School Violence in the News: What Parents Need to Know
Jonesboro. Columbine. Virginia Tech. It's every parent's nightmare, but unfortunately, fatal violence in schools is very real. And while attacks on students wreak havoc on a parent's sense of well-being, it can be even more frightening for students to realize that the classrooms they visit every day are far from safe havens.
Part of the anxiety stems from the fact that the perpetrators of school violence, and particularly of shootings in schools, don't necessarily fit any specific stereotype. They can be “loners,” but they can also have close friends. They can come from any economic, academic, or ethnic background. The vast majority of student perpetrators are male, and most of these experienced bullying, social isolation, or depression – but these characteristics are also typical of many adolescents. The unpredictable nature of school violence alone is enough to frighten children and teens.
But while anxiety over school violence is understandable, media reportage of such incidents can exacerbate the problem, especially in younger children. Video footage, frightening details, and the sense of near panic with which these stories are widely reported can be fuel to the flames of childhood fears. So how can parents help their children cope with the frightening news of school violence? Here are some expert articles to help:
School Violence and the News by The Nemours Foundation
It's natural for kids and teens — no matter where they go to school — to worry about whether this type of incident may someday affect them. How can you help them deal with these fears?
How to Prevent School Shootings? by Education.com
If it could happen at that typical suburban school, parents wondered, could it happen at my child’s school? Why do school shootings happen, and what can we do to prevent them?
Helping Children Feel Safe in Unsafe Times by the NYU Child Study Center
Upsetting or violent community or national events put everyone on edge. The extensive news coverage can add to the heightened fear. Children are particularly at risk for feeling scared. The following are suggestions for helping children at such times.
Media Exposure and Traumatic Events: How Much is Too Much? by the NYU Child Study Center
It is not always possible to judge if or when children are scared or worried about news they hear. Here is an age-based guide to recognizing and reacting to fear in your child.
Take Action
- this article with friends and family.
- Have a question about School Safety and Violence? Ask it here.
- Publish your work on education.com.
Comments from readers
Educational institutions clearly want safe and secure schools. Administrators are perennially queried by parents about the safety of their schools. The commonplace answers, intended to reassure anxious parents, focus on the school resource officers and emergency procedures. While useful, these less than adequate efforts do not begin to provide a definitive answer to preventing school violence, nor do they make a school safe and secure.
Traditionally school districts have relied upon the mental health community or local police to keep schools safe, yet one of the key shortcomings has been the lack of a system that involves teachers, administrators, parents and students in the identification and communication process. Recently, colleges, universities and community colleges are forming Behavioral Intervention Teams with representatives from all these constituencies. Higher Education has changed their safety/security policies, procedures, or surveillance systems, yet K-12 have yet to incorporate Behavioral Intervention Teams. K-12 schools continue spending excessive amounts of money to put in place many of the physical security options. Sadly, they are reactionary only and do little to prevent aggression because they are designed exclusively to react to existing conflict, threat and violence. These schools reflect a national blindspot, which prefers hardening targets through enhanced security versus preventing violence with efforts directed at aggressors. Security gets all the focus and money, but this only makes us feel safe, rather than to actually make us safer.
Some law enforcement agencies use profiling as a means to identify an aggressor. According to the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education’s report on Targeted Violence in Schools, there is a significant difference between “profiling” and identifying and measuring emerging aggression; “The use of profiles is not effective either for identifying students who may pose a risk for targeted violence at school or – once a student has been identified – for assessing the risk that a particular student may pose for school-based targeted violence.” It continues; “An inquiry should focus instead on a student’s behaviors and communications to determine if the student appears to be planning or preparing for an attack.” We can and must assess objective, culturally neutral, identifiable criteria of emerging aggression.
For a comprehensive look at the problem and its solution, http://www.aggressionmanagement.com/White_Paper_K-12/