Educate students, parents/guardians, teachers, and other school personnel on how to identify and get help for troubled students before they become victims of suicide. Include how to get immediate help to prevent or respond to suicide attempts.

23. Training and Technical Assistance for Teachers and Staff

a. Conflict resolution and management.

b. Hostility and anger management.

c. Victim sensitivity and support.

d. Crisis/critical incident management.

e. Bullying and harassment recognition, prevention, and intervention.

f. Who should, how to, and where to refer students and families to social service agencies.

g. Classroom management.

h. How to identify and defuse potentially violent situations.

i. How teachers' and other staff members' own behavior may diffuse or escalate conflict.

j. How to identify troubled students. Examples of warning signs are provided below. A case illustrating how failure to identify and act upon warning signs may have contributed to a school shooting is presented in Case 1, below.

k. How to communicate and work with parents/guardians in order to intervene in the behavior of troubled students.

l. How to most effectively work with classes that have ethnic and economic diversity.

24. Evaluation

a. Conduct surveys of the school community to determine perceptions of safety, areas for improvement, and the effectiveness of school safety programs.

b. Compile statistics on data obtained from school records, available police information, and other pertinent resources. Maintain statistics on discipline cases, suspensions, expulsions, students found with weapons, and incidents of verbal or physical harassment.

c. Organize a committee of students, teachers, staff, emergency response personnel, law enforcement, and parents/guardians to periodically review and analyze the collected information and to suggest new or modified violence prevention strategies.

B. The Role of Students

1. Know and follow their school's violence prevention policies.

2. Work with teachers and administrators to create a safe way to report threats.

3. Learn about who they can go to with information and concerns about known or potential violence or harassment.

4. Listen to friends who share upsetting thoughts or display troubling, harmful, or dangerous behavior, and encourage them to seek help from a parent, teacher, school counselor, or other trusted adult.

5. Confide in a parent, teacher, or other trusted adult if they persistently:

1. feel so "down", sad, or "empty" that they don't want to go out and do things;
2. are not able to sleep;
3. have difficulty concentrating;
4. feel helpless and/or angry; or
5. feel like they are losing control over their thoughts or emotions.

6. Immediately report suspicious behavior and threats of violence and/or suicide to school officials or another responsible adult. Students who do not feel comfortable speaking directly to school officials or adults should use another means such as anonymous hotlines or notes.

7. Help organize and participate in after-school activities with responsible members of the community. Encourage peers to do the same.

8. Participate in on-going activities that promote school safety. Actively participate in programs such as conflict resolution, problem solving teams, mentoring programs, student courts, community service, and peer mediation.

9. Act as positive role models for peers and younger students. Accept responsibility for their own actions and consider the impact their actions have on others.

10. Refrain from belittling, harassing and bullying other students. Be tolerant of other students and their differences.

11. Learn techniques to avoid and cope with negative peer pressure.

12. Speak out and refuse to join in when members of groups or cliques with whom they are involved engage in negative behaviors toward others, such as acts of harassment or vandalism.

C. The Role of Parents/Guardians

Parents/Guardians' help should be requested for the design and implementation of safety plans. Information and training sessions should be provided on school safety policies and programs. In addition, parents/guardians should be informed of other steps they can take to contribute to a safe school environment.

1. Topics to Discuss with Children

b. Their school's safety and security procedures. Parents/Guardians should know the procedures, make certain their children know them, and communicate why they expect their children to follow them.

c. Their own positive household rules, family values and traditions, behavior expectations, and the reasons behind them.

d. Violence in television shows, video games, movies, and books. Talk about impact of violence in the media and its real life consequences.

e. How to solve problems peacefully.

f. The value of individual differences.

g. Their children's concerns about friends and other people who may be exhibiting threatening or violent behavior. Parents/Guardians should share this information with the friends' parents/guardians and/or other appropriate authorities in a way that protects the confidentiality of their own children as needed and possible.

h. Personal safety issues and appropriate responses to them.

i. Their children's day-to-day activities, accomplishments, concerns, and problems.

2. Actions Parents/Guardians Can Take with Children

a. Model appropriate behaviors. Demonstrate healthy ways to express anger and relieve stress. Do not show anger in verbally or physically abusive ways.

b. Watch their children carefully for any troubling behaviors. Parents/ Guardians should learn the warning signs for at-risk children and how to get help from school or community professionals. (For a list of warning signs, refer below.)

c. Take an active role in their children's education. Visit and volunteer at their school, monitor their schoolwork, and get to know their teachers.

d. If asked, participate in school safety planning sessions.

e. Initiate or participate in violence prevention groups in their community, such as Communities that Care, Mothers Against Violence in America, etc.

f. Get to know their children's friends and families. Establish a network to exchange information with other parents.

g. Monitor and supervise their children's reading material, television, video games, and music for inappropriately violent content.

h. Monitor and supervise their children's use of the Internet. For more information, see below.

i. Talk to employers about having special considerations for parents/ guardians who want to participate in school activities.

j. If needed, attend anger management, parenting skill, and/or conflict resolution classes offered by the school or other organizations.

k. Establish and consistently enforce household rules and reward positive behavior.

l. Provide quality childcare for their children.

m. Promote a healthy and safe lifestyle by prohibiting the illegal or irresponsible use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs in their home.

n. If needed, seek out support groups to improve parenting skills and/or to manage anger and frustration.

o. Provide a quality after-school environment for their children. (See below.)

p. Monitor and supervise their children's whereabouts (where they are, how they can be reached, and how to reach their children's friends' parents). Encourage and facilitate their association with friends who seem to reinforce good behavior. Make their home a place where children and their well-behaved friends are welcome, comfortable, adequately supervised, and safe.

3. Firearms and Ammunition

b. Monitor children's environments for indications of weapons and destructive devices.

c. Teach children about the dangers of firearms.

d. Be aware of and concerned about easily accessible firearms or ammunition at the homes of friends, relatives, and neighbors.

D. The Role of the Community

1. Individual Community Member Actions

a. Volunteer for mentoring programs such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America.

b. Take the initiative to help create, run, and/or volunteer for an after-school recreation program.

c. If qualified, consider volunteering to provide care for troubled youth and their families.

d. Provide community-based services that care for children in need and their families.

2. Businesses and Community Organization Actions

a. Adopt and support a local school.

b. Hire high school students as part-time employees.

c. Actively seek out student volunteers and interns.

d. Allow employees who are students enough time off to study. Provide extra time off during final exams.

e. Be considerate of employees who want to attend their children's school activities.

f. Give basic job skills training to students.

g. Develop a scholarship program.

h. Offer support to schools by providing needed services, facilities, equipment, etc.

i. Work with school administrators to create positive community service learning experiences for young people.

j. Work with school administrators to provide career information.

E. The Role of Law Enforcement

1. Police Training

b. Include in-service training that addresses factors influencing school violence, conflict resolution, school violence scenarios, and response guidelines.

c. Train officers how to handle interactions with school administrators, teachers, and students.

d. Train selected officers how to conduct school security assessments.

e. Train selected officers on school-related threat assessment and responses.

2. Police Activities

b. Develop and maintain working partnerships with area schools.

c. Work with schools, parents/ guardians, and truants to lower truancy. Bring students found outside of school either back to school or to a truancy center. Visit the homes of these children to help determine whether their parents /guardians have been neglectful or abusive.

d. Consult with school administrators, teachers, and parents/ guardians about school security.

e. In concert with school and/or police department legal counsel, provide guidance to school personnel on how to spot concealed weapons and what steps they should and should not take when they suspect students are carrying them.

f. Provide schools, students, and parents/guardians with information about police department resources.

g. Provide schools with guidelines and examples of when to contact the police.

h. Assist school officials with the screening of employees and staff-like volunteers including checking criminal history files and sex offender registries.

i. Serve on school threat and disciplinary action assessment teams, along with teachers, administrators, and counselors.

j. Try to maintain a constructive relationship with students, parents, and school employees. This allows law enforcement officials to be seen as problem solvers and positive role models, rather than just enforcers. A constructive relationship can help foster respect for authority. Ways to establish such a relationship include:

• Bicycle registration drives.
• Sponsored recreational activities.
• Explorer or cadet programs.
• Parent, student, and teacher in-service training programs.

l. When appropriate, make follow-up visits to the homes of juvenile offenders. Consider also the appropriateness of conducting consent or search warrant based searches in cases involving students who made threats or brought weapons to school.

m. Develop task forces aimed at enforcing laws among minors.

n. Develop a plan for cracking down on illegal gun sales and work to educate parents/guardians on firearm safety, including the proper storage of weapons in the home.

o. Enforce existing truancy laws.

p. Use other federal, state, and local criminal justice agencies and law enforcement departments as resources to help determine the best possible safe school strategies for the community.

Probation: Win-Win

• Know which students are on probation.
• Know the conditions of their probation (e.g., drug testing or search waivers, not wearing gang colors or associating with gang members, etc.).
• Know their criminal and family history.
• Can arrest students on the spot who violate the terms of their probation agreement.
• Can conduct initial probation screens on students who engage in criminal conduct and can place them under the Probation Department’s diversion program supervision and restrictions.

The Probation Department benefits by reducing its officers’ caseloads and having daily contact with juveniles on probation. All parties benefit from working collaboratively on cases, having a more thorough understanding of students who misbehave, and having a wider range of interventions available to them.

Case 1: Failure to Recognize and Respond to Warning Signs

The very next day, the thirteen-year old and his 11-year old friend loaded a van full of guns and ammunition and drove to their junior high school. They parked in a wooded area adjacent to the school’s playground. One boy set off the fire alarm, then rejoined his friend to await the evacuation of the school. As students emerged onto the playground, the two boys opened fire, killing four girls and a female teacher. Of the eleven wounded students, only one was a boy.

Due to the prior absence of this level of violence in that community and in most schools, nobody could have imagined the thirteen-year old boy would carry out his violent fantasies. With this and other school homicides, the nation must now come to terms with the need to take seriously warning signs and to develop effective strategies to encourage reporting of both threats and acts of violence.

After-School Programs

• It is more difficult to avoid being caught and punished for engaging in bad behaviors while under close adult supervision.
• Participants have additional exposure to positive adult and student role models.
• After participating in their programs, they have reduced time and energy to get in trouble.
• During program hours participants are more likely to associate with and develop friendships with children who are less likely to promote or accept negative behaviors.
• Program participation may increase self-esteem or perceptions of having a positive future, which would give them less to gain, and more to lose, from engaging in negative behaviors.

Despite these potential benefits, after-school programs do not always result in localized decreases in juvenile violence rates. Among the possible reasons are:

• Not everyone participates. Children who need supervision the most may be the least likely to participate. If this is the case, after-school programs could widen the gap between those less likely and those more likely to engage in negative behaviors.
• Some of the participants’ delinquent friends and acquaintances, who do not participate, may pressure those who do to engage in negative behaviors in order to demonstrate and reinforce the participants’ social bonds to them.

To increase the effectiveness of these programs in preventing youth violence, consider:

• Offering as many positive after-school options as possible, so they attract the broadest range of students.
• Eliminating roadblocks to student participation by taking steps like offering the programs free, providing scholarships, scheduling activities at times and locations convenient for parents/guardians and students, and providing transportation.
• Helping to increase the consistency and longevity of each positive after-school activity. Working parents/guardians need to be able to depend upon consistent drop-off and pick-up times and locations. The success of programs is also often dependent on after-school activities obtaining a good reputation among students and on the same students signing-up for those activities year-after-year. Continuity also provides participants with an opportunity to improve their proficiency in those activities over a longer period of time.
• Ensuring each after-school activity supports academic advancement. This can be accomplished by making certain participants have sufficient time to study; providing student or program staff tutors; and encouraging participants to study, not drop out of school, and do as well as possible in their classes. After-school activities may be one of the few positive school-related experiences that some students have each day and may be their primary reason for not dropping-out. These programs need to be designed to complement academic achievement, not compete with it.
• Ensuring each after-school activity contributes to participants’ social and moral development. This can be accomplished by stressing concepts such as good sportsmanship, being a team player, helping others, sharing, and cooperation.

Students at the school complained that school officials did not adequately monitor visitors to the campus. Teachers equipped with walkie-talkies did patrol halls as a matter of policy, and police officers were stationed outside the building before and after school. While it cannot be known whether a school uniform requirement could have prevented this tragedy, it might have helped the teachers, police and hall monitors spot the intruder before he found his intended victim.

Examples of Conflict Resolution and Management Approaches

The mediation program approach trains people in conflict resolution to provide third party mediation to others trying to resolve a dispute. Peer mediation has been found to work well for many but not all problems. For example, peer mediation counseling should not be used for re-sponding to serious or persistent delinquency problems. Peer mediation also must be made available when it is needed, not just when it is convenient for peer counselors and staff.

The peaceable classroom approach brings conflict resolution into core subject areas and uses the techniques to help manage the classroom.

The peaceable schools approach builds on the former approaches by using conflict resolution as a tool for helping to manage the entire school.

Bullying and Harassment

The boys were affiliated with a fringe anti-social group that formed its identify, at least in part, against the backdrop of a school culture they perceived as valuing athletic prowess and popularity over intellect. Their group had a long running feud with athletes and other popular students in the school. Students described ongoing harassment and bullying between the outcasts and jocks in the school. Jocks regularly harassed the outcasts who would respond, in turn, with Nazi slogans and threats of violence. One time prior to the shooting, one of the outcasts flashed a shotgun at the jocks in a local public park, which heightened tensions between the groups. At one point in the massacre, the two gunmen may have sought out athletes as targets.

While hardly justifying the actions of the two killers, bullying and rejection clearly played at least some role in leading up to this incident. Bullying and other forms of harassment should not be tolerated in schools. They are abusive acts that harm students and detract from the quality of the school’s learning environment.

Sample Values Statements

Statements of values should be broad in reach, but short in length. If properly used in both award and disciplinary settings they can take on real meaning as a cornerstone of student, teacher, and staff commitment to the school and the larger community. Knowledge of school values can be reinforced by listing them on posters throughout the school, on ID holders, on stickers, and on other promotional items. The following is the statement of values for Green Run Elementary School in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

We believe:

• All children can learn if given the opportunity to do so.
• Children will consistently strive to meet high expectations.
• The school should provide a safe and positive environment in which each student can achieve success.
• Students learn best when they have the support and encouragement of parents, community, teachers, and peers.
• Each student should share a common body of knowledge which enables them to act in an ethical manner (responsible, functional, independent member of society).
• The school should strive to meet the individual student’s learning style.
• The school should be able to adapt to the changing community.

The statement of values below is from West Decatur Elementary School, Decatur, AL.

At West Decatur, we believe:

• Every individual deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.
• Every individual is entitled to a quality education in a safe, nurturing, and orderly environment.
• Every individual needs to believe in the worth of themselves and others.
• Every individual needs to accept consequences for chosen behavior.

These signs simply mean that a child appears to be troubled, and violence might be one of the possible outcomes of this distress. Neither stigmatize children nor assume that they will be violent just because they are at risk for such behavior. Other warning signs may also exist. Consequently, this list should not be considered all-inclusive, and certain items and combina-tions may be far more indicative of a potential problem than others. The signs include:

• Has engaged in violent behavior in the past.
• Has tantrums and uncontrollable angry outbursts abnormal for someone that age.
• Continues exhibiting antisocial behaviors that began at an early age.
• Forms and/or maintains friendships with others who have repeatedly engaged in problem behaviors.
• Often engages in name calling, cursing, or abusive language.
• Has brought a weapon or has threatened to bring a weapon to school.
• Consistently makes violent threats when angry.
• Has a substance abuse problem.
• Is frequently truant or has been suspended from school on multiple occasions.
• Seems preoccupied with weapons or violence, especially that associated more with killing humans than with target practice or hunting.
• Has few or no close friends despite having lived in the area for some time.
• Has a sudden decrease in academic performance and/or interest in school activities.
• Is abusive to animals.
• Has too little parental supervision given the student’s age and level of maturity.
• Has been a victim of abuse or been neglected by parents/guardians.
• Has repeatedly witnessed domestic abuse or other forms of violence.
• Has experienced trauma or loss in their home or community.
• Pays no attention to the feelings or rights of others.
• Intimidates others.
• Has been a victim of intimidation by others.
• Dwells on perceived slights, rejection, or mistreatment by others; blames others for his/her problems and appears vengeful.
• Seems to be preoccupied with TV shows, movies, video games, reading materials, or music that express violence.
• Reflects excessive anger in writing projects.
• Is involved in a gang or antisocial group.
• Seems depressed/withdrawn or has exhibited severe mood or behavioral swings, which appear greater in magnitude, duration, or frequency than those typically experienced by students that age.
• Expresses sadistic, violent, prejudicial, or intolerant attitudes.
• Has threatened or actually attempted suicide or acts of unfashionable self-mutilation.

• Consider placing computers in locations where parents/guardians can observe what their children are seeing.
• Establish family rules for internet use and inform children that their use of it will be monitored.
• Use filtering/blocking software to restrict their children’s access to inappropriate sites and material.
• Search their home computer files to see what sites their children have visited.
• Look for signs that their children may be involved with online criminal activity or be interacting with potentially dangerous people.
• If training is needed, attend classes.
• If training classes are not available, ask school administrators, law enforcement, or their local Parent Teachers Association to consider offering them.
  
  

  ---