01.15.07
School safety questions
Can your school answer these school safety questions?
- How many students in our school have engaged in violent incidents or threats of violence? How many of these students have engaged in such misconduct on repeat occasions? What security measures does our school use to protect students from future threats or violence by these students?
- What security measures does our school use to monitor the presence of weapons?
- What procedure does our school follow when a violent incident occurs in school or on school property? When a threat of violence occurs?
- When a student in our school violates the code of conduct, how promptly does our school take disciplinary action? What procedure is followed in determining and implementing disciplinary action?
- Who serves on our school’s safety and security committee? How does our school communicate to parents the committee’s meeting schedule, agenda and minutes?
- How does our school communicate to parents our school’s statistics on safety and enforcement of discipline, including occurrences of misconduct that qualified for disciplinary action but which did not result in disciplinary action?
01.14.07
No child’s safety left behind
The reauthorization of No Child Left Behind is a hot topic these days. Did you know that there’s a school safety requirement in NCLB? From the U.S. Department of Education web site:
Violence prevention programs must meet specified principles of effectiveness and be grounded in scientifically based research that provides evidence that programs will reduce violence and illegal drug use. Under No Child Left Behind, states must report school safety statistics to the public on a school-by-school basis, and districts must use federal school-safety funding to establish a plan for keeping schools safe and drug free. These plans must include:
- appropriate and effective discipline policies;
- security procedures;
- prevention activities;
- student codes of conduct; and
- a crisis management plan for responding to violent or traumatic incidents on school grounds.
01.13.07
School safety: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Teachers and students say Union High School [in Grand Rapids, Michigan] is increasingly troubled by a small group of disruptive and sometimes violent teens, who they say act out without fear of consequences.
The Grand Rapids Press reports (via EdNews) on school violence, including a principal hospitalized for injuries while breaking up a fight between a female high-school student and a middle-school student. The teachers’ union has called for support from the administration: “Teachers don’t think administrators are following discipline procedures in the student handbook and, when students are allowed to verbally abuse staff members without consequences, it sends a bad message to others.” Grand Rapids has a population of approximately 200,000, with approximately 23,000 in the public schools, and 1,500 at the subject high school.
01.12.07
Student discipline code: Review, Revisit, Revamp
School Board member Ruth Robarts posts on School Information System: “The board must consider whether the current discipline system needs change–both to improve safety for students and staff and to ensure that interventions are prompt, consistent, unbiased and effective.”
The school board calendar indicates that there will be a special board meeting/workshop on the code of conduct on Tuesday, January 16, 2007, at 7:00 p.m., in Room 103 of the Doyle Administration Building, 545 West Dayton Street (directions). Check to see whether an agenda for this special meeting is included on the school board meeting agenda page once the listings for the week of January 15 are posted.
01.11.07
The Wake-up Call
…a growing number of teachers, parents and students are sounding alarms that school climate is deteriorating in a number of schools, where disrespect for adults, aggressive language, threats, intimidation and confrontations have become angrier, more explosive and more violent than in the past.
The Capital Times, “Facing School Violence,” January 11, 2007.
