Schools Are Developing Prevention Strategies For Profiling, Screening, And Preventing Acts Of Violence

Violence in society is increasing dramatically and not only is it out in the streets, but it’s in the school systems as well. However, school violence has been becoming more and more of a problem all over the nation in the past several years. School violence needs to stop because no one should be afraid to go to school without feeling like it’ll be their last day.

Whereas the causes of school violence are mostly theoretical, the effects of mass school shootings are stark and terrible. In the past twenty years there have been many incidents, both small and large scale, of shooting in schools. Two of the most well known of these are the Columbine shooting in 1999 and the Sandy-Hook shooting in 2012. Twenty-six people were killed in the Sandy-Hook shooting and thirteen in the Columbine shooting (“School Safety Timeline.”). One boy described his experience at the Sandy-Hook shooting as, “I saw some of the bullets going past the hall that I was right next to, and then a teacher pulled me into her classroom” ("What Happened in Newtown”). It is hard to imagine the terror and life-long effects that such an incident would cause among children. These stories cause a fear in many students that makes it difficult to create an environment for learning. It is obvious that something must be done to protect children of all ages in public school.

The effort of this paper is designed to provide an audience with the basic framework in preventing, reacting to, and recovering from a school shooting. By analyzing the crisis of a school shooting, this paper will lay out the practical steps in preparing schools, communities, and local agencies for a tragedy that has already shook many communities across the nation. This paper will also follow the steps necessary to implement and evaluate a school shooting preparedness plan. In concluding this paper, school staff, local agencies, and families will be able to take the practical steps towards providing a safe and comfortable learning environment for students.

The intention of this paper is to look at and present some issues and strategies that members of a school community think about when trying to create safer schools. Particularly when addressing an active shooter in a school setting. A major issue to consider when trying to keep all schools safe, is the simple fact that no two schools are the same. Understanding this can lead us to the conclusion that it is impossible to have one global plan or program that can be 100% effective in all schools. “Violence prevention programs work best when they incorporate multiple strategies and address the full range of possible acts of violence in schools. For any set of policies to work, it must be established and

A sudden increase of youth violence in public schools in early 1990 has caused many to raise concerns about violent behaviors in schools. In the past, the most common form of violence that took place in schools was bullying, physical fights, or

Since the establishment of public education in the United States, schools have provided a sense of security and belonging to their students. Although sitting through lectures and doing homework may not be the most exciting thing in the world, students will always have a lunch to eat, a roof over their head, and a supportive teacher or counselor that they can talk to. Despite the “safe” environment and presence of authoritative figures on school campuses, trouble always finds a way to break out. Simple misbehaving and occasional fights are a common occurrence on most school campuses, however a new breed of troublesome and violent students has hatched. The

Schools are no longer a safe havens for furthering knowledge; instead violence is occurring at alarming rates. Common occurrences in schools include: physical altercations, severe property damage, and bullying behaviors. According to “ThefutureofChidren.org,” youth violence in schools costs the public 158 billion dollars each year. In this decade, that rate of children inflicting violence on other children and teachers is staggering. Today’s teachers are being trained on gun safety, school lobbies are being installed with bullet proof glass, and counselors hold

They stated that looking back at the case similarities and "anecdotal reports" have shown patterns that have given clues to getting to know more on the individual and school factors for the crisis. Although the article states that the low prevalence of severe school violence and shootings makes it difficult to assess through surveys and observational methods, it goes on to present typical risk factors in troubled students, patterns found in the shooting at Columbine High School, and other findings. Through studying the patterns and different factors that come into play with school shootings, they have begun to make “sense of the senseless” and as a result they have made six prevention strategies. The prevention strategies are as listed: "(a) strengthening school attachment, (b) reducing social aggression, (c) breaking down codes of silence, (d) establishing screening and intervention protocols for troubled youth and rejected students, (e) bolstering human and physical security, and (6) increasing communication within educational facilities and between educational facilities and local

These four events have one something in common besides all taking place at a school, they are considered crises because they are “sudden, uncontrollable, and extremely negative events that have the potential to impact an entire school community” (Nickerson, Brock, & Reeves, 2006). It is important to note that crisis events in the school setting, or extreme school violence, do not happen discretely but that they are rather a process that evolves over time and it’s important that there’s a team of individuals trained and ready to handle any and all situations

Though a fair amount of time and money towards searches there is still an alarming amount of theft and assault on school property. As technology has advanced over the years schools have gotten electronic gadgets and techniques to keep students out of trouble. As the amount of technology and precautions taken to avoid students getting in trouble the amount of students breaking rule increases with it. Though schools take many steps to protect students, pupils still report that drugs are made accessible to them on school property, schools combine document that nearly 2 million crimes were reported to them, and many students still feel unsafe (violence in U.S. public schools). These reports show that millions of dollars provided by taxes go towards school security and it has done less than intended.

These principals were asked to list what they considered serious or moderate problems in their schools. The most frequently cited problems at all levels were the less violent behaviors such as tardiness (40%), absenteeism (25%), and physical conflicts between students (21%). The NCES report found that violent crimes occurred at an annual rate of only 53 per 100,000 students. The critical incidents that are typically the focus of school safety debates were reported to be at least "a moderate problem”: drug use (9%), gangs (5%), possession of weapons (2%), and physical abuse of teachers (2%). The continued use of this of this policy is mainly due to the perception of violence in schools continually being exacerbated by extended media coverage when isolated events of school violence occur according to Martinez

School shootings have generated great public concern and fostered a widespread impression that schools are unsafe for many students; this article counters those misapprehensions by examining empirical evidence of school and community violence trends and reviewing evidence on best practices for preventing school shootings. Many of the school safety and security measures deployed in response to school shootings have little research support, and strategies such as zero-tolerance discipline and student profiling have been widely criticized as unsound practices. Threat assessment is identified as a promising strategy for violence prevention that merits further study. The article concludes with an overview of the need for schools to develop crisis response plans to prepare for and mitigate such rare events.

Preventing school shootings presents a unique and difficult challenge for law enforcement, parents, and school administrators. Although the National School Safety Center states there is a decline in shootings on school grounds, the devastation and aftermath warrant a need for continued vigilance. Relatively low amount of school shootings makes establishing trends difficult. In addition, how are school administrators, teachers and parents supposed to differentiate between serious issues and ordinary adolescent rebellion?

This type of crisis we have seen, heard and known all too well. In today’s society, a crisis response planning and preparedness is critical for every school to have in the event of another crisis such as this. Coming up with different types of creative and effective crisis response plans to help prevent gun violence is schools, is critical to the response process and times which can save many lives in school settings. When creating an effective crisis response plan there are critical elements that should be a part of the plan. “A crisis plan must cover safety and security; obtaining, verifying, and providing accurate information to the various constituencies of the school and also deal with the emotional needs of those constituencies.” (James and Gilliland, 2014, p.

The School-Based Crisis Intervention is an organizational model that plays an important role in crisis intervention in schools. A school crisis is capable of exposing students and staff to trauma and undermines the safety of the entire school (Psychology in The Schools, 2007). In the case of a crisis, schools can plan and implement an intervention in response to a crisis event and reactions; this model also focuses on prevention strategies as well. This intervention model is not only there for the student body, but for the entire school, including faculty members and parents of students. Every school needs a plan for crisis intervention, and it is crucial to anticipate what may