Safe
Schools: Four Web Sites Help Administrators Address a Complex Issue
What can be done to prevent violence and make schools safe? Which
ideas are right for your school or district? Which are most effective?
This week, Education World recognizes America's Safe Schools Week (October
17-23) with a comprehensive examination of four valuable Web sites that
address the complex job of creating safe schools.
School safety: A perusal of library books on the topic turned up friendly
prose about the importance of not splashing water on the floor in the
bathroom and waiting for the crossing guard's signal to venture across
the street. If only the issue were so simple and could be dealt with so
easily.
Today, the issue of school safety is charged with emotion. Violence
and the fear of its occurrence have affected virtually every school in
the United States. Though responses to the perceived escalation of violence
in schools have varied, schools have invariably responded. Houston's school
district has its own police force. Many school districts have installed
monitored security systems that require visitors to be buzzed in. Others
are instituting unannounced random locker searches and anonymous phone
tip lines. At Colorado's Jefferson County high schools, which includes
Columbine High School, students, faculty and staff are required to wear
photo identification badges at all times.
What can be done to prevent violence and make schools safe? Which ideas
are right for your school or district? Which are most effective? An extensive
search of the Web yielded four sites that, though they may not have all
the answers, best address the complex job of creating safe schools:
The Safety Zone
If you're seeking models of school safety, the Safety Zone is the place
to search. The Web site of the National Resource Center for Safe Schools,
the Safety Zone includes a searchable database of "promising and effective
practices." A search by keyword, title of model, or program type provides
program summaries, contact information, and information about whether
the program has demonstrated effectiveness. Another highlight of the site
is its daily updates of news stories related to school safety. The Safety
Zone also includes recommended readings (available in PDF files), statistics,
a calendar of conferences around the nation, and links to organizations
that provide program funding.
Keeping
Schools Safe
Perhaps the most useful offering of this Department of Education Web site
is its Publications section, where educators can either download PDF files
or access html versions of six publications related to school safety:
Protecting Students from Harassment and Hate Crime; Early Warning,
Timely Response; Preventing Youth Hate Crime; Creating Safe and Drug-Free
Schools; Conflict Resolution Education; and School Uniform Manual.
Each publication includes step-by-step guidance. For example, Protecting
Students from Harassment and Hate Crime outlines laws governing hate
crimes, how to determine whether a criminal act may be motivated by discrimination,
and what steps to take if a hate crime occurs. In addition to those publications,
the site keeps the public informed on the government's latest efforts
to keep schools safe and provides statistics on school safety. Information
on grants for safe-schools programs, including downloadable application
packages, can be found here as well.
NEA Safe
Schools
In Healing the Hurt: School Communities Rebuild, the National Education
Association looks at schools that have faced violence and tragedy in the
past year, how they are coping, and what they have done to restore a feeling
of security in their schools. The site also offers a PDF file of the NEA's
Safe Schools Manual, which includes plans for school emergencies, forms
for reporting school crimes, and educational strategies for preventing
violence, among other things. The NEA also promotes adoption of the No-Taunting
Pledge, also known as "I Will," which promotes tolerance and was written
in memory of the students killed at Columbine.
National School
Safety Center
Among the most popular resources on this site is a checklist for characteristics
of violent youth. The list of 20 red-flag characteristics -- behaviors
that could indicate a student's potential for harming himself or herself
or others -- is derived from tracking school-associated violent deaths
in the United States since July 1992. Also found here is a how-to for
America's Safe Schools Week (Oct. 17-23) that includes an extensive list
of strategies for creating safe schools. The site also features information
about the center's services, training programs and products, such as the
video "School Crisis: Under Control." While most of its products come
with a price tag, the site does offer some freebies, such as the downloadable
"Working Together to Create Safe Schools."
Safe
Schools: Four Web Sites Help Administrators Address a Complex Issue