Reducing the Fear About Safety in Your School

With all the headlines about violence in what should be one of our safest institutions, the school, is it any wonder that many students fear for their lives? Among our greatest fears is that the violence will come from within--at the hands of one of our very own students.

Students should be comfortable about coming to school and opening their minds to new ideas and information. They should not have to wonder whether their school will be rocked by violence. They shouldn't be afraid to use a washroom, be the last one out of a locker room, or board a school bus. Unfortunately, many are.

What can you do so that students are not paralyzed by fear? Two fronts need to be addressed. First, schools need to have a written plan, should the unexpected happen. Second, and perhaps most important, educators should work to prevent such an occurrence in the first place.

The cornerstone of a safe school is a comprehensive school safety program or plan that has been created with the assistance of local police and fire officials. This written plan will allow you to know in advance what to do if there is a school intruder, a weapon in school, a shooting in school, a bomb threat, a hostage crisis, etc. The state of Indiana has a good one available at their website.

It is important that you not only involve staff in building the plan but that the details be widely communicated once the plan is finalized--which should include approval by the Board of Education. Remember, a good safety plan spells out clearly the roles played by staff when confronted with a variety of threatening situation.

If the staff is comfortable with the safety plan, this will reassure students that their school is safe and under control. Students should be aware that a safety plan exists and given opportunities to practice the components that apply to them. In addition to practicing the plan, there should be regular safety audits to make certain that the plan is accomplishing its objectives. The state of Virginia has established both a safety plan and an audit protocol available at their website.

Since many acts of school violence are perpetrated by students themselves, more needs to be done to defuse that potential and this then becomes the preventative component to your school safety program. Many studies suggest that we as educators need to do more to prevent violence from occurring in the first place. An interesting finding by the Resnick study, where some 12,000 students in grades 7-12 were interviewed, was that as students felt more family connectedness and school connectedness they were less likely to engage in risky behaviors--including acts of violence.

Although you may not be able to do much about family connectedness you can help students feel more connected to their school. When educators meet students' basic needs for belonging and recognition those students tend to become more committed to the school's values and goals.

You might want to consider the following to help begin building connectedness for students at school:

1. Guide students to be in at least one school activity.
2. Institute a "buddies" or "pals" program where older students would be paired with younger ones.
3. Have teachers always look for positive traits and to recognize them in each student.
4. Hold class meetings to set norms, talk about group interactions, plan activities, and identify and solve problems.
5. Ask student groups such as student council for ideas on ways to promote helpfulness, inclusiveness and responsibility throughout the school.
6. Get ideas from parent groups for ways they can help promote student connectedness to the school.
7. At the high school level don't forget to recognize students who have done well in vocational and other non-traditional programs.
8. Homerooms can have a connectedness theme for the year. Get everyone involved.
9. Don't forget to ask your counselors and staff for creative ideas. Make them part of the solution.

These ideas will get you started on your way to building a sense of community in your school and help avoid the thoughtless and often times cruel acts some students resort to when they feel left out, bitter or resentful. Advantage Press makes a discipline curriculum that helps students to work through their wrongdoing without becoming resentful. Check with us in the fall about our new Bully Discipline Packets. Less bullying behavior can mean less alienation which research shows can be a cause of school violence. You also might be interested in what others are doing in this area. Last month our newsletter focused on Joe Bailey, a principal in the Chicago area, who instituted some bully prevention techniques in his school.

Whether your goal is to prevent discipline problems or to deal with them more effectively after they have occurred, Discipline Learning Packets from the Advantage Press might be a worthwhile addition to your school's discipline curriculum.