Stopping School Violence: The Latest Trends
The Latest Trends in School Violence Prevention
Vigilance in implementing both hard and soft programs has resulted in more comprehensive approaches and, as a result, improved school safety.
While hard programs may avert some violent acts, they don't address the underlying issue that soft programs focus on teaching students to understand and control their emotions, particularly anger.
Alicia Santamaria, of the California-based Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center (PCRC), an organization that provides in-school conflict resolution training, believes that teaching children to talk it out and to negotiate is important in preventing violence.
Post-Columbine, PCRC received many more calls for anti-bullying training. Santamaria also notes that there is now a heightened awareness about the negative effects of epithets and put-downs.
"We hear terms like 'enrichment programs,' 'character education,' 'school safety initiatives,' but perhaps calling them 'soft' in a society that values strength and brawn isn't doing them enough justice," Santamaria says. "These programs and skills are extremely powerful and have the capability of transforming the climate in our schools."
Stan Adamson, a mental health counselor and anger management specialist at The Door, a Manhattan youth development agency, feels that a multipronged approach to violence prevention is best. "There should be no tolerance for serious infractions, but there should be a range of interventions available for behavior problems. A young person needs to learn how to use a social-skills response to a difficult situation rather than an aggressive response. When he experiences some success using these skills approaches to dealing with conflict, the student usually becomes motivated to learn more."
A move away from old-fashioned detention and suspension
Many principals are looking at alternatives to having children sit in rooms by themselves as punishment for misbehaving. This form of detention removes the student from the learning process and doesnt address the root of the behavior that landed him in detention in the first place. A more productive approach is to have the troublemaker see a counselor.
The same thought applies to suspensions and expulsions. Sending the student home often puts him on the streets where society as a whole has to deal with him.
Bateman suggests that throwing a student out of school only contributes to what has been called the school-to-prison pipeline. "States with high numbers of suspensions and expulsions also have high numbers in the juvenile justice system. This is because students who are suspended from school and released to a parent who works often are not supervised."
No Child Left Behind and persistently dangerous schools
Under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law, a school may be labeled as "persistently dangerous" if it meets certain criteria established by each state. If a school is designated as persistently dangerous, the district must inform the school community. Parents may then ask for a transfer to another school.
Many feel that the criteria required to be listed as persistently dangerous is so restrictive that truly dangerous schools are not identified as such. In 2003 only 54 schools in the nation were labeled as persistently dangerous.
