The shots that killed 15 people April
20, 1999, at Columbine High School were heard throughout the nation -- but the changes prompted
by that tragedy were still unable to prevent another school killing. On February 29, 2000, a first-grader
shot and killed a classmate in a Michigan elementary school. What have we learned from the Columbine
tragedy? What do we still need to do? Are our children safe in school? Included:
Experts' suggestions to prevent school violence!
In Flint, Michigan, six-year-old Kayla Rolland had a playground scuffle with one of her classmates.
The next day, that classmate took a gun to school, hidden in his pants. While the other students
were lining up in the hallway for morning recess, Kayla's classmate shot her in the neck with
the one bullet that was in the gun. She died.
Last April 20 started like any other school day, but it ended like no other for people at Columbine
High. Sunshine warmed Littleton, Colorado, as students readied for the end of the school year
and senior graduation. Before noon, two male students wearing trench coats had set off homemade
bombs and walked through the school in a murderous rampage. One teacher and 14 students died.
The countless improvements in school security prompted by last year's Littleton tragedy were
still unable to prevent Kayla's murder in Flint. Although there is a downward trend in the number
of violent school incidents and students who take guns to school, school security continues to
be a concern as it has been for the past decade.
However, it is a mistake to believe that security hardware alone can prevent more school shootings,
said Dr. Scott Poland, the newly elected president of the National Association of School Psychologists
and director of psychological services for Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District in Texas.
Poland, who led three crisis teams following school shootings last year, including the one at
Columbine High School, warns school officials that additional changes are necessary to prevent
more violence.
Many schools missed the chance to make sure the people killed at Columbine High did not die
in vain, Poland told Education World. "We've missed a very teachable moment," he said. "Teachers
should have put their desks in a circle and talked about what students could do to make their
school safer."
Although many school districts spent millions of dollars on security hardware, many made the
decision to invest in hardware in isolation and without student input, Poland added. "They [students]
are the absolute keys to the process."
"We need to have regular classroom units on [violence] from elementary school all the way through,"
Poland said. "I believe that what is done in an individual classroom is the key. Teachers need
to model appropriate and respectful behavior toward everyone and stop harassment when they see
it and be in the hallways and all places in the school where it happens. You have to talk about
it every day and with every student."
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
After the Columbine tragedy, hundreds of bomb threats occurred at schools throughout the nation.
Many principals told their students they had caught the person who had made the threat and to get
back to work, Poland said. More missed opportunities for discussion, he added.
Students must learn to recognize the serious danger of guns, Poland emphasized. They must report
students with guns immediately to an adult. He discovered after talking to students about shootings
that occurred in their schools that, in almost every case of a suicide or school violence, someone
knew before it happened. "Students don't want to be snitches," he said, even when if they understand
the gun could be aimed at them.
"An encouraging sign is that students in many locations have come forward and foiled plot to
commit violence in their schools. Some of these stories have even been in the news, which is good,"
Poland said. "It personally embarrasses me that I live in a country where a six-year-old or seven-year-old
can bring a gun to school," he continued. "We must teach even little kids that guns are dangerous
and that if someone gets out a gun, run! Tell an adult!"
At a press conference the same day, President Bill Clinton questioned how the Michigan tragedy
could have happened. He recommended that Congress pass tougher gun-control laws and safety measures,
including childproof locks.
"I totally agree with Clinton," Poland said. "We have to have gun responsibility." He thinks
many gun owners' failure to take full responsibility for keeping guns out of the hands of children
is part of the problem. If children take guns to school, the owners of those guns must be prosecuted.
Guns must be locked up so children can't get them, Poland insisted.
LARGE SCHOOLS ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM
Another part of the solution is to personalize large high schools, Poland recommended. One component
of this complex problem is that most high schools are too large to create a personal environment.
School districts build large high schools or consolidate schools to create even larger schools.
Experts now say that small high schools, with about 600 students, are much better for students.
"I think we have stopped making decisions that are good for kids and I find that educators don't
think about the big picture," Poland commented. "I do not see it as a national priority as it should
be."
The solution in those large high schools is to personalize them by having wings or teams with
groups of students who have the same teachers, Poland suggested. Schools should make it their
goal to increase extra-curricular participation by 50 percent within the year, to improve the
personalization of the school.
ZERO TOLERANCE
Poland said schools must hold students accountable for their behavior, including threatening violence
or writing hate graffiti on school property. The national associations for principals of elementary
and secondary schools agree and have endorsed a zero-tolerance policy.
Zero-tolerance policies have been around since the 1980s, when states began to adopt zero-tolerance
laws pertaining to illegal drug use. In 1994, the
Safe- and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act was adopted. The federal government funds
state and local efforts to reduce school violence. Schools that accept such funding must expel
students who take weapons or drugs to school, explained Dr. Gerald N. Tirozzi, executive director
of the National Association of Secondary School Principals.
"Zero-tolerance takes the discretion out of the hands of the principal, and it is not discriminatory,"
Tirozzi said. "Zero-tolerance is a non-discriminatory act across the board."
"The secret to a good policy is to clearly articulate the expectations of student behavior and
what the violations are and what the penalties are," Tirozzi said. "I do think everyone is on
full alert [since Columbine]," he told Education World. At a recent national convention of the
NASSP, he had the sense that schools across the country have taken a number of steps to institute
tougher rules and more security measures.
This zero-tolerance policy lets teachers focus on teaching instead of law enforcement, said
Dr. Pam Riley, executive director of the Center for
the Prevention of School Violence. Violent altercations belong in the district attorneys'
offices, she added.
"Schools reflect what happens in communities -- [their] guns, drugs and violence," Riley told
Education World. "Administrators are reacting to that. If something goes wrong, they must treat
it like a serious issue." Educators must use also common sense and have fair procedures in place,
Riley advised.
"We do need to have limits. School officials must have the ability to have consequences for
these violations, but there must be due process and respect for individual rights of children,"
Riley said. The zero-tolerance policy is just one component of the many changes made to improve
school security since the Columbine High tragedy.
COLUMBINE: THE 'PEARL HARBOR' OF SCHOOL VIOLENCE
"Columbine is referred to as the "Pearl Harbor" of school violence," added Riley. Although there
had been other school shootings, the Columbine shootings got the nation's attention. The Center
for the Prevention of School Violence in North Carolina had more than 600 requests for media interviews,
Riley said. The center had as many requests for presentations following the tragedy as it usually
received for an entire year.
"After the Columbine tragedy there was a more concerted effort to show a physical security presence,"
explained Riley. Added security measures included metal detectors, surveillance cameras, fences
around school property, and more lighting in stairwells and areas outside the school. Those measures
were important because they helped make parents and students feel safer, she said. Many schools
also added either professional security guards or a police presence.
Requirements that students wear uniforms and use mesh (see-through) book bags were among common
changes. School uniforms were especially recommended in schools in which gangs operated, which
eliminated gang colors or emblems on clothing.
STATS CONFIRM A VIOLENCE EPIDEMIC
The presence of gangs and the availability of drugs and guns in school strongly correlate with the
incidence of school violence, according to a study conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics
and the National Center for Education Statistics. The report, Students'
Reports of School Crime: 1989 and 1995, was published in 1998. That study also found that, in
1995, 4.2 percent of all 12- to 19-year-old students experienced violent crime -- an increase from
1985, when 3.2 percent of students were victims. Fewer than 1,000 students said they had taken a
gun to school in 1995, but one in 20 students reported seeing another student with a gun in school.
Go to The Electronic Catalog of the National
Center for Educational Statistics Products to search for other reports.
The study surveyed a random sample of 10,449 students between the ages of 12 to 19 who attended
a primary or secondary school. It also found that students were subject to school violence whether
they attended urban, suburban, or rural schools.
School violence has not only affected changes in school security and added anti-violence curriculum
but also changed people's perception of schools. "Schools had traditionally been safe havens,"
said Timothy Neville, Kennedy Middle School principal in Enfield, Connecticut. "I think things
are different now because we had kids that were scared." "There has always been some fighting
in schools," he continued. "But there is a big difference between two kids duking it out and kids
getting blown-up and shot."
Experts Suggest Ways to Prevent School Violence
Drs. Scott Poland, Gerald Tirozzi, and Pam Riley throw out some ideas.
Hold community and student discussions. Before investing in physical security measures,
include students and members of the community in discussions. Use student input to guide security
hardware choices. Students will know best where those security cameras belong!
Lead by example. Be a role model. Stop bullying or harassment wherever it happens
-- in hallways or in classrooms. Let your respect for students and colleagues show!
Teach students to tell adults about weapons in school. Students don't want to be
snitches, but they must learn that guns can kill. Teach kids to tell an adult about guns in
school immediately.
Support zero-tolerance. Zero-tolerance policies can work when students and parents
understand schools' codes for student behavior and the consequences for violations.
Personalize large high schools. Wings or teams of certain groups of students should
have the same teachers. Set a goal to increase student participation in extra-curricular activities
by 50 percent within the year.
Implement anti-violence curriculums. Administrators can get more information about
anti-violence programs. Following are three of many such programs:
Second Step, from Committee for Children, 172 20th Avenue, Seattle, WA. 98122. Phone:
(800) 634-4449.
Violence Prevention Curriculum for Adolescence, from the Education Development Center,
55 Chapel St. Newton, MA 02160.
Empower Your Students to Prevent Violence, Sopris West, 4093 Specialty Place, Longmont,
CO 80504. Phone: (800) 547-6747.
The shots that killed 15 people April
20, 1999, at Columbine High School were heard throughout the nation -- but the changes prompted
by that tragedy were still unable to prevent another school killing. On February 29, 2000, a first-grader
shot and killed a classmate in a Michigan elementary school. What have we learned from the Columbine
tragedy? What do we still need to do? Are our children safe in school? Included:
Experts' suggestions to prevent school violence!