Foundations and Assessment of Education/Edition 1/Foundations Table of Contents/Chapter 5/5.4.2

Violence and Bullying: How Do We Create a Safe School?

School Violence...Where Are We Now?
School violence is a phrase that will most likely fill your head with images of the massacres at Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, and Northern Illinois University. While not all violent episodes involve weapons or death, aggression in schools is an unfortunate reality that frightens parents, teachers, and students, especially in the wake of a nationally publicized school tragedy. While school violence remains a pertinent issue, data suggests that teens have become significantly less violent since 1994 (Cornell). In fact, in 1994, there were forty-two victims of student-homicide at school. In 2003, the number of student-homicides decreased to four (Cornell). Research also suggests that since 1998, violent school assaults have decreased by half (Dedman, 2007). It seems that school violence is decreasing significantly, however, as long as there is one victim of school violence, there is still work to be done.

School Violence Prevention
Although school violence is decreasing, prevention must remain a priority in the school as well as the community in order for the trend to continue. There is not one magic method that will create a safe school (Pollack & Sundermann, 2001). Instead, schools need to implement prevention programs in order to create a safe learning environment. Some of these components are:

âCreating schoolwide prevention and intervention strategies Developing emergency response planning Creating a positive school climate and culture Implementing ongoing staff development Ensuring quality facilities and technology Fostering partnerships between the school and community law enforcement Fostering family and community involvement Developing a relationship with mental health and social service organizationsâ (Pollack & Sundermann, 2001)

Administrators Role in School Violence Prevention
Administrators need to take a âwhole-schoolâ approach when confronting the issue of school violence (Larson, 2008). This approach recognizes that everyone in the school building (custodians, office staff, teachers, students, administrators) takes part in violence prevention. Another measure that will likely decrease violence in schools is to reduce overcrowding in the classrooms, hallways, and cafeteria, as more students in a limited space will likely increase the chances that a violent encounter will occur (Larson, 2008).

Positive reinforcement is another tactic that administration could use to help prevent violence in school. According to Hema Sareen, the project director for Vera Institute of Justice, âPositive reinforcement has more lasting effects on behavior than punishment. Punishment tells individuals what they are doing wrong but gives no direction for what they should do instead. Punishment usually has a temporary result to wrong behavior, where as positive reinforcement may result in better behavior by making students feel more confident. All around the country, different types of positive reinforcement programs are being implemented into schools. For example, Sareen examines a learning center in Oregon, which specializes in behavior issues in students. This learning center has created an intervention called, âLinking the Interests of Families and Teachers (LIFT)"(Sareen 2001). Different schools in the area took part in this intervention.  Giving the students praise for good behavior, and offering them something to signify the good behavior helped significantly lower aggressive behavior.  Administration could research different ideas to make positive reinforcement an effective tool to help prevent school violence.

Schools also need to develop a system of communication among feeder schools. Violent behavior does not happen overnight so a studentâs previous school may be able to provide insight as to the studentâs home situation, past behavior, and offer suggestions for preventing this behavior (Larson, 2008). When schools take advantage of the resources in the community, their level of success will improve (Pollack & Sundermann, 2001).

With the creation of No Child Left Behind and AYP standards, schools are under tremendous pressure to keep the number of discipline infractions down. In other words, schools are evaluated on the number of suspensions imposed by administrators and in order to make AYP, schools must meet strict criteria. Because of this, some administrators fear imposing certain consequences to students. When this happens, teachers feel a lack of administrative support and many students feel that inappropriate behaviors, such as bullying (verbal and physical) will be tolerated. Other students see bullies getting away with the behavior so they fear they are not going to be protected. This causes a major problem within a school because expectations become unclear and consequences become questionable. Administrators need to make the safety of the students and staff the priority over everything else, including federal standards. When the students and staff feel safe, many positive outcomes occur. Specifically, academics improve, the number of discipline referrals and suspensions are reduced, staff morale increases, and a school climate that is conducive to learning is formed (Pollack & Sundermann, 2001).

Students' Role in School Violence Prevention
Students also need to know how to handle and prevent aggressive encounters in school. Most importantly, students need to understand the importance of taking threats and warnings seriously. For example, nearly 50 percent of school shooters gave some type of warning prior to the violent event. Had students known to take these warnings seriously, the tragic shootings may not have occurred (Center for Disease Control, 2008). Students also need to understand the seriousness of bullying. In order for students to be aware of this, parents and schools need to address the issue of bullying. Students need to feel comfortable talking to an adult about this issue so they can report the bullying without feeling like a âtattle-taleâ (Peckham, 2007). Students need to see that teachers, administrators, and other staff members take bullying seriously. In order to show that bullying will not be tolerated, bullies need to be given firm consequences, as well as, individual counseling as bullies are often involved in other forms of victimization outside of the school setting (Peckham, 2007).

Parents' Role in School Violence Prevention
Parents need to take an active role in preventing violence wherever their children are concerned. âAccording to the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center, two-thirds of the 41 students involved in 37 school-shooting incidents since 1974 got their guns from their own home or that of a relative.â(October 11, 2006) It is important that anyone who owns a gun properly stores it and makes sure it is not easily accessible to children. Parents need to work together with other parents to make sure their children are not being exposed to guns and other weapons when they are at friendâs homes. Knowing your childâs friends and their parents allows you to make sure the influences they have are positive.

Being a good role model for your children is also a way to prevent school violence. Parents need to teach their children how to deal with their emotions. Teaching children how to understand and deal with their emotions with help prevent them from making quick decisions that may lead to violence in the heat of the moment. Good communication between parents and children can reduce the risk of school violence as well. âChildren who have good communication with their parents are more likely to ask for their advice than turn to peers.â(2003) Teaching children to respect themselves and others can help by teaching them that they can stand up for themselves without putting themselves in danger and that there are many ways to solve problems other than fighting. There are many ways parents can teach their children to get results without fighting such as: compromise, avoidance, and talking clearly/calmly. It is important to teach children the importance of not being a bully but it is also important that they know not to become a victim as well. These can both be accomplished by making sure children know that violence is unacceptable, helping them find tactics to deal with anger management and conflict resolution, inspiring self-confidence, and teaching good social skills. Last but not least, it is important for parents to limit their childâs exposure to violence and make sure that children know that media violence is not real.

Conclusion
Students are bombarded with violent images on a regular basis. Now more than ever before, violent images are available on the internet, television, and video games. In order for teens to resist violence, schools, parents, and the local communities must stay proactive. In order to do this, schools must have strategies for identifying and intervening with targeted violence, as it is extremely difficult to predict violent episodes (Farmer et al., 2007). Schools and communities that develop a clear strategy for reducing and preventing violence will be better prepared to handle violent students and deter violent behavior. Finally, when behavioral expectations and consequences are clear and consistently enforced, students and staff will feel safe, and a school environment conducive to learning will be formed.

Multiple Choice Questions
1. What percentage of school shooters give some type of warning prior to the violent event?

A. 28%

B. 50%

C. 64%

D. 70%

2. How should administrators confront the issue of school violence?

A. hire more security personnel

B. support teachers' individual discipline plans

C. develop a whole-school approach that involves all school personnel

D. have metal detectors placed in all doorways

3. Bullies need to

A. receive firm consequences and individual counseling

B. be suspended from school temporarily

C. be placed in an alternative school setting

D. be assigned an adult mentor at school

4. Since 1994, school violence has

A. increased slightly

B. increased significantly

C. decreased slightly

D. decreased significantly

5. Targeted violence is

A. extremely difficult to predict

B. easy to predict, as most attackers fit a known profile

C. somewhat difficult to predict

D. increasing due to the desensitization of our youth