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The week of June19 - 23, 2000 we unfortunately remember the terrible tragedy of
last April at Columbine High School. What makes this tragedy
extremely scary to educators and parents alike is that Columbine
seems like everybody's neighborhood school. There was not any
real gang activities. There was not any glaring indication that
it would be the place of a massacre. Yet it was. Let's remember
that there were signs though, but hard to see and without training
almost invisible. What concerns
the rest of us is that it could conceivably happen in our
school, too. How widespread is school violence (See
Map)? Are we safe in
our schools? What can we do to ensure safety for
everyone and Lock Out
Violence Everyday? These
are the questions this article addresses. As always, however, I
wish to have your input. Please drop me your opinion by email
me with your comments and concerns.
How Prevalent is School Violence?
The following information comes from the U.S.
Department of Education's National Center for Education
Statistics(NCES). A national study was conduced with Principals in 1,234 regular public elementary,
middle, and high schools in all 50 states and the District of
Columbia for the 1996-7 school year. What were their findings?
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57% of public elementary and secondary school principals
stated that one or more incidents of crime or violence were
reported to the police
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10% of all public schools had one or more serious violent
crimes (murder, rape, sexual battery, suicide, physical
attack or fight with a weapon, or robbery)
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The most reported crime was physical attacks or fights
without a weapon
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Most of the serious violent crimes occurred in the middle
and high schools
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A larger percentage of violent crimes occurred in city
schools and in large schools (over 1000 students).
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Remember when reading these statistics that 43% of public schools
reported no crimes and 90% had no serious violent crimes. Taking that
into consideration, however, we have to admit that violence and crime
does exist, and is not necessarily rare, in the school setting.
When teachers, students, and law enforcement officials were asked
about their feelings about school violence in the Metropolitan
Life Survey of the American Teacher: 1999, they revealed that
their overall perceptions were that violence was decreasing. However,
when asked about their personal experiences, one-quarter of the
students reported having been a victim of a violent crime in or around
the school. More scary yet, one-in-eight students had at some time
carried a weapon to school (Gun
Violence Prevention). Both of these statistics were an increase
from the previous survey conducted in 1993. We must fight against this
complacency without overreacting. We must fight to make our schools
safe. But what can we do?
Combating School Violence
Whose problem is school violence? The answer is all of ours. Just
as it is a problem we all must deal with, it is also a problem we all
must work to solve. The community, the administrators, the teachers,
the parents, and the students must come together and make schools safe. Otherwise, prevention and punishment will not be effective.
What are schools doing right now (what
other schools are doing)? According to the above-mentioned
NCES survey, 84% of public schools have a 'low security' system in
place. This means that they have no guards or metal detectors, but
they do control access to school buildings. 11% have 'moderate
security' which means either employing a full-time guard with no metal
detectors or controlled access to the buildings or a part-time guard
with controlled access to the buildings.
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