tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/school-violence-10124/articlesSchool violence – The Conversation2023-09-21T12:43:05Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2046662023-09-21T12:43:05Z2023-09-21T12:43:05ZEducators say student misconduct has increased − but progressive reforms or harsher punishments alone won’t fix the problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547844/original/file-20230912-17-y3ixy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Only 13% of principals believe suspensions reduce misbehavior, according to a national survey.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/schoolboy-sitting-on-chair-in-corridor-side-view-royalty-free-image/200411974-001">Ableimages/DigitalVision Collection/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2022-23 school year was a <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/schoolsurvey/spp/">particularly violent year for educators</a>.</p>
<p>In Florida, a high school student <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/02/28/florida-high-school-nintendo-switch-attack/11363828002/">beat a paraprofessional unconscious</a>. A 15-year-old in Georgia <a href="https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/teen-girl-sentenced-one-year-behind-bars-brutal-attack-teacher">left her teacher with difficulty walking</a>. And a group of students in Texas <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/high-schoolers-allegedly-gang-assistant-principal-pummel-her-hard-rushed-hospital">sent their assistant principal to the hospital</a> after an assault.</p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://www.wptv.com/news/state/broward/14-year-old-student-accused-of-cutting-teacher-with-scissors-in-violent-attack-at-bright-horizons-center">headlines</a> suggest the 2023-24 school year may not be much different.</p>
<p>Such violence at school <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416653921">disrupts teaching and learning</a> and has elicited <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2023/3/28/23658974/school-discipline-violence-safety-state-law-suspensions-restorative-justice">calls to reform school discipline policies</a>. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://education.ufl.edu/faculty/curran-f-chris/">policy researcher</a> who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MTcxlxMAAAAJ&hl=en">studies school safety and discipline</a>, I have seen two camps form <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-biden-administrations-updated-school-discipline-guidelines-fail-to-meet-the-moment/">with polarized and politicized views on school discipline</a>. On the one side are those who seek more restorative responses to misconduct that emphasize building relationships with students and discipline policies that keep kids in school. On the other are calls for greater use of exclusionary and punitive practices like suspension. </p>
<p>In my view, making schools safe requires school leaders not to get caught up in this either/or debate. Instead, I believe it requires recognizing a shared goal of safe schools and the need for a comprehensive approach to achieving it.</p>
<h2>Behavior and the pandemic</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2022/7/6/23197094/student-fights-classroom-disruptions-suspensions-discipline-pandemic">Recent reports</a> suggest these high-profile incidents of violence in schools are part of a <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/07_06_2022.asp">general increase in student misconduct</a> over the past couple of years. This contrasts with a decline over the prior decades. </p>
<p>For example, the National Center for Education Statistics found that <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/07_06_2022.asp">84% of public school leaders felt</a> the pandemic negatively affected student behavior. Another survey found <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/threats-of-student-violence-and-misbehavior-are-rising-many-school-leaders-report/2022/01">two out of three teachers and leaders perceived more student misbehavior</a> in 2021 than in 2019. </p>
<p>Studies have shown that <a href="https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/when-students-feel-unsafe-absenteeism-grows">students who feel unsafe going to school have worse attendance rates</a> than those attending schools with less violence and misbehavior. They also score <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573514540415">lower on standardized tests</a>, particularly when <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416653921">classroom instruction is disrupted</a>. </p>
<p>What’s more, teachers who experience threats or physical violence from students <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1197327">are more likely to leave their positions</a>, according to a study I co-authored in 2017. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Young person at rally holds sign that says 'End the school to prison and deportatation pipeline'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Students in New York City attend a rally to end school discipline practices that they say disproportionately affect students of color.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/students-gather-for-a-rally-calling-on-the-passage-of-the-news-photo/1372383627">Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Restorative justice experiences backlash</h2>
<p>Over the past couple of decades, <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/what-do-we-know-about-school-discipline-reform-suspensions-expulsions/">states and school districts nationwide</a> have adopted school discipline reforms that prioritize relationships between peers and with teachers, positive incentives for good behavior and prevention of misconduct.</p>
<p>These policies, often implemented as part of <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/article/what-heck-restorative-justice-heather-wolpert-gawron/">restorative justice initiatives</a>, focus on building community and a positive school climate instead of removing kids from school.</p>
<p>But as school violence persists, these restorative justice reforms are being called into question.</p>
<p>In Nevada, teachers union representatives from the Clark County Education Association <a href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/finger-pointing-over-school-violence-targets-restorative-justice-law">sought to revise laws</a> to immediately remove students for violence against school staff. The state legislature there <a href="https://lasvegassun.com/news/2023/jun/25/legislative-changes-in-nevada-education-include-ne/">passed legislation</a> scaling back restorative justice and making it easier to suspend students. In San Diego, the <a href="https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/san-diego-unified-looking-into-districts-discipline-policy/509-ec0b95c6-1290-4c3b-937d-938d1a42d4eb">superintendent promised</a> to revisit restorative discipline policies after parent complaints about student safety. Policy advocates have claimed discipline reform has <a href="https://www.manhattan-institute.org/school-safety-commisson-report-discipline-policy">contributed to school shootings</a>.</p>
<p>While restorative practices and other positive interventions <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/96">can improve student outcomes</a>, prior research has found many of these less punitive disciplinary reforms to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435052">poorly implemented</a> or <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2840.html">less effective than hoped</a>. </p>
<p>In some cases, this has meant <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2019/09/12/opinion-your-schools-leaders-putting-your-children-greater-risk/2267284001/">students have been allowed to stay in school</a> despite posing a threat to the safety of others. </p>
<h2>Suspensions and expulsions aren’t the solution</h2>
<p>The limitations of restorative practices have resulted in calls for a return to greater use of suspensions and other punitive discipline. In one of the most high-profile displays, a Florida sheriff <a href="https://www.wfla.com/news/education/brevard-county-school-discipline-reportedly-out-of-control-officials-say-staff-under-attack/">announced in front of a jail</a> plans for a return to more punitive discipline, suggesting a need for more use of detentions and suspensions. He lamented that students were no longer afraid of suspensions or having “the cheeks of their a– torn off for not doing right in class.” </p>
<p>In some cases, removing students who are disruptive to the classroom has <a href="https://direct.mit.edu/edfp/article/16/3/443/97124/Peer-Disruption-and-Learning-Links-between">had positive effects on other students’ achievement</a>. But exclusionary school discipline like suspension and expulsion can have their own <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654318791582">unintended consequences</a> on students. For example, suspensions are <a href="https://edsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Noltemeyer_Ward_2015_Meta-Analysis.pdf">related to lower academic test scores for those suspended</a> as well as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01459-3">increased delinquency</a>, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2016.1168475">criminal activity and arrest</a>. </p>
<p>Additionally, schools suspend a disproportionately high number of kids <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51257-4_2">who aren’t white – particularly Black students</a>. In addition, males and students with disabilities are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51257-4_2">more likely to be suspended</a>.</p>
<p>Ultimately, there is little evidence that suspensions and expulsions improve behavior. In fact, a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2023/02/23/survey-what-purpose-do-suspensions-serve-principals-dont-seem-quite-sure/">recent national survey</a> found that only 13% of principals agreed that suspensions reduce future misbehavior.</p>
<h2>A path forward</h2>
<p>Proponents of progressive discipline reform and those advocating for “get-tough,” exclusionary policies share a desire for safe schools. The sheriff speaking in front of the jail as well as his critics both want to prevent kids from ending up incarcerated. </p>
<p>How do policymakers and educators see past these divides to achieve safer schools?</p>
<p>First, it may help to acknowledge that <a href="https://www.law.umaryland.edu/media/SOL/pdfs/Programs/ADR/Handout2-9-25-17.pdf">effective school discipline policies</a> can include both restorative and exclusionary practices. It is true that there is a need to reduce the disproportionate use of suspension for minor offenses. But it is also true that students who pose an immediate danger to others may need to be temporarily removed to settings where they can receive additional support.</p>
<p>Next, schools can focus on strengthening their school climate through excellent instruction and <a href="https://hechingerreport.org/preventing-suspensions-tackle-discipline-problems-with-empathy-first/">positive relationships between students and teachers</a>. Welcoming schools where students are engaged in learning <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X17690499">may preempt many behavioral situations</a>.</p>
<p>Finally, policymakers can recognize that school safety is affected by the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558499143003">experiences of students outside of school</a>. Addressing the trauma, violence and social disruptions experienced in homes and neighborhoods through broader public policy holds potential to improve safety inside schools. </p>
<p>All of this takes resources and support for schools, educators and students. I believe these are resources well spent, though, to achieve the shared goal of school safety.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>F. Chris Curran receives funding from the National Institute of Justice and Bureau of Justice Assistance to conduct research on school safety.</span></em></p>Debates about school discipline have become polarized between proponents of restorative justice and those who believe a get-tough approach is required.F. Chris Curran, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077912023-06-22T22:14:58Z2023-06-22T22:14:58ZPreventing and addressing violence in schools: 4 priorities as educators plan for next year<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533292/original/file-20230621-27-llwb2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C266%2C7396%2C4025&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ontario must prioritize funding for accessing essential social services to address the root causes of students' behavioural issues. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Farewell to another school year. In Ontario, after a return to full activities with academics, clubs and teams after pandemic shutdowns, it seems that schools were constantly in the news for negative reasons. </p>
<p>The public heard about a <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/york-catholic-district-board-students-deserve-to-be-safe-after-alleged-violence-erupts-at-lgbtq2s-walkout-1.6440138">lack of support for LGBTQ2S+ identities</a>, <a href="https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/teacher-argues-school-board-violated-her-freedom-of-speech-when-her-presentation-on-library-books-was-cut-off-1.6428140">chaotic and divisive school trustee meetings</a> and a <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-ontario-teachers-violence-schools/">rise in violence</a> in schools.</p>
<p>A major contributing factor to this rise in violence in schools is <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2023/04/20/there-will-be-an-impact-ford-government-shortchanging-school-boards-unions-say.html">the chronic underfunding of public education and the social service sector</a>. We need more infrastructure in communities that are economically neglected, often racialized communities. </p>
<p>In this challenging context, schools need to think hard about how they allocate resources and staff equitably, particularly now, at a time when they are approving their budgets for September. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People seen lining up outside an apartment building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Schools have faced challenges as students returned to full activities following pandemic shutdowns. Here, residents of Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighbourhood line up at a pop-up COVID-19 vaccine clinic in April 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Violence in schools</h2>
<p>In the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9705668/tdsb-students-involved-violence-2022-2023/">323 students were involved in violence between September 2022 and April 2023, meaning the year has been on pace to set a new record by the end of the school year</a>. </p>
<p>An alarming three-quarters (77 per cent) of members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), <a href="https://www.etfo.ca/news-publications/media-releases/etfo-member-survey-shows-violence-pervasive-in-schools">said they have “personally experienced violence or witnessed violence against another staff member</a>” in a recent survey conducted by Strategic Communications. Survey results are based on a weighted sample of 24,872 ETFO members’ responses. </p>
<p>Black and other minoritized youth and educators <a href="https://educationactiontoronto.com/articles/systemic-violence-institutional-apathy-and-the-death-of-222-school-aged-students/">are becoming collateral damage by being pushed out of schools due to wilful neglect of institutions in not supporting their needs</a>. For students, the effects can be deadly: there have been 222 homicides of school-aged children (students up to age 21 years old) since 2007 in Toronto, with the victims and perpetrators predominantly Black. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s3mD7Dyf6bY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘The School to Prison Pipeline in Ontario’ video from Black Legal Action Centre.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The school-to-prison pipeline</h2>
<p>The school-to-prison pipeline continues to cast a dark shadow over the education system in Ontario. This “pipeline” refers to the systematic processes that push students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, <a href="https://www.kroegerpolicyreview.com/post/the-school-to-prison-pipeline-an-analysis-on-systemic-racism-with-ontario-school-boards">out of the educational system and into the criminal justice system</a>.</p>
<p>This trend disproportionately affects marginalized communities, particularly Black and Indigenous students, <a href="https://rsc-src.ca/en/covid-19/impact-covid-19-in-racialized-communities/racial-inequity-covid-19-and-education-black-and">perpetuating a cycle of poverty, systemic discrimination and mass incarceration</a>.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-can-we-slow-down-youth-gun-violence-podcast-194145">Jordan Manners died 16 years ago, it was the first time a high school student had been fatally shot inside a Toronto school</a>.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Jordan Manners’s mother, Lorraine Small, is comforted by her sister as she speaks at a news conference in Toronto in January 2008.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Since that time, despite numerous reports commissioned and recommendations made by various stakeholders, <a href="https://www.falconerschoolsafetyreport.com/finalReport.html">little has been done to address the root causes of violence in schools and racialized communities</a>. There is no national strategy to prevent violence and homicide largely impacting Black and racialized communities. </p>
<p><a href="https://policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Manitoba%20Office/2015/09/Tough%20on%20Crime%20WEB.pdf">More policing and the tough-on-crime rhetoric is not the solution</a>, particularly with a mayoral election happening soon in the City of Toronto. </p>
<h2>Tragic impact on marginalized communities</h2>
<p>The school-to-prison pipeline encompasses various interconnected factors including <a href="https://colourofpovertyca.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/cop-coc-fact-sheet-3-racialized-poverty-in-education-learning-3.pdf">zero-tolerance punitive disciplinary practices in schools, over-policing of racialized communities, inadequate resources for students’ social and emotional well-being</a> and a lack of alternative support systems. </p>
<p>This is a result of many institutions and leaders at all three levels of government collectively failing to support the needs of racialized communities. </p>
<p>Suspensions and expulsions <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Leadership/Boardroom/Agenda-Minutes/Type/A?Folder=Agenda/20210623&Filename=CaringandSafeSchoolsAnnualReport201920204134.pdf">disproportionately affect marginalized students</a>. This is why as of 2020, <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/students">Ontario’s Ministry of Education mandated no more suspensions for children from junior kindergarten to Grade 3</a>.</p>
<p>Indigenous and Black people are <a href="http://www.intersectionalanalyst.com/intersectional-analyst/2017/7/20/everything-you-were-never-taught-about-canadas-prison-systems">disproportionately overrepresented in the criminal justice system</a>. This disparity is rooted in systemic racism and a culture of institutional apathy which together perpetuates cycles of inequality, poverty and intergenerational trauma. </p>
<h2>Calls to action</h2>
<p>There needs to be long-term funding by all institutions to create infrastructure and access to timely and reflective social services for minoritized communities to mitigate and dismantle <a href="https://springmag.ca/rising-food-insecurity-and-the-cost-of-living-crisis">systemic inequities, such as the housing crisis and food insecurity</a>, contributing to the rise in violence in schools. A comprehensive approach is necessary. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, schools and school boards need to plan for the future. Important considerations include: </p>
<p>1) <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-restorative-practices-benefit-all-students-maurice-elias">Implement restorative justice practices within all institutions</a>: Move away from punitive disciplinary measures and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quKa7C-wxZk">embrace restorative justice models that focus on repairing harm through trauma-informed and healing approaches</a>. </p>
<p>2) Allocate staff and resources equitably: <a href="https://peopleforeducation.ca/report/2022-annual-report-on-schools-a-perfect-storm-of-stress/">Ontario must prioritize funding for essential social services to address the root causes of students’ behavioural issues</a>, ultimately preventing students being pushed into the criminal justice system. Redirect funds towards mental health services, counsellors, social workers and community programs that prioritize <a href="https://yaaace.com/initiatives">prevention and timely intervention</a>. </p>
<p>3) Develop culturally responsive programs and services: <a href="https://www.wlu.ca/academics/faculties/faculty-of-education/assets/resources/edi-resources-for-educators.html">Inclusive curricula</a> and <a href="https://yaaace.com/social-inclusion-strategy">programs and services</a> that reflect the histories, cultures and contributions of diverse communities matter. </p>
<p>This helps foster a sense of belonging and connection and reduces the likelihood of student and staff disengagement. There needs to be a more urgent implementation of <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf">the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action</a>. </p>
<p>4) Establish community partnerships to mitigate risk factors during evenings and weekends: Forge collaborations between schools, community organizations and families to provide holistic supports <a href="https://theconversation.com/ontario-can-close-students-access-and-opportunity-gaps-with-community-led-projects-184301">and resources that address local community needs, particularly on evenings and weekends</a>. Such community partnerships create continuity of care for children and youth.</p>
<p>At the end of April, Ontario’s Ministry of Education <a href="https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1002960/ontario-combating-violence-and-improving-safety-in-schools">announced funding to combat violence and improving safety in schools through community partnerships</a>. Such investments are critical.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ontario-can-close-students-access-and-opportunity-gaps-with-community-led-projects-184301">Ontario can close students’ access and opportunity gaps with community-led projects</a>
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<p>Yet, according to the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the provincial government has <a href="https://cupe.ca/fords-budget-risks-cutting-7000-education-workers-across-ontario#">used accounting tricks to disguise what amounts to a cut in public school funding for 2023-24</a>. Trustees with the Halton District School Board
say there is a $20-million funding shortfall, and <a href="https://www.insauga.com/school-classroom-cuts-predicted-as-20-million-shortfall-hits-burlington-oakville-and-milton/">funds for 2023-24 won’t support important classroom programs</a>. </p>
<p>If we do not systemically change our approach in how we support marginalized schools, students, parents and teachers, why are we surprised that the system keeps failing them? The effect of such failure is often the tragic outcome of death, being pushed out of schools or receiving a prison sentence. </p>
<p>We all have to do our part to hold institutions accountable, including for failures and neglect.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207791/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ardavan Eizadirad receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and is the Executive Director of the non-profit organization Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (YAAACE) in the Jane and Finch community. </span></em></p>A contributing factor to a rise in violence in Ontario schools is underfunding of education and the social service sector. Using trauma-informed responses is part of the solution.Ardavan Eizadirad, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1965482023-03-03T13:24:22Z2023-03-03T13:24:22Z3 ways to prevent school shootings, based on research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511775/original/file-20230222-26-1y6fow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C38%2C8588%2C5703&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">School shootings are tragic, but parents, students and school staff can take steps to prevent them, researchers report.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SchoolShootingFlorida5Years/1c6ead3e31464104a9e81560e0d95de7/photo">AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the months leading up to his 2012 attack that killed 26 people in Newtown, Connecticut, a 20-year-old man exhibited a cascade of concerning behaviors. He experienced worsening anorexia, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. His relationships deteriorated, and he became fixated on mass murders.</p>
<p>In 2013, an 18-year-old had enraged outbursts at school and threatened to kill his debate coach. Concerned, the school’s threat assessment team interviewed him, rating him as a low-level risk for violence. But three months after the assessment, he shot and killed a classmate and himself on school grounds in Centennial, Colorado.</p>
<p>By 2018, a 19-year-old man had more than 40 documented encounters with law enforcement and a history of threatening others and weapons purchases. After his mother died in 2017, family friends contacted law enforcement and expressed concern about his behavior. In 2018, he perpetrated a shooting that killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida.</p>
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<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>All three perpetrators displayed disturbing behavior before their attacks – and the people around them missed the opportunities to intervene.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=id&user=js32DFkAAAAJ">We</a> are <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Zxp0eOIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">sociologists</a> at the <a href="https://cspv.colorado.edu/">Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence</a> at the University of Colorado Boulder. We study the circumstances that lead to violence in which an <a href="https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/Protecting_Americas_Schools.pdf">attacker picks a target</a> – like a person, group, or school – in advance. </p>
<p>We find that the same patterns of concerning behavior emerge among the perpetrators, but that’s not all. We also find that there are often many opportunities to intervene with the perpetrator before the tragedy that peers, family members, school staff, law enforcement officials, and others miss.</p>
<p>Much of the public discussion on preventing school shootings focuses on whether and how to limit people’s access to firearms. While these efforts remain important, over the past 30 years, our work has identified other strategies that can reduce the risk for violence. Here are three evidence-based steps that schools and communities can take to prevent violence.</p>
<h2>1. Teach students and adults to report warning signs</h2>
<p>Most school shooters <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/preventingattacksreport.pdf">exhibited concerning behavior</a> and <a href="https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/Protecting_Americas_Schools.pdf">communicated their plan</a> to cause harm before their deadly attack. </p>
<p>These troubling behaviors and communications provide <a href="https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2021-03/USSS%20Averting%20Targeted%20School%20Violence.2021.03.pdf">opportunities for adults to step in</a>, for students to speak up, and for people to help a student who may be in psychological or emotional distress.</p>
<p>But the warning signs for violence can be difficult to distinguish from other types of problem behavior, particularly among adolescents. </p>
<p>According to the U.S. Secret Service, the <a href="https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/Protecting_Americas_Schools.pdf">10 most common concerning behaviors among school attackers</a> are:</p>
<ul>
<li>threats to the target or others, and an intent to attack, including on social media</li>
<li>intense or escalating anger</li>
<li>interest in weapons</li>
<li>sadness, depression or isolation</li>
<li>changes in behavior or appearance</li>
<li>suicide or self-harm</li>
<li>interest in weapons or violence</li>
<li>complaints of being bullied</li>
<li>worries over grades or attendance</li>
<li>harassing others</li>
</ul>
<p>Attackers typically exhibit five or more of these concerning behaviors. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2022.2105858">Educational programs and training</a> that encourage people to share their concerns about, and seek help for, those engaging in worrisome behavior may improve safety in schools and communities. </p>
<h2>2. Develop and publicize around-the-clock anonymous tip lines</h2>
<p>People need a way to safely report their concerns. <a href="https://nij.ojp.gov/library/publications/tip-lines-school-safety-national-portrait-tip-line-use">Tip line</a> systems include websites, phone numbers to call or text, email addresses, and apps. They let students and others anonymously, or confidentially, share their concerns about another’s threatening behavior or communications.</p>
<p>These tip lines can make people less hesitant to report situations that worry them or that they think may not be their business, such as bullying, threats, drug use, or someone’s talk of suicide.</p>
<p>Several states have modeled their tip lines after <a href="https://safe2tell.org/">Colorado’s Safe2Tell</a>, which is a 24/7/365 live anonymous reporting system that was created in the wake of the 1999 Columbine High School mass shooting. Safe2Tell relays tips to local law enforcement officials and school leaders, who investigate and triage each tip. These law enforcement officials and school leaders determine the nature of the concern, along with the most appropriate response.</p>
<p>A 2011 study found the system had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.390">helped stop 28 potential school attacks</a>, but that research has not been updated in the years since. Recent Safe2Tell reports indicate that the system also helps students get help for significant mental health needs.</p>
<p>During the 2021-22 school year, for instance, Safe2Tell received 19,364 reports. Of those, 14% were related to suicide threats, 7% to bullying, and 7% to welfare checks. Of the 84 self-reports related to mental health that year, <a href="https://safe2tell.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Safe2Tell-annual-report-2021-2022.pdf">32% received counseling services</a>, 32% had their parents notified, 22% had an official check on their well-being, 12% were hospitalized at least briefly, and 10% were given a suicide assessment; some received more than one of those responses. </p>
<p>These types of interventions are known to prevent school violence. The National Policing Institute is a nonprofit organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that maintains the <a href="https://www.avertedschoolviolence.org/">Averted School Violence Database</a>. As of 2021, the database contained case information on <a href="https://www.policinginstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ASV2021AnalysisUpdate.pdf">171 averted attacks, 88 of which</a> were first discovered by a peer of the potential attacker.</p>
<h2>3. Conduct behavioral threat assessment and management</h2>
<p>Once people report their concerns, law enforcement officers, school staff and mental health professionals must evaluate the reports and determine how to handle the information, and the people implicated. </p>
<p>One method, called <a href="https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2023-01/usss-ntac-maps-2016-2020.pdf#page=10">behavioral threat assessment and management</a>, seeks to identify the cause of the concerning behavior – such as a grievance, psychological trauma, or mental health concern. In schools, this process encourages the threat assessment team to evaluate the risk for violence and <a href="https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-safety-and-crisis/systems-level-prevention/threat-assessment-at-school/protecting-students-rights-in-btam">build a plan for supporting and monitoring the student</a>, their behavior and their communications. </p>
<p>Schools that use this approach are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2019.1707682">less likely to simply suspend or expel</a> the students they evaluate. That means students can still receive services and support through their school, rather than being excluded from it.</p>
<p>This process also helps <a href="https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-safety-and-crisis/systems-level-prevention/threat-assessment-at-school/behavior-threat-assessment-and-management-(btam)-best-practice-considerations-for-k%E2%80%9312-schools">distinguish cases</a> in which a student made a threat but does not intend harm from those in which a student poses a real threat.</p>
<p>Once the team has assessed the threat, it can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0192636517727347">share the results – and the plan of action – with other school staff members</a> to ensure everyone knows how to handle the student and their behavior. School staff members then also know how, and to whom, to report any subsequent observations of worrying actions or statements from the student. </p>
<p>It’s important for all school personnel to know that the federal student privacy law allows this type of information-sharing because it <a href="https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/faq/when-it-permissible-utilize-ferpa%E2%80%99s-health-or-safety-emergency-exception-disclosures">relates to school and personal safety</a>. Some school leaders hesitate to share the plan because they are confused about this provision of the law.</p>
<p>For that reason, and because resources may be constrained at school or may not extend to a student’s home life, the action plans that follow behavioral threat assessments <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2399">aren’t always carried out</a> properly. So the team may have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00380407221120431">completed the assessment paperwork</a>, but not the actual work of supporting, managing or monitoring the student’s needs.</p>
<p>Americans are not helpless in the face of school violence. Research has identified solutions. We believe it’s time to act to consistently and effectively implement these solutions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196548/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beverly Kingston receives funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Botnar Foundation, City of Denver</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Goodrum receives funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bureau of Justice Assistance, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.</span></em></p>Much of the public discussion on preventing school shootings is about whether and how to limit people’s access to firearms. But other strategies can reduce the risk for violence.Beverly Kingston, Director and Senior Research Associate, Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, University of Colorado BoulderSarah Goodrum, Senior Research Associate, Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1922922023-02-14T13:27:19Z2023-02-14T13:27:19Z‘Closure is a myth’: A school psychologist explains how to help students and teachers deal with grief after a school shooting<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509856/original/file-20230213-18-e7nzrr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C10%2C6689%2C4456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Simply returning to a school where a shooting took place can be a struggle for many students.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/elementary-african-american-girl-with-mom-on-first-royalty-free-image/1152649948?phrase=fearful%20students&adppopup=true">fstop123 via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Whenever a school shooting takes place, such as the one that claimed the lives of three adults and three children at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 27, 2023, school officials often arrange for grief counseling services to be made available for whoever needs them. But what exactly do those services entail?</em></p>
<p><em>To answer that question, The Conversation reached out to Philip J. Lazarus, a school psychology professor at Florida International University who counseled students and educators affected by the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which took place in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day, 2018.</em> </p>
<p><em>Below, Lazarus recounts some of the experiences he had as he provided grief counseling. He also offers insights on what students and educators need as the nation confronts record levels of shootings with <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-years-after-parkland-school-shootings-havent-stopped-and-kill-more-people-198224">higher and higher death tolls</a>.</em></p>
<h2>Shattered sense of security</h2>
<p>A few days after Parkland, a seventh grade boy at a nearby school told me his plan for how to make schools safer.</p>
<p>“We need to have a conveyor belt to check all kids for guns, then we need to have bulletproof windows on the outside, then we need to have bulletproof closets that we can all run into in case a shooter enters the building,” the boy told me at the time. “We need to put up a 10-foot barbed-wire fence outside the playground, and more police.”</p>
<p>I wondered if this is the future we as a society want. Five years later, more elements of that future are now here.</p>
<p>In Newport News, Virginia, for example, officials decided to install 90 walk-through <a href="https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/mycity/newport-news/newport-news-school-board-update-richneck-elementary-shooting/291-649e59eb-8cf4-4352-bb8b-0d1a0128e3e7#:%7E:text=%E2%80%94%20All%20schools%20in%20Newport%20News,school%20officials%20announced%20Thursday%20afternoon.">metal detectors in schools across the district</a>. The measure comes in response to one of the most shocking cases of a school shooting – one in which a first grader reportedly shot and wounded his teacher, Abigail Zwerner, at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News on Jan. 6, 2023.</p>
<p>In Texas, tens of millions of dollars were spent on <a href="https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/texas/50-million-grant-program-ballistic-shields-texas-schools/285-d372fc47-1559-462f-b04b-3858fa468f37">providing schools with ballistic shields</a> for school police officers. Some schools have installed <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/07/12/2478202/0/en/National-Safety-Shelters-Partners-With-School-District-to-Improve-School-Security-With-Safety-Pods.html">bulletproof “safety pods”</a> to protect students against active shooters.</p>
<p>When tragedies like the ones in Parkland; Newport News; Uvalde, Texas; and Nashville take place, they don’t affect just the school itself – they affect surrounding schools as well. Which is why, when I returned a few days after the Parkland shooting from the National Association of School Psychologists convention in Chicago to Broward County, where I live and where the Parkland shooting took place, I connected with Frank Zenere, one of my former students, an adjunct lecturer at Florida International University and the crisis coordinator for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, as well as a team from Nova Southeastern University and another team of school psychologists from Volusia County to provide psychological intervention. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nasponline.org/books-and-products/products/books/titles/school-crisis-the-prepare-model-2nd-edition">These interventions</a> included debriefing students, which means students talking about their reactions to the horrific event, short-term individual and group counseling, and consultation with school leaders and parents about how to handle children’s grief and how best to open reopen schools.</p>
<h2>Fears and uncertainty</h2>
<p>One thing all school-based mental health providers learn in crisis intervention is that all students have a story to tell, <a href="https://www.perlego.com/book/1554947/creating-safe-and-supportive-schools-and-fostering-students-mental-health-pdf?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&campaignid=15825112969&adgroupid=132780878835&gclid=CjwKCAiA3KefBhByEiwAi2LDHNSDG_QcZfbiJ63pweSIasQJ7H1YnMPpXNdarXVMFkKuc4CUspkLjBoCsDYQAvD_BwE">even if they have problems articulating their thoughts</a>.</p>
<p>The job of the mental health provider is to listen. However, listening is often not enough. After Parkland, some students in the surrounding area were afraid to enter their own schools. A few were concerned that they would be attacked by a copycat killer. Some students emotionally broke down. </p>
<p>One sixth grade boy I met at a nearby charter school was afraid to go into his school building, and I was contacted by the principal to help. The boy just stood outside. So, I walked up to him and started talking and asked him why he did not walk home if he was so afraid. He told me that his parents drove him to this charter school, and he lived more than 10 miles away. I asked him if I walked right next to him and did not leave his side if he would be willing to go inside the building. He agreed. We talked for about 30 minutes. He said, “My body does not feel well. It doesn’t feel right, it feels crazy inside, and I cannot describe it.” </p>
<p>I told him that his feelings were normal. Then he was asked to rate his level of well-being from 1 to 10 from when he arrived at school to now, with 1 meaning feeling great to 10 meaning feeling terribly scared and anxious. He responded that when he entered my temporary office in the school, it was an 11, and now after about 30 minutes of recounting his experiences, reactions and feelings with me, he was at a 5 or 6. </p>
<p>He told me that he was taking yoga classes, and I worked with that to his advantage. I taught him how to imagine yoga music reverberating through his body to help him calm down. I taught him how he could make the music go faster or slower, louder or softer, and how to regulate his breathing. This provided him a sense of control over his internal feelings. Through a series of other techniques, such as using deep breathing, he learned how to enter a highly relaxed state. He reported by the end of our 90-minute meeting that he was now a 2. </p>
<p>I asked him to practice what he had learned at least three times before he came to school the following day. The next day he saw me and rushed up and said, “I’m a 1.”</p>
<h2>Normalcy is elusive</h2>
<p>Sadly, as my colleague Frank told me, for many others the interventions will not be as easy or the responses as quick. </p>
<p>For example, young people directly affected by a tragedy, especially those in classrooms where students were killed, will require deep understanding, empathy and guidance from family, friends, teachers, religious leaders and mental health professionals as they struggle to cope. Some may require <a href="https://grievingstudents.org">years of therapy</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/10377761">Closure is a myth</a>. The trauma and grief may never go away. Yet young people can learn lessons from the past and move forward with help from their friends, families, faith, communities and mental health providers. For all those affected, their lives will never be the same, but with care and understanding from others and by focusing on the future, they can recover and thrive.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated to reflect a shooting that took place in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 27, 2023.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192292/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip J. Lazarus does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Students may need a listening ear and reassurance in the aftermath of having witnessed a school shooting.Philip J. Lazarus, Associate Professor, Counseling, Recreation and School Psychology, Florida International UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1982242023-02-09T20:10:33Z2023-02-09T20:10:33ZFive years after Parkland, school shootings haven’t stopped, and kill more people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508659/original/file-20230207-29-ygggac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C12%2C4260%2C2821&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Two mourners embrace at a memorial for those killed in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting in 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SchoolShootingFlorida/19d9b3109dad473aa598fc9382c2c1ee/photo">AP Photo/Gerald Herbert</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the aftermath of the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting on Valentine’s Day 2018, many Americans hoped that, finally, something would be done to address the problem of gun violence in the nation’s schools.</p>
<p>Despite the outpouring of grief and calls for action that followed the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, school shootings continue to occur with <a href="https://k12ssdb.org/all-shootings">alarming frequency</a>. While progress has been made in some areas, such as <a href="https://oese.ed.gov/bipartisan-safer-communities-act/">increased funding</a> for school security and mental health resources, there is still much work to be done to ensure the safety and well-being of students and educators in schools across the country. </p>
<p>On Jan. 6, 2023, in Newport News, Virginia, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/us/newport-news-school-shooting-virginia.html">6-year-old student is alleged</a> to have intentionally shot his teacher. He is among the youngest school shooting perpetrators dating back to 1970.</p>
<p>And as criminologists who track any time <a href="https://k12ssdb.org/methodology-1">a gun is fired at a K-12 school</a>, including deliberate attacks, suicides, accidental shootings, gang-related violence and shootings at after-hours school events, we know this case is only the tip of the iceberg. </p>
<p><iframe id="ZJaV6" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ZJaV6/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>School shootings got more common, not rarer, after Parkland</h2>
<p>Since Parkland, there have been <a href="https://k12ssdb.org/all-shootings">over 900 shootings</a> in K-12 school settings according to our data. Thirty-two were indiscriminate attacks apparently driven by the intent to kill as many people as possible, including mass casualty events at <a href="https://house.texas.gov/_media/pdf/committees/reports/87interim/Robb-Elementary-Investigative-Committee-Report.pdf">Robb Elementary School</a> in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022 and at <a href="https://www.fox2detroit.com/tag/oxford-high-school-shooting">Oxford High School</a>, in Oxford, Michigan, in November 2021.</p>
<p>School gun violence takes many forms. In January 2023, five students were wounded during <a href="https://twitter.com/K12ssdb/status/1616798162747785216">shootings at high school basketball games</a> in five different states. These shootings at school games are a “<a href="https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/34685039/rise-gun-violence-school-sports">quiet phenomenon</a>” that gets little national attention. Based on our data on more than <a href="https://k12ssdb.org/all-shootings">260 shootings at sports events</a>, most schools do not have a plan for them, such as what an announcer should say or how people can evacuate.</p>
<p>Another emerging challenge for school leaders is the 264 fights in five years that escalated into shootings. Unlike any planned attacks, these cases were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/08/school-shootings-are-increasing-changing-easily-accessible-guns-are-blame/">simple disputes that turned deadly</a> because students were armed at school.</p>
<p>There were a record 302 shootings on school property in 2022. In April, one month before Uvalde, a sniper fired hundreds of shots during dismissal at the <a href="https://wjla.com/news/local/dc-sniper-van-ness-shooting-edmund-burke-school-16-year-old-student-recalls-mass-shooting-helping-12-year-old-classmate-shot-injured-cleveland-park-victims-crime">Edmund Burke School</a> in Washington, D.C. Then, in October, at Central Visual Performing Arts High School in south St. Louis, a 19-year-old armed with a semi-automatic rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition shot and <a href="https://news.stlpublicradio.org/education/2022-10-25/photos-school-shooting-at-central-visual-performing-arts-high-school-in-st-louis">killed a teacher and a 15-year-old student, and injured seven other people</a>.</p>
<p>Among the 250 shootings at schools in 2021, a 12-year-old girl, who wrote plans to target scores of her <a href="https://localnews8.com/news/top-stories/2022/04/07/documents-shed-light-on-rigby-middle-school-shooting/">Rigby, Idaho</a>, middle school classmates, wounded three students before a heroic teacher disarmed her in the hallway.</p>
<p>Owing to the pandemic and widespread school closures, in 2020 there were no planned attacks at schools for the <a href="https://k12ssdb.org/active-shooter">first time since 1981</a>. But in 2019, a student shot five classmates, killing two, before dying by suicide between classes at <a href="https://abc7.com/nathaniel-tennosuke-berhow-nate-saugus-high-school-santa-clarita-shooting/5699170/">Saugus High</a> in Santa Clarita, California. And two students committed a coordinated attack that killed one student and injured eight others at the <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2021/09/17/devon-erickson-sentence-stem-school-shooting/">STEM School</a> in Highland Ranch, Colorado.</p>
<p>In total, since Parkland, 198 people have been killed, including 84 students, teachers and school staff, and another 637 people wounded in school shootings. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man kneels in front of a brick wall saying 'Robb Elementary School,' with piles of flowers all around." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A man pays his respects to the victims of the June 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MassShootingsStates/4e7195b1f0a44fd0b774a57ae09cbf42/photo">AP Photo/Eric Gay</a></span>
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<h2>Equipment is not prevention</h2>
<p>Since Parkland, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/12/us/school-shootings-security.html">school safety has been a priority</a> for parents and policymakers, but efforts to <a href="https://medium.com/homeland-security/what-is-school-security-c962263bef00">physically fortify schools</a> to keep intruders at bay often are detached from the reality that most school shooters are current or former students of the schools they target.</p>
<p>Having been trained in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jaba.369">lockdown procedures since kindergarten</a>, students know exactly how a school will respond to an active shooter and even plan for it; they navigate security daily. At Uvalde, the shooter was a former student who <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/uvalde-school-shooting-door-shut-didnt-lock-texas-police/">entered through a back door</a>. The shooter in St. Louis was a former student who broke a side window to open a locked door.</p>
<p>New equipment designed to protect students from shooters can create a false sense of security and make classrooms feel <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814748206/homeroom-security/">more like prisons</a> than places of learning. Following the attack in Uvalde, Texas legislators approved $110 million for school safety, but nearly half of the money went to <a href="https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/texas/50-million-grant-program-ballistic-shields-texas-schools/285-d372fc47-1559-462f-b04b-3858fa468f37">new ballistic shields</a> for school police officers. These shields do not prevent school shootings, or aid during one, because police are <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/active_shooter_booklet.pdf">trained to immediately run to the shooter</a>, not to their office to get a shield. </p>
<p>Some technologies could even inadvertently endanger students. Most <a href="https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/safety/classroom-barricade-devices/">classroom barricades violate the Americans with Disabilities Act</a> and other federal codes designed to help people evacuate from fires and other dangerous situations. And much like <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/05/rise-of-body-armor-in-mass-shootings-like-buffalo-and-uvalde.html">body armor can make a mass shooter harder to stop</a>, so too, potentially, could a school’s new bulletproof furniture.</p>
<p><iframe id="2B4pH" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/2B4pH/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Preventing the next Parkland</h2>
<p>Just three weeks before Parkland, on Jan. 23, 2018, 20 students were shot, two fatally, in a planned attack at <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/23/us/kentucky-high-school-shooting/index.html">Marshall County High</a> in Benton, Kentucky. Three months after Parkland, on May 18, 2018, 10 people were killed and 13 wounded at <a href="https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2018/05/19/286500/official-says-explosives-found-at-santa-fe-high-school-couldnt-have-detonated/">Santa Fe High School</a> in Santa Fe, Texas. Despite <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/local/school-shootings-and-campus-safety-industry/">billions spent</a> on security upgrades, schools are stuck in a perpetual cycle of gun violence. If current trends hold, there will be another 1,000 school shootings over the next five years.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/violence-project_9781419752957/">research shows</a> that school shootings are not inevitable. They are preventable. </p>
<p>Nearly all school shooters exhibit <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2785799">warning signs</a> before pulling the trigger, from changes in their behavior to verbal or written threats. From <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/10887679211062518?journalCode=hsxa">Parkland</a> to <a href="https://house.texas.gov/_media/pdf/committees/reports/87interim/Robb-Elementary-Investigative-Committee-Report.pdf">Uvalde</a>, these warnings were not recognized or reported until it was too late. Schools must think beyond metal detectors, security cameras and other <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/26/business/school-safety-technology.html">high-tech gadgets and gizmos</a> to invest in multidisciplinary <a href="https://www.nabita.org">behavioral intervention and threat assessment</a> systems to respond to warning signs. There is federal money and resources available to do this thanks to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, passed in the wake of Uvalde in the summer of 2022.</p>
<p>Almost all shootings by children and teens can be prevented by safe storage of firearms and accountability for adult gun owners. When a weapon is stored separately from its ammunition, locked and unloaded, it is much more difficult for someone to quickly use it in a violent attack. While the family <a href="https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/mycity/newport-news/gun-used-to-shoot-newport-news-teacher-secured-lawyer/291-a3744037-6746-43f9-ac5c-858f60526744">claims the gun was locked</a>, safe and separate storage could have prevented a <a href="https://theconversation.com/first-grader-who-shot-teacher-in-virginia-is-among-the-youngest-school-shooters-in-us-history-197392">6-year-old</a> from shooting his teacher. It also could have prevented thousands of guns from being stolen and <a href="https://www.atf.gov/firearms/national-firearms-commerce-and-trafficking-assessment-nfcta-crime-guns-volume-two">diverted into illegal markets</a>. </p>
<p>Five years after Parkland, school shootings have become more frequent and deadly. The status quo is not working. Instead of accepting that more young lives will be lost and that the best schools and police can do is lock down and rehearse emergency responses, we believe school safety must shift to focus on upstream prevention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198224/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Riedman receives funding from Everytown for Gun Safety.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Densley has received funding from the National Institute of Justice and the Joyce Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jillian Peterson receives funding from the National Institute of Justice and the Joyce Foundation.</span></em></p>Some Americans hoped the Parkland shooting in 2018 would herald a turning point for gun violence in schools. Shootings, and deaths, have continued – and gotten more frequent.David Riedman, Ph.D. student in Criminal Justice and Creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, University of Central FloridaJames Densley, Professor of Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University Jillian Peterson, Professor of Criminal Justice, Hamline University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1973922023-01-08T17:56:08Z2023-01-08T17:56:08ZFirst grader who shot teacher in Virginia is among the youngest school shooters in US history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503494/original/file-20230108-19-ebm248.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C12%2C2733%2C1822&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A school sign wishing students a Happy New Year stands outside Richneck Elementary School on Jan. 7, 2023, in Newport News, Virginia, where a 6-year-old boy reportedly shot his teacher after an altercation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-tape-hangs-from-a-sign-post-outside-richneck-news-photo/1246066061?phrase=newport+news+shooting&adppopup=true">Jay Paul / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Barely a week into the new year, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/us/newport-news-school-shooting-virginia.html">6-year-old boy shot his teacher</a> at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, becoming one of the youngest school shooters in the nation’s history. While <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/us/virginia-shooting-richneck-elementary.html">details of the case are still emerging</a>, his teacher remains hospitalized with serious injuries. David Riedman, creator of the <a href="https://k12ssdb.org/">K-12 School Shooting Database</a>, discusses the relative rarity of school shooters under age 10 and the likely aftermath of the event.</em></p>
<h2>How rare is it to have a school shooter this young?</h2>
<p>This is the 17th shooting involving a student under the age of 10 at a school since 1970 – the first year for which my database keeps track. Most of these shootings were not intentional. But in 1975, a 9-year-old student at the Pitcher School in Detroit was in a fight with a 13-year-old, left campus, got a rifle from his house and came back to the school and shot the student in the head, killing him. </p>
<p>In 2000, a <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2020/02/first-grader-kayla-rolland-was-fatally-shot-at-school-20-years-ago-heres-how-it-happened.html">6-year-old boy fatally shot his 6-year-old classmate, Kayla Rolland</a>, in their classroom at Buell Elementary School in Michigan while their teacher lined up other students in the hallway. The shooting <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=rUsqghKKBfsC&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=kayla+rolland+playground+fight&source=bl&ots=S6A2xBTk5G&sig=ACfU3U2dIuDHD1ukKTBNTWXfPRo0OzSrSQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiipOfp27X8AhW1lGoFHc-gDwM4ChDoAXoECAMQAw#v=onepage&q=kayla%20rolland%20playground%20fight&f=falseon">followed a dispute on the playground</a>.</p>
<h2>How do kids this young typically get guns?</h2>
<p>In most school shootings, the gun is taken from the student’s home or from the house of a friend or relative. In the 2000 shooting at Buell Elementary, the student’s uncle pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was <a href="https://apnews.com/article/e4d184e6ebb0d5859636d05963c2daba">sentenced to prison for a minimum of two years</a> for leaving a firearm in an easily accessible place. </p>
<p>The 6-year-old shooter did not face charges due to his age.</p>
<h2>What stands out about this recent case?</h2>
<p>The most striking part of this shooting is that it appears to be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/06/virginia-school-student-shot-teacher">intentional</a>. While many details remain unknown, it is likely that the student had the gun with him the entire day, possibly multiple days, before shooting his teacher. In many states, the legal system assumes that young children are not capable of the thought and planning that goes into committing a violent crime. In Virginia, the <a href="https://virginiarules.org/varules_topics/introduction-to-juvenile-justice-in-virginia/">minimum age</a> to charge someone with a felony is 14 years old.</p>
<h2>Do schools need to start searching first graders?</h2>
<p>Despite the attention that they generated, school shootings at any age are relatively rare. There have been 17 shootings involving kids under 10 publicly reported across a 52-year period. <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=55">More than 50 million students</a> attend schools every year, and fewer than 300 of them shoot someone on campus.</p>
<p>When most guns that end up in schools come from the home, I’d argue it is the responsibility of parents, relatives and older siblings to make sure that every firearm is locked, secured and accounted for.</p>
<p>The use of metal detectors has been shown to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124510380717">increase students’ anxiety</a> and are only effective with constant maintenance, training, staffing and screening procedures. Some of the incidents involving children have resulted from adults putting a firearm in the kid’s bag and the child firing it when they find the gun at school. </p>
<h2>What’s next for this boy?</h2>
<p>This remains unclear, and due to juvenile privacy laws, we may never know. The 6-year-old who killed his classmate at Buell Elementary in 2000 was not charged with a crime. In 2021 in Rigby, Idaho, a 12-year-old girl shot three people during a planned attack at Rigby Middle School. Based on her written plan, this young girl intended to <a href="https://localnews8.com/news/top-stories/2022/04/07/documents-shed-light-on-rigby-middle-school-shooting/">kill 20 students and wound 40 to 60 others</a>. She is <a href="https://www.idahoednews.org/news/rigby-school-shooter-still-in-state-custody/">being held in juvenile custody</a> until she turns 19 – and possibly until age 21 if she is not deemed fully rehabilitated – following a guilty plea to three counts of first-degree murder.</p>
<h2>What’s next for the school?</h2>
<p>While much attention is focused on the shooter and teacher, a classroom full of first graders witnessed their classmate shoot the teacher. She was <a href="https://www.wsaz.com/video/2023/01/07/teacher-critical-after-newport-news-school-shooting/">critically injured</a>, which means that it was likely a gruesome scene. These students will all need extensive counseling to understand and deal with this trauma. For the other students, teachers and parents, this is also a traumatic experience, and many students may no longer want to go to school. </p>
<h2>What does this case suggest for school safety in the US broadly?</h2>
<p>There were 302 shootings in school property in 2022, more than in any other year since 1970. Since 2017, the number of shootings each year has significantly increased. This pattern matches the <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-recent-rise-in-violent-crime-is-driven-by-gun-violence/">spiking rates of violent crime and gun crime</a> across the country. It is important to remember that most shootings at schools are committed by current or former students, not outsiders breaking into the building. Because of this, school security plans need to include all levels of schools and shootings by all ages of students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197392/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Riedman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Extremely young school shooters are not believed to be capable of forming criminal intent.David Riedman, Ph.D. student in Criminal Justice and Creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, University of Central FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1885612022-08-16T12:28:52Z2022-08-16T12:28:52Z1 in 10 teachers say they’ve been attacked by students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479042/original/file-20220814-25-pk88p7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C16%2C5590%2C3715&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Physical assaults against educators are on the rise.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/silhouetted-man-in-the-building-royalty-free-image/92297581?adppopup=true">Hal Bergman Photography via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-center ">
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<p>Ten percent. That’s the portion of K-12 teachers in the United States who say they’ve been physically attacked by a student, a <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/how-many-teachers-have-been-assaulted-by-students-or-parents-we-asked-educators/2022/08">new survey has found</a>.</p>
<p>Various <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/threats-of-student-violence-and-misbehavior-are-rising-many-school-leaders-report/2022/01">news outlets</a> have <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2021/9/27/22691601/student-behavior-stress-trauma-return">reported</a> what has been described as a “<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/schools-student-misbehavior-remote-learning-covid-11639061247">wave of student misbehavior</a>” since students returned from remote learning to in-person instruction. The purported surge in student misconduct is part of an upward trend in student assaults on teachers. The percentage of teachers who have been attacked by students has <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/a05/teacher-attacked-by-students?tid=4">increased from 6% to 10%</a> over the past decade, federal data shows.</p>
<p>As school districts across the country report critical <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/03/school-teacher-shortage/">shortages</a> in teaching staff, some people worry that the attacks on teachers <a href="https://www.theedadvocate.org/the-lasting-effects-after-a-student-assaults-a-teacher/">might push qualified candidates away from the profession</a>. Such concerns are well founded. </p>
<p>In my <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/video/teachers-must-often-face-student-121206767.html">research interviews with high school teachers who were attacked by students</a>, I learned from teachers firsthand that these assaults <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.22030">have a negative effect on their morale</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2017.1368394">make them want to leave their jobs</a>.</p>
<p>As I point out in my book “<a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12635/suspended">Suspended: Punishment, Violence, and the Failure of School Safety</a>,” attacks are leaving teachers traumatized. In some cases, educators told me they started illegally carrying guns to school after they were attacked.</p>
<p>Teachers also told me they feel as if principals don’t have their backs. In fact, several teachers who have been attacked by students expressed <a href="https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/threatened-and-attacked-students-when-work-hurts">fear of retribution from administrators</a>. </p>
<p>Why would a principal not support a teacher for reporting being attacked? Teachers informed me the principals were worried about their schools getting a bad reputation, which could make it harder to recruit new teachers and students. At least one school in my study could not recruit substitute teachers because the school had a reputation for violence between students and staff.</p>
<p>When teachers reported to principals they had been victimized by students, the principals would minimize their concerns, according to the teachers. The principals would also shift the focus to what the teacher did or didn’t do leading up to the attack.</p>
<h2>Call for tougher laws</h2>
<p>Over the past decade, teachers have urged policymakers to create legislation that addresses violent student behavior. Teachers have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fjAtYES-wA">spoken publicly</a> about how being attacked by students hampered their ability to teach effectively.</p>
<p>Lawmakers have tried to come up with tougher laws to deter violence against teachers. However, many bills fail because of concerns that the bills would erode students’ right to due process. In turn, as I found in my book, many teachers feel powerless because violent students are being allowed to stay in their classes. </p>
<p>For example, in Connecticut, <a href="https://www.cga.ct.gov/2018/ACT/pa/pdf/2018PA-00089-R00SB-00453-PA.pdf">Public Act 18-89</a> would have allowed teachers to have students removed from their classroom if those students engage in violent acts. It would have also allowed teachers to set the standards for the student’s return to the classroom.</p>
<p>Although this proposal received substantial support in the Connecticut House and Senate, then-Gov. Dannel Malloy <a href="https://cea.org/governors-veto-denies-support-for-classroom-safety-and-resources-for-students-in-need/">vetoed the bill</a>, arguing that it <a href="https://www.cga.ct.gov/olr/Documents/year/special/2018VP-20180618_2018%20Veto%20Package.pdf">ran counter to his efforts to reduce exclusion from the classroom and to cut off the school-to-prison pipeline</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=SF2323&session=ls89&session_year=2016&session_number=0&version=latest&format=pdf">Teacher Protection Act</a> in Minnesota would have compelled public schools to expel students who assaulted teachers. But the legislation <a href="https://www.minnpost.com/education/2016/03/legislature-lawmakers-debate-vastly-different-approaches-student-discipline-minnes/">failed to gain much traction</a> because of fierce opposition from <a href="https://educationminnesota.org/">Education Minnesota</a> – a nonprofit organization that represents educators. This particular organization wanted to <a href="https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/threatened-and-attacked-students-when-work-hurts">prioritize restorative justice initiatives</a> that seek to keep students in school to make amends rather than have students be suspended or expelled.</p>
<p>Thus, the challenge for policymakers and administrators is to find a way to protect teachers without jeopardizing students’ right to due process. The well-being and stability of America’s teaching force depends on finding the right balance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188561/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Bell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Calls for tougher laws against assaults on teachers have been thwarted by efforts to keep kids in school.Charles Bell, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Sciences, Illinois State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1826482022-08-02T12:58:02Z2022-08-02T12:58:02Z5 of the biggest threats today’s K-12 students and educators face don’t involve guns<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476730/original/file-20220729-15-1i30jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C74%2C5562%2C3672&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Schools across the U.S. are dealing with many challenges.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/parents-carla-toro-elsa-sagastizado-and-michelle-posner-news-photo/1128587314">Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While many American students and their parents <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/18/a-majority-of-u-s-teens-fear-a-shooting-could-happen-at-their-school-and-most-parents-share-their-concern/">worry that the next mass shooting could happen at their school</a>, schools are also facing a number of other threats that do not involve guns. Many of these threats are related to the mental health of educators and students.</p>
<p>From 2018 to 2021, both before and during the pandemic, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PxxQrU0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I</a> spent time studying a public middle school in the San Francisco Bay Area that serves a high-poverty community of color. The research involved spending more than 100 hours of observing classes and teacher and staff meetings. It also involved a series of interviews with 10 teachers and the principal. </p>
<p>Here are five of the biggest threats that I identified through my observations.</p>
<h2>1. Trauma among students</h2>
<p>Students often spoke and wrote about traumatic experiences. This included losing parents to murder, imprisonment or deportation.</p>
<p>Teachers and staff told me they were not prepared to handle students’ <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-016-9175-2">emotional reactions to these traumatic experiences</a> and how the experiences <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/1/24/22899360/chicago-principal-our-schools-are-not-ok-mental-health-pandemic-seth-lavin-op-ed">affected student learning</a>.</p>
<p>Extensive research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-016-9175-2">trauma can result in poor academic performance and more anxiety or aggression</a> that can interfere with learning.</p>
<p>Racial minority and low-income students tend to <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/toxic-stress-and-childrens-outcomes-african-american-children-growing-up-poor-are-at-greater-risk-of-disrupted-physiological-functioning-and-depressed-academic-achievement/">experience significantly more trauma</a> than white students and students from higher-income families. </p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000861">created more trauma</a> for more students, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2007476117">especially for low-income students of color</a>, as disruption to the normal way of life and to the economy created high stress on families. Perversely, school <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-022-09512-7">closures during the pandemic also made it more difficult</a> for students experiencing trauma to receive mental health care and treatment often provided by schools. </p>
<h2>2. Worse well-being for teachers and students</h2>
<p>Staff in the school I studied described their middle schoolers as increasingly “shut down,” “fragile,” “beaten down” and “hopeless” with every passing year. </p>
<p>Teachers also talked about their own struggles with “the stress of this place” and “negative emotions” from their daily challenges to support their students. During the pandemic, teachers described increasing “exhaustion” from the level of effort needed to keep students in school and engaged in learning. </p>
<p>Since the onset of the pandemic, lower overall well-being of students and teachers has become a nationwide concern. In the 2020-2021 school year, <a href="https://doi.org/10.7249/RRA168-4">80% of teachers nationwide reported feelings of burnout</a>. In the 2021-2022 school year, nearly half of students across the U.S. in grades 9 through 12 reported <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su7103a3">persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness</a>. Across the nation, district leaders in the 2021-2022 school year reported a general decline in <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA956-8.html">mental health and well-being</a> of all students and educators as their most pressing concern.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476731/original/file-20220729-13683-lebnro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An adult stands in a classroom with several children sitting at desks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476731/original/file-20220729-13683-lebnro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476731/original/file-20220729-13683-lebnro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476731/original/file-20220729-13683-lebnro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476731/original/file-20220729-13683-lebnro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476731/original/file-20220729-13683-lebnro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476731/original/file-20220729-13683-lebnro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476731/original/file-20220729-13683-lebnro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teachers are in such short supply across the country that it can be hard to find substitutes, like Veronica Roman, right, seen subbing in a California classroom.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/veronica-roman-a-long-term-substitute-teacher-works-with-news-photo/1235434192">Watchara Phomicinda/MediaNews Group/The Press-Enterprise via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Staff shortages and turnover</h2>
<p>Like <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2021/9/23/22689774/teacher-vacancies-shortages-covid">other schools around the nation</a>, the school I studied was persistently short of teachers because of staff who quit due to stress or who were fired for unprofessional behavior. It was often difficult to find qualified teachers to fill open positions.</p>
<p>During the pandemic, <a href="https://doi.org/10.7249/RRA168-4">one-quarter of teachers reported that they were likely to leave</a> the profession. In early 2022, the share of teachers who reported being <a href="https://www.edweek.org/research-center/reports/teaching-profession-in-crisis-national-teacher-survey">“very satisfied” with their jobs dropped to an all-time low at 12%</a>. </p>
<p>Amid the staffing shortages, news reports from around the country tell of teachers having to <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-04-20/lausd-teacher-shortage-proposal">teach two classes at once</a>, <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/how-staff-shortages-are-crushing-schools/2021/10">sacrifice preparation time</a> and bring in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/13/schools-parents-substitutes-omicron-shortage/">parents</a> or <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/11/us/teacher-shortages-parents-substitutes/index.html">highly paid district administrators</a> to cover classrooms. </p>
<p>Increasingly, <a href="https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2022/05/02/duval-county-teachers-predict-very-very-bad-situation/">mounting stress</a> means <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/teachers-are-quitting-midyear-its-leaving-some-schools-in-the-lurch/2022/03">teachers quit</a> midyear or even <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/how-staff-shortages-are-crushing-schools/2021/10">in the middle of a school day</a>. </p>
<h2>4. Threat of closure</h2>
<p>At the school I studied, the principal described extensive time and effort that she and others spent to encourage students to enroll there. “It is disheartening,” the principal said, that sometimes parents chose other schools due to a negative reputation that became associated with a school serving the area’s poorest Black and Latino communities. Any declines in enrollment threatened the loss of teaching positions. Persistent declines meant the threat of being closed altogether. </p>
<p>Nationwide, threats of school closure have risen in response to widespread <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/06_28_2021.asp">drops in annual enrollment in noncharter public schools</a>, especially in districts serving low-income communities of color. </p>
<p>School boards in <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/education/bs-md-school-board-vote-school-closure-20220126-tixq2fuicrhpdb7txzjvsf4tau-story.html">Baltimore</a> and the California cities of <a href="https://time.com/6146541/oakland-schools-closing-enrollment/">Oakland</a> and <a href="https://www.ktvu.com/news/hayward-unified-votes-to-close-fewer-schools-than-anticipated">Hayward</a> have recently decided to close multiple schools in the 2022-2023 school year due to declining enrollment. This has prompted public protest <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/parents-and-students-march-to-protest-oakland-school-closures/">from communities</a> who see the closures as targeted at poor Black and Latino neighborhoods.</p>
<p>Other districts around the country, including in <a href="https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-public-schools-predicts-enrollment-decline-budget-shortfall/600149534/">Minneapolis</a> and <a href="https://denvergazette.com/news/education/enrollment-declines-could-lead-to-dps-schools-closing-consolidating/article_dbab4aee-7ae5-11ec-878d-9bc8624cbc6b.html">Denver</a>, have warned residents about likely enrollment-related closures in the 2022-2023 school year.</p>
<h2>5. Threats from the community</h2>
<p>There are also violent threats at schools unrelated to mass shootings. During my study, teachers and principals reported distressing incidents of threats from members of the community, including verbal threats from parents and neighbors and an incident of the principal being held at knifepoint. </p>
<p>From March 2020 to June 2021, one-third of teachers reported <a href="https://www.apa.org/education-career/k12/violence-educators.pdf">at least one incident of verbal or threatening violence from students</a>, and over 40% of school administrators have reported <a href="https://www.apa.org/education-career/k12/violence-educators.pdf">verbal or threatening violence from parents</a>. </p>
<p>Reports of <a href="https://northpennnow.com/police-called-after-tempers-flare-over-mask-policy-at-north-penn-school-boa-p4539-117.htm">violent conflicts over masking</a> at school board meetings, <a href="https://www.eanesisd.net/post/%7Eboard/news/post/creating-an-oasis-for-our-students?fbclid=IwAR3Qs94_E6Ck7GN7Qrp-6ylUrTutr8pQAScQ2Am26cl6Lb8Z0140MSDAvfg">parents ripping masks off teachers’ faces</a> and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/parent-attacks-teacher-after-mask-dispute-first-day-school-california-n1276736">physical fights between parents and teachers</a> have emerged alongside reports of intensified hostility from resurgent culture wars, including <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-education-threats/">death threats</a> against school board members and their families. </p>
<p>In a February 2022 investigation, Reuters documented <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-education-threats/">220 incidents of violent intimidation</a> of school officials across 15 states. </p>
<p>K-12 educators and students are facing many simultaneous threats in addition to school shootings. This raises important questions about whether schools have the resources and support they need to ensure that students and educators can thrive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182648/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Zumpe's research has received funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.</span></em></p>Three years observing in a public school has given one scholar a close-up look at the sweeping challenges in public education.Elizabeth Zumpe, Visiting Assistant Professor in Educational Leadership, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1840362022-06-21T11:48:00Z2022-06-21T11:48:00ZDoes hardening schools make students safer?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469566/original/file-20220617-18-2u1x2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C112%2C5751%2C3716&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In this photo from 2016, students pass through a security checkpoint at William Hackett Middle School in Albany, N.Y., with guards, bag inspections and a metal detector. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SchoolsThreatAssessment/00c4332ea60243ea9f7cce08c2bec246/photo">AP Photo/Mike Groll</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The first real possibility for federal firearms legislation in decades has been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/12/senate-gun-deal-framework/">sketched out by a bipartisan group</a> of senators. </p>
<p>It comes in the wake of the May 23, 2022, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-school-shooting-timeline-6069b0cf01e5f732ef55f9fd0b7109d7">school shooting in Uvalde, Texas</a>, in which an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers before himself being <a href="https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/politifact/2022/06/03/fact-check-officer-who-killed-uvalde-school-shooter-duty/7486301001/">killed in a gunfire exchange</a> with police. </p>
<p>Perhaps inspired by concerns that the shooter entered the school through a <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/uvalde-school-shooting-door-shut-didnt-lock-texas-police/">door whose lock malfunctioned</a>, and faced few other barriers or restrictions during his attack, the <a href="https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-lays-out-bipartisan-gun-safety-framework">bipartisan proposal</a> would boost both <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/06/13/gun-deal-senate-bipartisan-bill-details">physical security measures and the number of mental health workers</a> in schools. It could come on top of US$1 billion in proposed funding to <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget22/summary/22summary.pdf">hire more school counselors, nurses, social workers and school psychologists</a>.</p>
<p>Another approach <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/3504604-gop-pitches-hardening-schools-as-uvalde-security-failures-emerge/">popular among some politicians</a> to increase school safety is so-called <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2022/5/31/23149086/school-hardening-security-uvalde-texas-shooting">school hardening</a>. Hardening encompasses a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2017.1307293">wide range of physical defenses</a>, such as surveillance cameras, metal detectors, door-locking systems, arming teachers and even armed guards. In the weeks following the Uvalde shooting, <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/26/texas-uvalde-shooting-harden-schools/">support for arming teachers</a> and employing police officers in schools has been renewed by leaders from both political parties.</p>
<p>The Uvalde shooting, like every school shooting, raises questions and concerns for parents and community members about how schools might be able to deter a prospective shooter from attacking. Sadly, <a href="https://theconversation.com/police-presence-on-school-grounds-poses-potential-risks-to-kids-180476">my research</a> and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2020.1846458">research of others</a> finds that there is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2017.1307293">no way</a> that schools can become so secure as to prevent gun violence. </p>
<h2>Addressing the threats</h2>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2T-HxYIAAAAJ&hl=en">professor</a> researching school safety and child trauma, I study how environments help or hinder healthy growth and development. School is an important environment to consider since kids spend more than <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass0708_035_s1s.asp">six hours at school</a> each day with their peers and teachers. </p>
<p>Researchers like me use the term <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3043">school climate</a> to describe the attitudes, beliefs, values and expectations that hold together <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-019-09296-9">school life</a>, and the extent to which members of the community endorse them. While physical security features affect students’ perceptions of school safety, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2010.00579.x">school climate</a> and the actions of teachers and staff also factor into feelings of safety. </p>
<h2>School security is big business</h2>
<p>School security has become a major industry in the United States. Each year, more than <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/inside-the-3-billion-school-security-industry-companies-market-sophisticated-technology-to-harden-campuses-but-will-it-make-us-safe/">$2.7 billion</a> are spent on hardening schools.</p>
<p>But there is currently <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2017.1307293">no conclusive evidence</a> that any of these measures prevent school shootings. In some cases, attackers have shot out windows to enter the building or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2017.1307293">triggered fire alarms</a> to cause the school’s occupants to exit. Schools’ attempts to make students safer <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2017.1307293">don’t actually do that</a>, and <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED617610">cost schools money</a> that could help increase staff and better equip classrooms for learning.</p>
<p>Even inexpensive fixes that <a href="https://www.openpath.com/blog-post/school-security-guide">safety professionals</a> consider <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/26/texas-uvalde-shooting-harden-schools/">best practices</a>, like locking exterior doors, are of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19361610.2013.765339">limited effectiveness</a>. <a href="https://safeandsoundschools.org/2019/01/22/lets-open-the-conversation-about-door-safety/">Door-locking policies</a> are not always enforced. Or, as in the Uvalde shooting, the equipment meant to keep doors locked <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/uvalde-school-shooting-door-shut-didnt-lock-texas-police/">malfunctioned</a>. All this spending and activity may give students and teachers a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/vio.2018.0044">false sense of security</a>. </p>
<h2>Missed opportunities</h2>
<p>School administrators feel pressure to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2017.1307293">make quick decisions</a> about security, often based on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/vio.2018.0044">limited or poor information</a>. </p>
<p>When they buy equipment, administrators may fall prey to the idea that the systems are taking care of things, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2016.1193742">so the people don’t need to prepare</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, enforcing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12512">police officers, metal detectors and other punitive measures at schools</a> can increase <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10964-018-0818-5">school violence for historically marginalized students</a>, spur <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-015-0006-8">higher rates of disciplinary action</a> against students and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2015.1081091">reduce the availability of extracurricular activities</a>.</p>
<p>In addition to not being effective in reducing gun violence, an <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1007/s12103-012-9182-2">overreliance on surveillance strategies</a> may make students feel less safe at school. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2010.00566.x">presence of metal detectors</a> has complicated effects and contradictory research findings. For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0895904816673735">metal detectors</a> may increase students’ feelings of fear and may also violate privacy. At the same time, they may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0895904816673735">reduce the number of weapons</a> brought on campus. </p>
<p>Another complicated response is lockdown drills. While some research suggests <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2020.1749199">they can be effective</a> at preventing school violence and preparing students to respond to a range of emergency scenarios, other research suggests these drills may confuse children and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/cdab012">increase fear and anxiety</a>. </p>
<h2>Using evidence to protect schools</h2>
<p>Complicating the notion of hardening access to school buildings is the fact that <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-455">about half of school shootings</a> are carried out by people within the school community – students, alumni, staff or family members – who would likely be allowed into the school and permitted to pass through various security checks.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2017.1307293">School safety</a> is not just a physical challenge, but a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/aps.1718">psychological one too</a>.</p>
<p>A comprehensive approach to school safety actively engages students, teachers and parents, <a href="https://rossier.usc.edu/astors-edweek-op-ed-proposes-ways-to-make-schools-safer/">identifies high-risk individuals</a> using <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12471">threat assessment</a> techniques, and instructs teachers and administrators to refer these students to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2017.11.022">mental health services</a>. </p>
<p>Increasing school-based mental health services is a proven way to <a href="https://rossier.usc.edu/astors-edweek-op-ed-proposes-ways-to-make-schools-safer/">increase school safety and promote a positive school climate</a>, and includes teaching students conflict management and emotional coping skills. Research suggests that these efforts <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-018-0242-3">support the well-being of students</a>, thereby increasing school safety. These services can also help school communities deal with trauma in the aftermath of violence. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-018-0264-7">Helping schools become ready</a> to implement a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2021.1926321">comprehensive approach</a> is an important task. Many schools <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2022/%2004/12/has-federal-crisis-spending-for-k-12-schools-served-its-intended-objectives/">lack the financial resources</a> to pay for those programs and services. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://rollcall.com/2022/06/12/bipartisan-senate-group-strikes-gun-deal-focused-on-school-safety-mental-health/">new legislation</a> provides an opportunity. <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1184769">Schools have historically struggled</a> to fund an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12753">adequate number of counselors and social workers</a> for the needs of the school community. <a href="https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/schools-need-mental-health-services-heres-how-fund-them-after-covid-aid-ends">Particularly as COVID-19 relief funds are drying up</a>, schools are scrambling to hire and retain sufficient mental health staff. The new federal proposal <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget22/summary/22summary.pdf">could help fund those efforts</a>.</p>
<p>Schools cannot be hardened enough to prevent gun violence. Schools can, however, become more physically and psychologically safe so students can learn and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/swr/32.1.6">thrive</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184036/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth K. Anthony does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Surveillance cameras, metal detectors, door-locking systems and armed guards have not prevented school shootings. A school safety scholar examines other possible approaches.Elizabeth K. Anthony, Associate Professor of Social Work, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1839672022-06-07T12:32:12Z2022-06-07T12:32:12ZSchool mental health resources critical to ensuring safe school environments<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466997/original/file-20220603-14-syxar7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C0%2C3000%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">School counselors like Jacquelyn Indrisano, left, can help students feel welcome and safe at school.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/guidance-counselor-jacquelyn-indrisano-embraces-ninth-news-photo/1169518487">Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whenever a mass shooting takes place in schools, public discussion often focuses on laws or policies that might have prevented the tragedy. But averting school violence needs more than gun policy. It requires both <a href="https://luskin.ucla.edu/scholars-issue-call-for-evidence-based-action-to-prevent-school-violence">prevention and crisis response</a> that take students’ emotional well-being – not just their physical safety – into account.</p>
<p>School violence prevention also requires professionals – counselors, psychologists and social workers – who know how to create an <a href="https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/topic-research/safety/emotional-safety">emotionally safe environment</a>, which research shows is critical to safe schools. Unfortunately, statistics show there is a <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/school-counselors-and-psychologists-remain-scarce-even-as-needs-rise/2022/03">critical shortage</a> of such employees. Staffing shortages have become a major obstacle to creating schools that are emotionally safe for children. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=wP7uXtkAAAAJ">school psychology professors</a> who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=C9YZiOsAAAAJ&hl=en">train future school psychologists</a>, we know that school counselors, psychologists and social workers are in short supply. Though school shootings have led to increased hiring of police officers <a href="https://www.aclu.org/report/cops-and-no-counselors">to serve in schools</a>, the hiring of experts in <a href="http://www.schoolmentalhealth.org/Resources/Foundations-of-School-Mental-Health/">school mental health</a> has not kept pace. Demand is greater than supply, a trend that <a href="https://bhw.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/bureau-health-workforce/data-research/behavioral-health-2013-2025.pdf">is projected</a> to continue in the years to come. </p>
<h2>Staffing matters</h2>
<p>Employment of school counselors is expected to <a href="https://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-social-service/school-and-career-counselors.htm">grow 11%</a> over the coming decade. However, there are not enough trained professionals to fill the positions. Current ratios are already twice what they should be, with one <a href="https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/b079d17d-6265-4166-a120-3b1f56077649/School-Counselors-Matter.pdf">school counselor</a> for every 464 students and one <a href="https://www.nasponline.org/research-and-policy/policy-priorities/critical-policy-issues/shortage-of-school-psychologists">school psychologist</a> for every 1,200 students. These ratios are <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019020/index.asp">even higher</a> in schools where most students are members of ethnic or racial minorities.</p>
<p>Better-staffed schools are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J202v06n04_02">more likely</a> to use preventive and restorative approaches to student violence – ones that aim to educate, rather than those that simply aim to punish. In understaffed schools, providers manage only to keep up with emergencies, rather than doing the preventative work required to <a href="https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-safety-and-crisis/systems-level-prevention/a-framework-for-safe-and-successful-schools">make schools safer and more successful</a>.</p>
<p>Key preventive and restorative activities to promote emotionally safe environments include:</p>
<ol>
<li><p><strong>Promoting connected communities:</strong> Research has found that when students feel more comfortable at school, and feel like they belong there, they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-020-00142-8">less likely</a> to engage in aggressive behavior at school – even when they have experienced violence at home. Key activities such as group decision-making, teamwork-building and conflict resolution – often led by teachers with support from school mental health personnel – can help build this type of community. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>Teaching social-emotional skills:</strong> School mental health professionals can help to ensure all students are taught strategies to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772260">identify</a> their feelings, calm themselves and connect with others. Students with these skills not only have fewer conduct problems and less emotional distress at school but <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x">get better grades as well</a>. Most states, however, <a href="https://doi.org/10.17105/SPR-2017.0116.V47-3">don’t require schools to teach</a> these skills to all students. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>Intervening early:</strong> Schools are in a unique position to provide proactive supports when data suggests widespread need. For example, rates of anxiety and depression in youth <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2782796">have doubled</a> since the onset of the pandemic, such that as many as 20% of students in a classroom may be affected. Targeted therapeutic supports delivered in small group formats by school mental health personnel <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2016.10.005">can help prevent</a> the development of future disorders. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>Providing accessible mental health suppport:</strong> Schools can be a primary source for mental health support for young people in crisis. This includes both providing direct services in school and coordinating care with community providers. For many students, especially students of color and those with fewer financial resources, school may be the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12753">only accessible way</a> to receive mental health treatment. </p></li>
</ol>
<h2>Preparing school staff</h2>
<p>Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, and much more severely since it began, <a href="https://theconversation.com/students-are-returning-to-school-with-anxiety-grief-and-gaps-in-social-skills-will-there-be-enough-school-mental-health-resources-165279">schools have been struggling</a> to provide enough mental health support to students, given insufficient staffing. </p>
<p>There are several federal bills proposed that aim to expand the number of school mental health workers. <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/4198/text">One bill</a> would help grow the pipeline by subsidizing the cost of graduate training for those who commit to working in schools. <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/6214/text">Another</a> would provide grants directly to schools to fund additional in-school positions. However, experts project both bills only have a <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr6214">3% chance</a> of being enacted by Congress.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183967/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Briesch receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandra M. Chafouleas receives funding from National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Education, Principal Financial Foundation, and the Neag Foundation.</span></em></p>School violence prevention requires professionals – counselors, psychologists and social workers – who know how to create an emotionally safe environment. Those staffers are in very short supply.Amy Briesch, Associate Professor of School Psychology, Northeastern UniversitySandra M. Chafouleas, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1838982022-06-03T12:14:27Z2022-06-03T12:14:27ZWarning signs can be detected sooner through universal screenings for student mental health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466397/original/file-20220531-12-33axtl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students may self-report distress when given the opportunity.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/little-sad-boy-kid-student-in-protective-face-mask-royalty-free-image/1336242458?adppopup=true">Anna Kraynova / EyeEm / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whenever a massacre takes place at a U.S. school, like the one at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, discussions often follow about whether school officials may have missed any “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-021-09475-1">red flags</a>.”</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=N7saxgwAAAAJ&hl=en">researcher</a> who specializes in supporting student mental health, I believe these discussions are overlooking important issues. To prevent school violence, the discussion must shift. Rather than what schools missed, the emphasis should be placed on how schools can be more proactive about identifying students with mental health needs before they display signs of distress.</p>
<p>Ideally, schools should be the one setting in which all youths have consistent access to caring adults. A typical elementary school teacher will spend <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass0708_035_s1s.asp">more than 1,000 hours with students per school year</a> and thus are in an ideal position to recognize behavioral and emotional changes in students.</p>
<p>However, teachers <a href="https://doi.org/10.17105/SPR-2017-0094.V47-4">rarely receive training in mental and behavioral health</a>, which makes them more likely to focus on student behaviors that disrupt instruction, such as aggression and talking out of turn. It is little surprise that sending kids to the office – known in the field as an office discipline referral – continues to be a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22614">primary mechanism</a> for identifying students in need of emotional, behavioral and mental health supports.</p>
<h2>Challenges to being more proactive</h2>
<p>Increasingly, schools have adopted a framework known as <a href="https://www.pbis.org/">Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports</a>, a proactive system meant to teach essential social skills and prevent later behavior problems. The system is meant to create a positive school environment through support at the school, classroom and individual levels. This includes setting schoolwide expectations for behavior and helping teachers with classroom management. Rather than being punished for bad behavior, students are recognized for positive behavior.</p>
<p>However, even in schools that use Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, the reactive approach of using data about how often kids are sent to the office is still used. </p>
<h2>A problematic approach</h2>
<p>Why are discipline referrals a problem? Consider a typical referral process. Research has consistently shown that Hispanic and African American male students are sent to the office at a <a href="https://doi.org/10.17988/bedi-41-04-178-195.1">disproportionate rate</a>. Behaviors that are disruptive to instruction, such as talking out of turn, are more likely to lead to referrals, while students with more quiet and internal concerns, such as anxiety or stress, are often overlooked. Discipline referrals are unreliable and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-018-0173-2">rarely provide information on how schools can help students</a>. </p>
<p>Many school safety plans have focused on physical security measures, such as metal detectors and armed school resource officers. However, a comprehensive and effective safety plan includes <a href="https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-safety-and-crisis/systems-level-prevention/a-framework-for-safe-and-successful-schools">physical and psychological safety</a>.</p>
<p>Since 2012, I have been researching <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Conducting-Behavioral-and-Social-Emotional-Assessments-in-MTSS-Screen-to/Embse-Eklund-Kilgus/p/book/9780367403850">universal screening tools</a> as a way to proactively identify students in need of emotional or mental health support. A universal screening tool is a brief assessment that usually takes less than two minutes to complete and measures early indicators of social, behavioral and emotional needs. For instance, an assessment might ask teachers how frequently a student engages in arguing and impulsive behavior or is sad. Students are asked the same or similar questions about themselves. A teacher may complete a screening tool on each student in the classroom in less than 30 minutes for the whole class.</p>
<p>These tools are not diagnostic but rather show general areas where a student may benefit from help, such as emotional coping skills and anger management.</p>
<h2>Early detection</h2>
<p>Research from my colleagues and me over the past decade has consistently found that screening tools <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000246">accurately detect students in need</a> of additional support in school. Evidence shows they work <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2019.09.005">across a wide age range</a> and help determine <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1534508415623269">what kind of intervention is needed</a>.</p>
<p>Research has found these screening tools show that students who self-report as being at risk are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1534508419885016">likely to have poor grades and lower test scores on statewide tests</a>.</p>
<p>My colleague <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=icnV2SMAAAAJ&hl=en">Stephen Kilgus</a>, an associate professor of school psychology, and I developed the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Scale – also known as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000230">SAEBRS</a> – which has been used in rural, suburban and urban school districts across the United States.</p>
<h2>Increasing use</h2>
<p>Nearly a quarter of U.S. schools now use some type of systematic tool to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312211000043">evaluate the mental and emotional health of students</a>. This is up from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/etc.2014.0039">approximately 13%</a> in 2014.</p>
<p>And yet the majority of schools <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12872">do not use these sorts of proactive tools</a>. Administrators cite costs, time and lack of school mental health professionals <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1534508410379842">as barriers to using screening tools</a>.</p>
<p>Despite the costs of time and money, these screening tools can pay off in the long run. Ultimately, screening tools connected to prevention systems may reduce significant behavior concerns by up to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-021-01108-8">50% and suspensions by 22%</a>. This results in substantial time and cost savings.</p>
<p>To begin, screening plans should include who completes the screening tool. Having both teacher and student perspectives is essential. </p>
<p>New research has demonstrated the benefit of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2019.09.005">multiple raters</a>. Students as young as kindergartners can use the tools to report mental health needs when the tools, which feature child-friendly language.</p>
<p>In supporting a number of local schools, we have found that teachers reported 40% of students in need of support, while 70% of students self-reported being in need of support. Student voice is a critical component in communicating mental health needs.</p>
<p>In December 2021, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy reported that the pandemic has <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/12/07/us-surgeon-general-issues-advisory-on-youth-mental-health-crisis-further-exposed-by-covid-19-pandemic.html">worsened the nation’s youth mental health crisis</a>.</p>
<p>As our society continues to grapple with mass school shootings, schools must play a critical role in preventing future tragedies. Effective prevention requires proactive assessment. <a href="https://smhcollaborative.org/universalscreening/">Universal screenings</a> have proved themselves effective in promoting student well-being. The question is whether schools will use them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183898/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathaniel von der Embse, Ph.D., NCSP is a Professor of School Psychology at the University of South Florida, co-director of the School Mental Health Collaborative, and consults with Illuminate Education. He has received funding from the Spencer Foundation, US Department of Education, National Institute for Justice. </span></em></p>Waiting for kids to show signs of distress has little value, says a researcher who is pushing schools to take a more proactive approach toward student mental health.Nathaniel von der Embse, Professor of School Psychology, University of South FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1839582022-06-02T12:16:36Z2022-06-02T12:16:36ZTeachers often struggle to address mass traumatic events in class<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466561/original/file-20220601-48861-2t0r5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C11%2C7340%2C4897&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Educators get little to no training in how to deal with traumatic events.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/business-woman-on-chalkboard-background-royalty-free-image/1273555667?adppopup=true">Pixelimage / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Paris-attacks-of-2015">Paris attacks of 2015</a> – a series of attacks in which gunmen opened fire on nightspots and a concert hall in Paris – a U.S.-based high school teacher of French described her failure to discuss the attacks in class as a “lost opportunity.”</p>
<p>“I was working through my own feelings and did not know how to approach it,” she told us in a survey after the attacks. “I only talked about it when the students brought it up and I kept conversations short.</p>
<p>"I think I should have been more open, honest, and offered more opportunities for students to process and take some action, even if it was a moment of silence, to honor the victims and help the families and survivors,” the teacher continued. “I let my fear of not knowing what to do guide me and I regret it.”</p>
<p>Such feelings are by no means uncommon among schoolteachers after a mass traumatic event has occurred, as we have learned as researchers who specialize in student <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9NARJzgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">mental health</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=rStmGIoAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">well-being</a>.</p>
<p>This teacher was just one of <a href="https://istss.org/ISTSS_Main/media/Documents/ISTSS-Final-Program.pdf">almost 100 U.S.-based teachers of French</a> whom we surveyed after the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/bataclan-attack-survivors-and-victims-loved-ones-on-resulting-hate-compassion">2015 Paris attacks</a>. We also surveyed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-014-9140-x">about 150 Massachusetts teachers</a> following the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/us/boston-marathon-terror-attack-fast-facts/index.html">2013 Boston Marathon bombing</a>. </p>
<p>The National Association of School Psychologists recommends that teachers <a href="https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-safety-and-crisis/school-violence-resources/talking-to-children-about-violence-tips-for-parents-and-teachers">make time to talk</a> to students about high-profile acts of violence, including attacks against schools, such as the <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/27/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-timeline/">May 2022 massacre at Robb Elementary School</a> in Uvalde, Texas. However, the teachers whom we surveyed regularly told us that initiating these conversations is difficult.</p>
<p>In response to our surveys, the teachers wrote about the challenges of entering their classroom the morning after a crisis. Here is what they told us:</p>
<h2>1. There is no typical way that students will respond</h2>
<p>Psychologists are clear that, after a mass trauma, a <a href="https://www.nctsn.org/resources/talking-children-about-shooting">wide range of feelings and responses</a> is normal.</p>
<p>For teachers, this means that in a classroom of 25 students, there might be 25 different reactions. Students may also differ in their knowledge and understanding of what happened in the event. Whereas parents can focus on just their own children, teachers need to navigate complex conversations with many students at once, realizing that some students may be deeply affected, while others have little reaction.</p>
<p>For example, after the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/boston-marathon-bombings">Boston Marathon attack</a> in April 2013, a teacher wrote about the challenges of anticipating how her students would respond: “Because the students I serve have trauma histories and emotional disabilities, it is very difficult to determine the impact of the events in April on students, as so many other factors play a role.”</p>
<h2>2. There is no script to address trauma</h2>
<p>Conversations about crises are unpredictable. Teachers don’t know what topics and questions students will raise and are often left to find their own materials. One teacher wrote about preparing to return to school following the Boston Marathon attack: “I spent a lot of time and energy working on a plan for my class on my own, but I know that other teachers who did not have the luxury to do so, or who were less experienced teachers, were much more worried about going into school than I was.”</p>
<p>Other teachers commented on their uncertainty entering the classroom. A teacher of middle and high school French wrote after the Paris attacks: “[I] had many students ask me about the attacks and I spoke with them privately about the tragedy but said that I didn’t feel comfortable discussing the events as an entire class. If I had more resources or time or training to address these events with teens I would love to be able to without the fear of offending someone or having a student say something insensitive.”</p>
<h2>3. Students are not the only audience</h2>
<p>While students are the focus of teachers’ attention, families may have strong opinions about if or how schools talk about mass trauma. Even when school staff members know how to navigate conversations with students based on best practices and developmental considerations, families may have their own opinions about what is appropriate to discuss in school. </p>
<p>An elementary school French teacher wrote about her concern that she would provide more information than parents would like: “I told them that if they had questions, they should talk to their parents, because I wanted to respect the parents’ wishes as far as how much the kids knew.”</p>
<p>An elementary school science teacher wrote a similar response after the Boston Marathon attack: “I was also always fearful that one student who knew all about the attacks would start talking about it with students who had no idea what had happened and I would be stuck trying to mediate the situation, wary of what parents would say if students come home talking about the event after parents had decided not to expose their child to it.”</p>
<h2>4. Events are linked to broader social, political and cultural contexts</h2>
<p>As teachers prepared to discuss a traumatic event, they said they also needed to be ready to discuss the context of the event. For example, a middle and high school teacher of French wrote that she “experienced strong conservative political reactions from students,” which she said she wasn’t expecting. “I expected to help them grieve, but I felt unprepared to navigate a debate on gun control in one class and bombing Syria in another. … I tried to offer counterpoints while simultaneously being unaware of how far I can push before getting into hot water.”</p>
<h2>5. Teachers are affected, too</h2>
<p>Often teachers live and teach in communities directly affected by traumatic events. Or, as with the Uvalde, Texas massacre, teachers may themselves feel scared or affected by <a href="https://violence.chop.edu/school-shootings">events</a>. For example, an eighth and ninth grade French and Spanish teacher wrote after the Paris attacks that she, “as an adult, was much more traumatized than the kids.” “To me it was another 9/11 moment,” she said. “I was the one feeling lost, shocked and upset.” A first grade teacher similarly wrote after the Boston Marathon attack: “Most of the students wanted school to resume as normal – they wanted consistency and something familiar. It was the adults that needed the most help comprehending, processing and dealing with the events.”</p>
<p>When we asked teachers how their schools can better support them, two messages came across clearly. First, leadership is essential. Several teachers noted the importance of school leaders meeting with staff to discuss their feelings and prepare to respond before resuming school. They also discussed the importance of school leaders sending out communications to educators and families, explaining how the school will respond. </p>
<p>Second, teachers want to know what to say. An April 2022 study found that only five states required future teachers to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15700763.2022.2066547">receive training in how to respond to trauma</a>. Teachers expressed that they want training and guidance in how to discuss traumatic events with students, including how to open the conversation, how to respond to difficult questions, and how to support students throughout the discussion. For example, a fifth grade teacher wrote after the Boston Marathon attack: “Training! We have no training on this. We get emails from our superiors that tell us to address the events, with not much training on how to do it. I feel like I’m good at this type of thing – but not all teachers in my school are. … The result is that some kids get their needs met by their teacher and some don’t.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183958/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Schoolteachers routinely report feeling ill-prepared to guide their students through difficult conversations about high-profile violent events.Jennifer Greif Green, Associate Professor of Special Education, Boston UniversityJonathan S. Comer, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Florida International UniversityMelissa Holt, Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1839652022-06-02T12:16:00Z2022-06-02T12:16:00Z5 ways to reduce school shootings<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466681/original/file-20220601-48537-yx23wp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C12%2C2032%2C1345&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Restrictive gun laws bring down the murder rate.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-attend-a-candlelight-vigil-in-uvalde-texas-united-news-photo/1241011278?adppopup=true">Anadolu Agency / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>After the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, psychology professor <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=70eLrWwAAAAJ">Paul Boxer</a> and his colleagues reviewed research to see what could be learned from what they refer to as the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21766">science of violence prevention</a>.” In the wake of the May 24, 2022, massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Boxer has revisited that research anew – and other research conducted since then – for insights on what can be done to reduce the risk of school shootings in the future. Here he offers five policy changes – based on his findings – that can be implemented to achieve that end.</em></p>
<h2>1. Dramatically limit access to guns</h2>
<p>Gun regulation matters.</p>
<p>When my colleagues and I looked at gun regulations on a state-by-state basis, we found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdab047">more restrictive gun laws are associated with lower rates of homicides by guns</a>. </p>
<p>This relation held even after we took demographic, economic and educational factors into account. Others researchers have found that “permissive firearm laws and higher rates of gun ownership” were linked with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2021.2018332">higher rates of school shootings</a>. </p>
<p>What these results essentially mean is that in states where it is more difficult to acquire a gun, fewer people are killed by guns. Examples of these restrictions are raising the age for legal purchase, imposing lengthy waiting periods before access, requiring meaningful background checks, and more. These and similar measures – for example, eliminating access for individuals at a high risk of committing violence, such as the perpetrators of domestic violence – all move toward making it significantly harder to access guns, which would reduce gun violence substantially.</p>
<p>Placing meaningful restrictions or outright bans on firearm equipment associated with greater lethality, such as assault-style rifles and high-capacity magazines, should also lower the number of people being killed by firearms. Research <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106599">already has shown</a> that greater access to guns is associated with higher numbers of gun deaths.</p>
<h2>2. Use more violence risk assessments in schools</h2>
<p>In the years since the Columbine shooting in 1999, researchers and federal law enforcement agencies have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.1007">studied school shootings</a> and developed <a href="https://doi.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Ftam0000038">risk assessments</a> to gauge the likelihood of actual violence by a young person identified as a possible risk.</p>
<p>These assessments are conducted by professionals that include police officers, school officials and teachers. They also involve mental health professionals, such as school counselors and psychologists. Together, these professionals all consult with one another to determine a young person’s risk for violence.</p>
<p>These teams may not be able to prevent every possible incident. Still, this sort of approach is critical to improving the process of identifying and stopping potential shooters overall. Guidance on how to use these assessments is <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/making-prevention-a-reality.pdf/view">freely available</a> and based in extensive applied research. For example, in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/tam0000038">one 2015 study</a>, the <a href="https://dev.curry.virginia.edu/faculty-research/centers-labs-projects/research-labs/youth-violence-project/virginia-student-threat">Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines</a> – a set of guidelines for the investigation of a reported threat, thorough assessment of the individual making the threat, and preventive or protective measures to be taken in response – were shown to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/tam0000038">reduce rates of student aggression</a>. They were also shown to lower out-of-school suspension rates while improving teacher and student perceptions of safety. </p>
<h2>3. Expand evidence-based strategies to reduce violent behavior</h2>
<p>To help reduce the number of youths who grow up to become violent, governmental agencies could increase the availability and use of evidence-based interventions in schools. </p>
<p>Aggressive and violent behavior has been shown by research to emerge from a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01233.x">mix of personal and environmental risk factors</a>. The factors include impulsivity, callousness, exposure to violence and victimization. </p>
<p>In light of this research, effective approaches were developed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-013-9576-4">prevent</a> aggression by teaching students to problem-solve for better responses to peer conflict. They also teach students to think carefully about others’ motivations when they feel provoked.</p>
<p>Programs shown to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.72.4.571">reduce</a> aggressive behavior typically train youths who already have exhibited some aggression on new and better coping skills for managing stress and anger. And for youths who have become seriously violent, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.73.3.445">treatments</a> teach new, constructive behavioral and communication skills to youths and their caregivers. The treatments also help young people develop better relationships with family members and school personnel.</p>
<h2>4. Make school buildings safer</h2>
<p>The Robb Elementary School shooter entered the school building through a door that reportedly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/31/uvalde-teacher-door-closed/">malfunctioned</a>. This highlights the absolute importance for schools to take and maintain physical security measures.</p>
<p>In the wake of school shootings, schools often turn to solutions such as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/30/1102035766/u-s-schools-increase-security-after-uvalde-shooting-texas">upgraded camera surveillance or increased law enforcement</a>. </p>
<p>These measures can have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.06.008">mixed effects</a> on students’ perceptions of safety and support – cameras posted outside appear to increase felt safety, whereas cameras posted inside seem to promote unease. </p>
<p>Increased law enforcement presence might make <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2020.1844547">teachers feel safer</a> in school. But it also might <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12512">criminalize student misbehavior</a> without <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2020.1846458">actually making schools safer</a>.</p>
<p>Still, there are number of ways for schools to <a href="https://doi.org/10.14738/assrj.88.10614">improve physical security</a> without increasing student anxiety or needlessly deploying law enforcement. For example, in one large study, students were less likely to skip school because of safety concerns when metal detectors were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904816673735">used at school entry points</a>. In that study, those metal detectors also reduced the likelihood of weapons being brought into schools.</p>
<h2>5. Reduce exposure to violence through media and social media</h2>
<p>Entertainment media and social media are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.1">saturated with violent images</a> of physical assaults, gun violence and gore. Exposure to and participation in virtual violence might not lead to aggressive behavior for all children and adolescents. But watching violent programs and playing violent video games can lead to increased <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21655">hostility</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21427">aggressive feelings</a>, emotional <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021711">desensitization to violence</a> and ultimately <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.160.4.348">aggressive behavior</a>. These effects can potentially be lessened by reducing the amount of screen violence to which children and adolescents are exposed over time, particularly early in development.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183965/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Boxer receives funding from the Centers for Disease Control. </span></em></p>Risk assessments and rigid gun laws are among the tools that can help prevent school massacres, a specialist in youth aggression says.Paul Boxer, Professor of Psychology, Rutgers University - NewarkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1839092022-05-27T22:00:45Z2022-05-27T22:00:45ZArming teachers – an effective security measure or a false sense of security?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465810/original/file-20220527-23-pqd7cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C109%2C5573%2C3598&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Even trained police officers often miss their target during gunfights.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/firearm-instructor-and-student-royalty-free-image/157616700?adppopup=true">RichLegg / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In the wake of the <a href="https://www.statesman.com/story/news/nation/2022/05/24/texas-school-district-locked-down-active-shooter/9910214002/">mass shooting at Robb Elementary School</a> in Uvalde, Texas, some elected officials are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/05/25/harden-schools-arm-teachers-uvalde/">making calls anew</a> for
<a href="https://twitter.com/acyn/status/1529224340071297025">teachers to be armed and trained to use firearms</a> to protect the nation’s schools. To shine light on the matter, The Conversation reached out to <a href="https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=RrYCnwIAAAAJ&hl=en">Aimee Huff</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=6gjKzYoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Michelle Barnhart</a>, two Oregon State University scholars who have studied the ins and outs of putting guns in the hands of the nation’s teachers as a way to protect students.</em></p>
<h2>1. What does the public think about arming teachers?</h2>
<p>According to a 2021 poll, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/08/04/wide-differences-on-most-gun-policies-between-gun-owners-and-non-owners-but-also-some-agreement/">43% of Americans</a> supported policies that allow school personnel to carry guns in schools.</p>
<p>But if you take a closer look, you see that most of that support comes from Republicans and gun-owners. For instance, 66% of Republican respondents expressed support for such policies, versus just 24% of Democratic respondents. And 63% of gun owners supported allowing school personnel to carry guns, versus just 33% of non-gun owners. </p>
<p>The majority of <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/231224/teachers-prioritize-gun-control-prevent-shootings.aspx">teachers</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/survey-finds-wide-opposition-among-parents-to-arming-teachers/2018/07/16/03674e34-8927-11e8-8aea-86e88ae760d8_story.html">parents</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2020.1858424">students</a> oppose allowing teachers to carry guns.</p>
<p>The largest teachers unions, including the National Education Association, also oppose arming teachers, arguing that bringing more guns into schools “<a href="https://www.nea.org/about-nea/media-center/press-releases/nea-rejects-call-arm-teachers-wake-school-massacre-uvalde-texas">makes schools more dangerous and does nothing to shield our students and educators from gun violence</a>.”</p>
<p>These teachers unions <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/American%20Federation%20of%20Teachers%20(AFT)%20statement.pdf">advocate</a> a preventive approach that includes more gun regulations.</p>
<p>While the public is justifiably concerned with eliminating school shootings, there is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/texas-conservatives-armed-teachers-are-solution-school-shootings-2022-05-25/">disagreement</a> over the policies and actions that would be most effective. A 2021 study found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12538">70% of Americans</a> supported the idea of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12538">armed school resource officers</a> and law enforcement in schools, but only <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/npr-ipsos-poll-majority-americans-support-policies-aimed-keep-guns-out-hands-dangerous-individuals">41%</a> supported the idea of training teachers to carry guns in schools.</p>
<p>In our research on <a href="https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/2552033/volumes/v47/NA-47">how Americans think about the rights and responsibilities related to armed self-defense</a>, we even find disagreement among conservative gun owners over how to best protect schoolchildren. Some advocate arming teachers, while other gun owners believe guns in schools ultimately make children less safe. These conservative opponents of arming teachers instead support fortifying the building’s design and features.</p>
<p>After the massacre in Uvalde, we are seeing renewed calls from politicians to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/05/25/harden-schools-arm-teachers-uvalde/">arm teachers</a> and provide them with <a href="https://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article261779287.html">specialized training</a>.</p>
<p>However, amid <a href="https://apnews.com/article/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-44a7cfb990feaa6ffe482483df6e4683">conflicting reports</a> about whether police officers engaged the Robb Elementary School shooter, there are renewed questions about whether armed teachers would make a difference. Police have <a href="https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2022/05/27/police-mistakenly-blocked-classroom-during-texas-school-shooting-dps-says/9959949002/">acknowledged they didn’t enter the school</a> even as kids frantically dialed 911.</p>
<p>Given that there were also armed officers present at the <a href="https://extras.denverpost.com/news/col1123b.htm">Columbine</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/us/parkland-scot-peterson.html">Parkland</a> school massacres in 1999 and 2018, respectively, the public is understandably right to wonder whether armed teachers can effectively neutralize a shooter. Amid reports that trained and experienced police officers may have been unable or unwilling to intervene against the Uvalde shooter, it’s not clear whether teachers would be, either.</p>
<h2>2. What are the potential drawbacks of arming teachers?</h2>
<p>Arming teachers <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-trumps-idea-to-arm-teachers-may-miss-the-mark-92335">introduces risks to students and staff</a>, as well as school districts themselves. These include the risk of teachers accidentally shooting themselves or students and fellow staff. There are also moral and legal risks associated with improper or inaccurate defensive use of a firearm - even for teachers who have undertaken specialized firearms training.</p>
<p>One <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/public_information/RAND_FirearmEvaluation.pdf">study</a> found that highly trained police in gunfights <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/public_information/RAND_FirearmEvaluation.pdf">hit their target only 18% of the time</a>. Even if teachers, who would likely have less <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/19/teachers-utah-guns-school-shootings">training</a>, achieve the same accuracy, four or five of every six bullets fired by a teacher would hit something or someone other than the shooter. Further, a teacher responding with force to a shooter may be mistaken for the perpetrator by law enforcement or by armed colleagues. </p>
<p>Introducing guns to the school environment also poses <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/695762">everyday risks</a>. Armed teachers may unintentionally discharge their firearm. For instance, an armed police officer accidentally discharged his weapon in his office at a school in <a href="https://bit.ly/2BnC8zT">Alexandria, Virginia</a> in 2018. Guns can also fall into the wrong hands. <a href="https://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644(12)01408-4/fulltext">Research</a> on shootings that took place in hospital emergency rooms found that in 23% of the cases, the weapon used was a gun the perpetrator took from a hospital security guard.</p>
<p>Students could also access firearms that are improperly stored or mishandled. <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304262">Improper storage</a> is a common problem among American gun owners. In a school setting, this has resulted in students finding a <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/report/arming-teachers-introduces-new-risks-into-schools/">teacher’s misplaced firearm</a>, sometimes taking it or reporting it to another school official. News reports show that guns carried into schools have <a href="https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2018/10/24/student-substitute-teacher-back-flip-gun-falls-out">fallen out</a> of teachers’ clothing, and have been left in <a href="https://bit.ly/2G9jlfF">bathrooms</a> and <a href="https://bit.ly/2GtNfeb">locker rooms</a>. There have also been reports of students <a href="https://bit.ly/2V3psWX">stealing</a> guns from teachers.</p>
<p>Insurance companies also see concealed guns on school grounds as creating a <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-arming-teachers-20180226-story.html">heightened liability risk</a>.</p>
<p>Other <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/90024239">drawbacks</a> to arming teachers involve the learning environment. In particular, owing to structural racism and discriminatory school security policies, Black high school students are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X211046637">less supportive</a> than white students of arming teachers – 16% versus 26% – and report feeling less safe if teachers are carrying firearms. </p>
<h2>3. What are the arguments for arming teachers?</h2>
<p>Proponents emphasize that teachers, as Americans, have a right to use firearms to defend themselves against violent crime, including a school shooter. Our <a href="https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/2552033/volumes/v47/NA-47">research</a> shows that some people interpret their right to armed self-defense as a moral obligation, and argue that teachers have both a right and a responsibility to use firearms to protect themselves and their students. </p>
<p>Parents who regularly carry handguns to protect themselves and their children may take comfort knowing that their child’s teacher could perform the role of protector at school. </p>
<p>In a school shooting, where lives can be saved or ended in a matter of seconds, some people may <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/shooting-people-is-deescalation-three-days-with-teachers-training-to-use-guns-in-schools/">feel more secure</a> believing a shooter would immediately meet armed resistance from a teacher without needing to wait for an armed school officer to respond. </p>
<h2>4. Have any school districts allowed teachers to arm themselves?</h2>
<p>Yes. Teachers may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12538">carry guns at school</a> in districts in at least 19 states. The idea surfaced as a viable policy after the 1999 Columbine shooting, and gained momentum after the 2018 Parkland shooting. </p>
<p>The number of school districts that permit teachers to be armed is <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/439z7q/exclusive-how-parkland-created-a-rush-to-arm-teachers-and-school-staff-across-the-country">difficult</a> to ascertain. Policies <a href="https://gunsandamerica.org/story/19/03/22/with-no-national-standards-policies-for-arming-teachers-are-often-left-to-local-school-districts/">vary</a> across states. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/31/nyregion/guns-schools-ban-teachers-ny.html">New York</a> bars school districts from allowing teachers to carry guns, while <a href="https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/laws-allowing-armed-staff-in-K12-schools.html">Missouri and Montana</a> authorize teachers to carry firearms.</p>
<h2>5. What were the results?</h2>
<p>There are documented <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/great-mills-high-shooter-shot-by-school-officer-killed-self-police/44326/">incidents</a> of school staff using their firearm to neutralize a shooter. However, researchers <a href="https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/laws-allowing-armed-staff-in-K12-schools.html">have not found evidence</a> that arming teachers increases school safety. Rather, arming teachers may contribute to a <a href="https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/vio.2018.0044">false sense of security</a> for teachers, students and the community.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183909/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Putting guns in the hands of schoolteachers is a popular idea among gun-owners and conservatives, but research suggests it may pose more problems than it solves.Aimee Dinnín Huff, Associate Professor, Marketing, Oregon State UniversityMichelle Barnhart, Associate Professor, Marketing, Oregon State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1834552022-05-20T12:15:23Z2022-05-20T12:15:23ZAccused Buffalo mass shooter had threatened a shooting while in high school. Could more have been done to avert the tragedy?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464344/original/file-20220519-24-qopwtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C0%2C6679%2C4466&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many mass shooters show signs of distress before their attack. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/active-shooter-taking-gun-in-classroom-ready-for-royalty-free-image/1353456796?adppopup=true">Smederevac via iStock/Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nearly a year before he was charged with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/05/14/nyregion/buffalo-shooting">shooting and killing 10 shoppers</a>, and wounding three more, at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store, a then-17-year-old student <a href="https://buffalonews.com/news/local/mass-shooter-accused-of-pure-evil-killing-of-10-in-buffalo-hate-crime-named-in/article_f9ef9bac-d3d9-11ec-9eaf-cbcafe308f9c.html#tracking-source=home-top-story">reportedly told his classmates</a> at Susquehanna Valley High School that he “wanted to do a shooting, either at a graduation ceremony, or sometime after.”</p>
<p>He also reportedly mentioned that he <a href="https://buffalonews.com/news/local/even-in-new-york-red-flags-dont-always-stop-shooters/article_c3cd8228-d5f0-11ec-b066-c35d9bde8ff7.html">wanted to do a murder-suicide</a> at the school, which is located in Broome County in New York.</p>
<p>A teacher reported the comment – made online – to a school resource officer. Since the perpetrator had been at home when he made the comment, it triggered a visit from state police, as opposed to the school resource officer, according to an <a href="https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/broome-da-says-authorities-followed-the-law-with-gendrons-high-school-threat/article_f61ee8a6-d6dc-11ec-b33b-cf576d594f42.html">official account of the episode</a> published in the wake of the shooting in The Buffalo News.</p>
<p>“The State Police visited the home, talked to the student and persuaded him to undergo a mental health evaluation at Binghamton General Hospital,” the <a href="https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/broome-da-says-authorities-followed-the-law-with-gendrons-high-school-threat/article_f61ee8a6-d6dc-11ec-b33b-cf576d594f42.html">article states</a>. “When a doctor evaluated (the perpetrator) as not dangerous – a key hurdle required in the <a href="https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/MHY/TBA9">Mental Hygiene Law</a> to hold someone against their will – he was returned home and allowed to graduate days later.”</p>
<p>The story is not unlike the dozens of stories that we, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hoHQX8MAAAAJ&hl=en">a forensic psychologist</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=iS4HAEMAAAAJ&hl=en">a sociologist</a>, have collected in recent years in our effort to study the <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/library/publications/violence-project-how-stop-mass-shooting-epidemic">life histories</a> of mass shooters. It typifies what we believe is one of the biggest challenges that schools face when it comes to averting school shootings – and in the case of Buffalo, mass shootings in general. And that challenge is recognizing and acting upon warning signs that mass shooters almost always give well before they open fire. </p>
<h2>Patterns emerge among shooters</h2>
<p>With <a href="https://nij.gov/funding/awards/pages/award-detail.aspx?award=2018-75-CX-0023">funding</a> from the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, we have <a href="https://www.theviolenceproject.org/mass-shooter-database/">built a database</a> of 180 mass public shootings that have taken place in the United States since 1966. A mass public shooting is <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44126.pdf">defined</a> as an event in which four or more victims are killed with a gun in a public place. The goal of this project is to use data to look for patterns in the lives of mass shooters. The purpose is to develop a better understanding of who they are and why they did what they did, in order to prevent future tragedies.</p>
<p>The findings, detailed in our 2021 book, “<a href="https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/violence-project_9781419752957/">The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic</a>,” show the person charged with the Buffalo shooting on May 14, 2022, shares many commonalities with other mass shooters. He was a young man – <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/guys-guns-men-vast-majority-americas-gun-violence/story?id=79125485">98% of mass shooters are men</a> – who targeted a retail establishment, which is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-mass-shootings-are-happening-at-grocery-stores-13-of-shooters-are-motivated-by-racial-hatred-criminologists-find-183098">most common location</a> for a mass public shooting in our database.</p>
<p>The majority of mass shooters – 80% – showed <a href="https://www.theviolenceproject.org/mass-shooter-database-3/key-findings/">signs of a crisis</a>, as exhibited in their behavior, before the shooting. Much like the accused Buffalo shooter allegedly did, nearly half revealed their plans ahead of time, such as by posting on social media. Communication of intent to do harm is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.33073">most common among younger shooters</a>, like the accused Buffalo perpetrator, who is just 18. Over 30% of mass shooters were <a href="https://www.theviolenceproject.org/mass-shooter-database-3/key-findings/">suicidal</a> prior to their shooting, and another 40% intended to die in the act, according to our database. A news report indicates that the Buffalo perpetrator <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/05/17/twisted-diary-of-alleged-buffalo-shooter-payton-gendron-reveals-his-online-radicalization/">considered taking his own life over a dozen times</a>. </p>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10829053/Diary-white-supremacist-Buffalo-gunman-entries-doubled-racist-beliefs.html">online diary</a>, the accused Buffalo shooter detailed the white supremacist ideology he discovered in internet chat rooms. Our database shows that 18% of mass shootings are underlined by hate. </p>
<p>At the same time, like a quarter of all mass shooters, the accused Buffalo perpetrator developed an interest in past mass shootings. He reportedly <a href="https://abc7ny.com/buffalo-shooting-suspect-payton-gendron-conklin-new-york-tops-supermarket/11855987/">praised other mass shooters who were similarly inspired by racial hatred</a>, such as the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-389bcc56019f268cb1056e37a517bd6c">2015 South Carolina church shooter</a>. And like 25% of perpetrators we’ve studied, he left behind a “<a href="https://nypost.com/2022/05/14/buffalo-shooter-payton-gendron-posted-white-supremacist-manifesto/">manifesto</a>” for the next generation of potential mass shooters to read.</p>
<p>Despite his contact with police and the hospital the year before, the perpetrator was still able to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/16/us/politics/legal-gun-purchase-mass-shooting.html">legally purchase guns</a>, like 63% of the other perpetrators we’ve studied.</p>
<h2>Toward prevention</h2>
<p>There is a US$3 billion <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/local/school-shootings-and-campus-safety-industry/">industry</a> in U.S. school safety focused almost entirely on hardening schools with active shooter drills, metal detectors and armed security.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464345/original/file-20220519-9568-c3hubb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="School children hide under their desks as part of a lockdown drill." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464345/original/file-20220519-9568-c3hubb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464345/original/file-20220519-9568-c3hubb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464345/original/file-20220519-9568-c3hubb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464345/original/file-20220519-9568-c3hubb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464345/original/file-20220519-9568-c3hubb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464345/original/file-20220519-9568-c3hubb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464345/original/file-20220519-9568-c3hubb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Lockdown drills have become part of life for America’s schoolchildren.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kindergarten-student-hides-under-her-desk-during-a-news-photo/72547972?adppopup=true">Phil Mislinski/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In recent years, however, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/02/1095489487/trigger-points-mark-follman-how-to-stop-mass-shootings">behavioral threat assessment teams</a> – teams in schools that get troubled people help before they turn to violence – have been touted as key to bridging the gap between hard security and soft prevention. Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.33073">research</a> shows that even general threats of school violence, such as those made by the alleged Buffalo shooter, are a critical intervention point on the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/med-psych/9780190940164.003.0022">path to intended violence</a>.</p>
<p>While the accused Buffalo shooter was <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/accused-gunman-in-buffalo-shooting-was-investigated-for-threat-to-his-school/2022/05">evaluated and cleared</a> as not posing an immediate threat, ongoing support to prevent the threat of violence becoming real and imminent in the future – including after he graduated from school and when he was no longer under the school’s duty of care – was lacking. <a href="https://www.wxxinews.org/local-news/2022-05-18/broome-county-district-attorney-confirms-buffalo-shooting-suspect-talked-about-murder-suicide">Few mental health services are available</a> for young adults and children in Broome County, or nationwide, and there are <a href="https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp16X687061">many barriers</a> to accessing those that are available.</p>
<p>Additionally, more could have been done to ensure that a student expressing homicidal and suicidal thoughts didn’t have access to the guns they needed to perpetrate violence. For schools, this typically means educating parents and caregivers about the <a href="https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/policy-areas/child-consumer-safety/safe-storage/">merits of safe storage</a>. But once a student turns 18, <a href="https://rockinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/policy-solutions-public-mass-shootings.pdf">permissive gun laws</a> complicate these efforts. </p>
<p>In the wake of the Buffalo shooting, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced plans to pursue executive orders and laws that would require state police to seek court orders to keep guns away from people who might pose a threat to themselves or others, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2022-05-18/after-buffalo-massacre-ny-governor-seeks-action-on-guns">according to U.S. News and World Report</a>. Our data shows that if these policies were in place and acted upon, it could potentially <a href="https://www.latimes.com/projects/if-gun-laws-were-enacted/">prevent the majority of mass shootings</a>.</p>
<p>In the end, we must learn from the lives of mass shooters and the long and tragic history of mass shootings in America to do everything possible to stop the next mass shooting before it occurs.</p>
<p><em>Portions of this article originally appeared in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-shooters-usually-show-these-signs-of-distress-long-before-they-open-fire-our-database-shows-111242">previous article published on Feb. 8, 2019</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183455/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Densley receives funding from the National Institute of Justice</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jillian Peterson receives funding from the National Institute of Justice</span></em></p>When young people plan a mass shooting, especially at a school, they typically reveal their plans in advance. Two scholars weigh in on whether the warning signs are being heeded in the right way.James Densley, Professor of Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University Jillian Peterson, Professor of Criminal Justice, Hamline University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1730272021-12-02T13:42:53Z2021-12-02T13:42:53ZSchool shootings are at a record high this year – but they can be prevented<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435165/original/file-20211201-22-1475z85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C8%2C2977%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">So far, there have been 222 school shootings in 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-bring-flowers-to-a-makeshift-memorial-outside-of-news-photo/1356625412?adppopup=true">Scott Olson/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whenever a school shooting takes place like the one at <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/11/30/oxford-high-school-shooting/">Oxford High School</a> in suburban Detroit on November 30, 2021, it is typically followed by a familiar chorus of questions.</p>
<p>How could such a thing happen? Why doesn’t the government do more to stop these shootings from occurring?</p>
<p>Those questions are even more urgent in light of the fact that the shooting at Oxford High School was one of 222 school shootings in 2021, an all-time high, according to the Center for Homeland Defense and Security’s <a href="https://www.chds.us/ssdb/">K-12 School Shooting Database</a>. That’s over 100 more school shootings in 2021 than in 2019 or 2018, respectively the <a href="https://www.chds.us/ssdb/view-chart/?chartid=8">second- and third-worst years</a> on record.</p>
<p>In the Oxford High School case, a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/01/us/oxford-high-school-shooting-what-we-know/index.html">15-year-old boy</a> armed with a semiautomatic handgun is accused of killing four students and injuring six others and a teacher.</p>
<p>As shown in our 2021 book, “<a href="https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/violence-project_9781419752957/">The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic</a>,” school mass shooters tend to be current or former students of the school. They are almost always in crisis of some sort before their attack, as indicated by a noticeable change in behavior from usual. They often are <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-columbine-became-a-blueprint-for-school-shooters-115115">inspired by other school shooters</a>, and they also tend to leak their plans for violence in advance to their peers.</p>
<p>And school shooters usually <a href="https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/Protecting_Americas_Schools.pdf">get their guns</a> from family and friends who failed to store them safely and securely.</p>
<p>News reports suggest <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/us/oxford-school-shooting-michigan.html">a lot of this holds true</a> for the Oxford High School shooter. For instance, the suspect’s father allegedly <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2021/11/30/oxford-high-school-shooting-suspect-used-gun-dad-bought/8817406002/">purchased the handgun used in the shooting</a> just four days prior. The shooter reportedly exhibited “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/school-shooting-oxford-michigan-12-01-21/index.html">concerning</a>” behavior at school and posted <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/12/01/oxford-hs-suspect-allegedly-posted-pics-of-gun-before-massacre/">pictures of the gun</a> alongside threats of violence on social media.</p>
<p>The question now is how to translate these findings into policy and practice in order to prevent the next school shooting. </p>
<h2>Trouble from the start</h2>
<p>The data we use to track school shootings is a <a href="https://www.chds.us/ssdb/">comprehensive database</a> that includes information on “each and every instance a gun is brandished, is fired, or a bullet hits school property for any reason, regardless of the number of victims, time of day, or day of week” going back to 1970.</p>
<p>Working with its co-creator, David Riedman, we uncovered <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-11-05/record-school-shooting-threats-guns">a record 151 school shooting threats</a> in the “back-to-school” month of September 2021, up from a three-year average of 29. Actual school shootings also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/08/school-shootings-are-increasing-changing-easily-accessible-guns-are-blame/">more than doubled</a> during September 2021 compared with the same month in previous years. </p>
<p>There were 55 school shootings in September 2021, up from 24 in September 2020 and 14 in September 2019. But the school carnage began well before the 2021 school year got underway for most students, as evidenced in the Aug. 13 fatal shooting of <a href="https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/victim-suspect-named-in-fatal-washington-middle-school-shooting/">13-year-old Bennie Hargrove</a> at Washington Middle School in Albuquerque, New Mexico.</p>
<p>These trends are part of an overall rise in <a href="https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/">shootings</a> and <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/10/27/what-we-know-about-the-increase-in-u-s-murders-in-2020/">murders</a> in 2020 and 2021, tied in part to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2021/02/10/this-is-how-many-guns-were-sold-in-all-50-states/43371461/">record gun sales</a>. More guns in more hands <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-school-shooters-get-their-guns-from-home-and-during-the-pandemic-the-number-of-firearms-in-households-with-teenagers-went-up-172951">increases the likelihood</a> that a firearm will find its way into a school.</p>
<h2>Local responses</h2>
<p>Schools are struggling to respond to the overwhelming number of shootings and shooting threats. There have been a staggering <a href="https://www.chds.us/ssdb/">30 shootings</a> just at high school football games so far this year. </p>
<p>A “<a href="https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/aurora-community-meeting-state-emergency/73-15c17eb5-21fa-4010-a296-f6e1df9ea049">State of Emergency</a>” meeting was held after nine teens were shot in two separate shootings in Aurora, Colorado, in November 2021. Public schools in the area are prohibiting <a href="https://www.9news.com/article/news/crime/aurora-public-schools-lunch-break-policy/73-03950f8a-afaa-4b95-ab00-842e0d3826e7">students from leaving for lunch</a> in an effort to keep them safe.</p>
<p>One school in Phoenix, Arizona, banned <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cesar-chavez-high-school-increases-182811090.html">backpacks and food deliveries</a> after a student was shot in the bathroom on Nov. 29. The Newburgh Enlarged City School District in <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/11/23/new-york-school-district-offers-remote-learning-over-shootings/">New York State</a> offered remote learning following two separate shooting incidents near its schools on Nov. 22. Schools across the country are increasing safety measures, <a href="https://www.wxii12.com/article/winston-salem-police-respond-to-reported-shooting-at-mount-tabor-high-school/37455325#%22%22">canceling classes</a>, even using <a href="https://www.actionnewsjax.com/video/archive/raw-police-escort-school-bus-following-shooting/7SHHOVJHSPVUMQUUZQPY2G7PPQ/">police escorts</a> for students coming onto campus.</p>
<p>These localized responses stand in stark contrast to the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/26/world/us-gun-culture-world-comparison-intl-cmd/index.html">national legislative action taken in Finland, Germany and other countries</a> when they experienced deadly school shootings.</p>
<h2>Response in the UK</h2>
<p>Twenty-five years ago, in March 1996, a gunman walked into Scotland’s Dunblane Primary School and opened fire, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Dunblane-school-massacre">killing 16 children and a teacher</a>. A successful campaign for gun regulation followed, laws were changed, <a href="https://www.theweek.co.uk/100333/uk-gun-laws-who-can-own-a-firearm">handguns were banned</a> and the United Kingdom <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-1996-dunblane-massacre-pushed-uk-enact-stricter-gun-laws-180977221/">hasn’t had a school shooting since</a>.</p>
<p>Yet in America, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/03/us/school-shooting-lockdown-drills/">active shooter drills</a> to rehearse for a real shooting incident and <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2776515">armed guards</a> to respond to them are the best children can hope for. There is a US$3 billion “<a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814748206/homeroom-security/">homeroom security</a>” industry, and some parents send their children to school wearing <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/bulletproof-backpacks-wouldn-t-have-saved-anyone-recent-shootings-n1042801">bulletproof backpacks</a>.</p>
<h2>Searching for solutions</h2>
<p>In a study published in the <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2785799">Journal of the American Medical Association</a> in November 2021, we searched public records on 170 mass shooters who killed four or more people from 1966 to 2019 for any communication of intent to do harm. That includes posting a threat on social media or telegraphing future violence to a loved one in person. We found that 79 mass shooters – nearly half of them – leaked their plans in advance. Communication was most common among school shooters and younger shooters. The fact it was most strongly associated with suicidal tendencies or attempts, as well as prior mental health counseling, suggests it may best be characterized as a cry for help.</p>
<p>Threats of violence <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/michigan-high-school-shooting-threats-b1967288.html">circulated on campus</a> before the Oxford High School shooting, with some students <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/some-students-stayed-home-ahead-oxford-school-shooting-due-online-threats-1654913">staying home</a> out of an abundance of caution. There will be questions now about whether threats were disclosed to authorities and handled appropriately, in ways consistent with best practices on <a href="https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2020-10/USSS_NTAC_Enhancing_School_Safety_Guide.pdf">threat assessment</a> or what we like to call “<a href="https://off-ramp.org/crisis-response-teams/">crisis response</a>” systems. Our research is clear that all threats must be investigated and treated seriously as an opportunity for real intervention.</p>
<p>There are further implications from our research. If school shooters are nearly always students of the school, educators and others who work with them need training to identify a student in crisis and how <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/more-schools-are-using-anonymous-tip-lines-to-thwart-violence-do-they-work/2018/08">to report</a> something they see or hear indicative of violent intent.</p>
<p>Schools also need <a href="https://www.aclu.org/report/cops-and-no-counselors">counselors, social workers</a> and other resources so they can respond appropriately and holistically to students in crisis. This means not unduly punishing students with expulsion or <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article217015060.html">criminal charges</a> – things that could escalate the crisis or any grievance with the institution.</p>
<p>And for parents of school-age children, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/how-moms-are-quietly-passing-gun-safety-policy-through-school-n1132891">safe gun storage at home</a> is paramount. </p>
<p>School shootings are not inevitable. They’re preventable. But practitioners and policymakers must act quickly because each school shooting <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/19/thresholds-of-violence">feeds the cycle for the next one</a>, causing <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/local/school-shootings-database/">harm</a> far beyond that which is measured in lives lost. We believe the steps outlined above can help address that harm, promoting school security while safeguarding student well-being.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 140,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173027/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Densley has received funding from The National Institute of Justice.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jillian Peterson receives funding from The National Institute of Justice. </span></em></p>School shootings are typically preceded by a series of warning signs. Are educators, police and policymakers paying enough attention?James Densley, Professor of Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University Jillian Peterson, Professor of Criminal Justice, Hamline University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1697952021-10-18T12:12:06Z2021-10-18T12:12:06ZTeachers must often face student attacks alone<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426753/original/file-20211015-7324-1yontvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C0%2C6329%2C4229&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teachers report post-traumatic stress disorder after experiencing or witnessing attacks from students.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/sad-teacher-sits-in-a-school-classroom-copy-space-royalty-free-image/1279415692?adppopup=true">Andrey Zhuravlev/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When “Ms. Kyles,” a social studies teacher in a suburban district, heard her colleague scream in a nearby classroom, she ran to her aid. It appeared that a female student had attacked a classmate.</p>
<p>“I grabbed the student to restrain her, and I said to the teacher, ‘You go back to your students, I’ll take care of her,’” Ms. Kyles said. </p>
<p>After locking herself in an empty classroom with the student, Ms. Kyles – that’s a pseudonym to protect her privacy – learned the student stabbed a female classmate four times in the chest and back, killing her. Then the student threatened Ms. Kyles.</p>
<p>“She trashed the room and screamed at me and said some pretty horrible things,” Ms. Kyles told me. “I was in fear that she would try to hurt me to get away.”</p>
<p>Ms. Kyles’ experience is one of dozens that I document in my forthcoming book, “<a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/suspended">Suspended: Punishment, Violence, and the Failure of School Safety</a>.” The book is part of my <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VcznCP0AAAAJ&hl=en">ongoing research</a> about how <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-parents-say-their-children-are-being-suspended-for-petty-reasons-that-force-them-to-take-off-from-work-and-sometimes-lose-their-jobs-166610">Black families</a> and teachers view <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-suspensions-dont-just-unfairly-penalize-black-students-they-lead-to-lower-grades-and-black-flight-150240">school punishment</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-suspensions-dont-stop-violence-they-help-students-celebrate-it-110561">violence and safety in K-12 schools</a>. In addition to students and parents, I interviewed 50 teachers from urban and suburban high schools throughout Michigan who were threatened or attacked by a student. I used fake names to protect their confidentiality.</p>
<p>What I learned carries implications for the safety of America’s schools in general, and the mental health and well-being of the nation’s teacher workforce in particular.</p>
<h2>Dangerous conditions</h2>
<p>Some of the teachers told me that students experienced frustration with challenging assignments, which led students to lash out at teachers.</p>
<p>Several teachers also believed students threatened and attacked them to gain attention from their peers. Regardless of the underlying cause, these events left teachers in dire situations that made them question their commitment to the profession.</p>
<p>In the U.S., many K-12 schools feature a variety of safety measures, such as metal detectors, guards, security cameras and law enforcement officers. Yet, when I interviewed 50 teachers, I learned they did not feel safe regardless of whether one or several of these security measures were in place.</p>
<p>In one interview after another, teachers told me that being threatened or attacked by a student left them shaken and made them want to transfer to a new school. For example, Ms. Kyles told me the fatal stabbing of a student in her school triggered symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.</p>
<p>“Anytime I hear a scream or a loud noise in school, I have a physical reaction. I jump.” Ms. Kyles explained. “And any time there are any kind of police in the school I cry. I’m not a crier, but I have cried more in the last year and a half than I’ve ever cried.”</p>
<p>This episode has also affected how Ms. Kyles copes and her willingness to intervene in conflicts at school.</p>
<p>“I drink more than I’ve ever drank,” Ms. Kyles told me. “I don’t sleep as well. In terms of teaching on a daily basis, I no longer will break up a fight. I can’t do it.”</p>
<h2>Carrying firearms</h2>
<p>In his classic work – “<a href="https://sociology.yale.edu/publications/code-street-decency-violence-and-moral-life-inner-city">Code of the Street</a>” – <a href="https://sociology.yale.edu/people/elijah-anderson">Elijah Anderson</a> found that some individuals use violence to protect themselves on the streets. Similarly, in my upcoming book, “<a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/suspended">Suspended</a>,” I describe how some educators felt obligated to use violence to protect themselves through what I have referred to as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0735648X.2019.1578251">the code of the school</a>.”</p>
<p>A teacher I will call Mr. Turner, who works in an urban district, described an incident where he defended himself when a student attacked him.</p>
<p>“I picked him up, and I said, ‘This is what’s going to happen if you want to come at me again.’” Mr. Turner said. “And he backed off and apologized. It was over that quick. This was during transition time in the building, and it happened so fast [other students] thought he had tripped, and I was helping him up.”</p>
<p>Mr. Turner also told me that several colleagues began to bring guns to school in their car or bag after another colleague became embroiled in a fight that resulted in a trip to the hospital.</p>
<p>“A lot of my female colleagues come to the building armed,” Mr. Turner said. “Legally we’re not supposed to have a gun on the property, and that includes in your car.”</p>
<p>He said the district’s leadership “kind of looks the other way because they know how it is.”</p>
<p>“By law, I can’t take a gun into the building because of the CPL (concealed pistol license) that I carry,” Mr. Turner said. “But, some of my peers in that building who have the same license I have, I know for a fact they have their gun in their purse or backpack.”</p>
<h2>Lack of support</h2>
<p>Most of the teachers I interviewed expressed feeling unsupported by school administrators.</p>
<p>A teacher I will refer to as Mr. Ford, who works at a suburban high school, told me a student threatened him, used the internet to find his home address and escalated the incident outside of his home. Despite the seriousness of this incident, the school administration allowed the student to return to school, where the student subsequently became more popular for attacking the teacher.</p>
<p>“I ended up moving high schools because they didn’t do anything,” Mr. Ford explained. “The administration was just so weak.” </p>
<p>A few teachers told me their principal often minimized incidents where students threatened or attacked them and shifted the focus to the teacher’s actions. For example, a teacher I’ll call Ms. Evans told me whenever a student attacked her, administrators would ask what she did or said to provoke it.</p>
<p>She said they also downplayed any injuries she may have suffered, saying: “‘You’re not hurt, are you? You’re OK. You can still make it, just ignore them or don’t talk to so and so.’ It was that kind of thing.”</p>
<h2>Rethinking school safety</h2>
<p>Although my research focused on teacher experiences in Michigan, I found evidence that similar altercations have occurred <a href="https://www.apa.org/education-career/k12/teacher-victimization.pdf">throughout the U.S.</a> and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-sees-increase-in-attacks-on-teachers/a-55363158">internationally</a>.</p>
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<p>In light of the constant threat of violence against schoolteachers, the adequacy of current security measures – or lack thereof – are ripe for review.</p>
<p>Prior to the pandemic, data shows <a href="https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RRA1100/RRA1108-1/RAND_RRA1108-1.pdf">nearly 20% of new educators</a> left the profession within five years. The <a href="https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/product-files/Teacher_Turnover_REPORT.pdf">most cited reasons</a> for leaving the profession were unhappiness with the school administration (21%) and dissatisfaction with the teaching career (21%).</p>
<p>Studies also confirm that replacing a teacher <a href="https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/product-files/Teacher_Turnover_REPORT.pdf">can cost a district up to US$20,000</a>. Given the mass teacher exodus that is underway in the U.S. and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/biden-wants-fix-nation-s-teacher-shortage-educators-say-problem-n1269340">exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic</a>, it’s vital for society in general – and policymakers and school administrators in particular – to find new ways to make sure America’s schoolteachers can do their jobs. They shouldn’t have to worry about protecting themselves from the very students they’ve been assigned to teach.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169795/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Bell receives funding from the Midwest Sociological Society.</span></em></p>Teachers say school districts have left them in the lurch in the wake of attacks by students. Some admit they resort to violence themselves to send a message to students who might want to test them.Charles Bell, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Sciences, Illinois State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1331072020-03-15T07:21:21Z2020-03-15T07:21:21ZViolent behaviour shows up at primary school – and can end there too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319827/original/file-20200311-116245-vws22b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vicious cycle: violence is often used to stop violence. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Schools should be safe places. Yet, throughout the world, violence in schools <a href="https://en.unesco.org/news/school-violence-and-bullying-major-global-issue-new-unesco-publication-finds">remains a problem</a>. Girls and boys who are seen as ‘soft’ or ‘gay’ are the main victims of bullying, name-calling, physical violence and sexual violence. These experiences in schools affect children’s concentration and academic performance. In some instances girls <a href="https://www.unicef.org/violencestudy/I.%20World%20Report%20on%20Violence%20against%20Children.pdf">drop out</a> of school to avoid such violence.</p>
<p>In comparison to girls, boys are more likely to engage in physical violence and bullying is <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000366483">more common</a> among boys. </p>
<p>Internationally the importance of working with boys to end violence and promote gender equality is well <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-children">established</a>. Without boys recognising their power and privilege in relation to girls and other boys, the work towards ending violence at school will not be realised.</p>
<p>Even primary schools are grappling with the issues of violence. But often young boys are not taken seriously in efforts to end it. Instead, they could be allies if they learned to behave differently and took this into their adult lives. </p>
<p>Internationally, <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000366483">research</a> has typically addressed ideas about masculinity, ‘real’ boyhood and behaviour. ‘Real’ boys, the research <a href="https://www.unicef.org/violencestudy/I.%20World%20Report%20on%20Violence%20against%20Children.pdf">shows</a>, use strength, toughness and violence to show power. Much of the global research focuses on older boys. </p>
<p>In South Africa too, research on boys at primary school is only recently developing. </p>
<p>My own <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2020.1721267">research</a> in South African schools has focused on experiences of boyhood which are shaped by gender, race, class, culture, age and masculinity. A very important part of this research is the question of where boys live and their social location. </p>
<p>I have found that poverty, unemployment and violence in the community, fragile families and food insecurity shape ideas of what it means to be a ‘real’ boy. Some boys use their power to survive – and this includes the use of violence to obtain food. </p>
<p>In schools that are wealthier, boys use violence to assert power in other ways, for example through bullying to maintain privilege.</p>
<h2>Violence in the playground</h2>
<p>My research team and I believe adults must recognise that young boys are already invested in masculinity and violence as an expression of power. Doing so provides an opportunity to bring boys into the conversation about ending violence. </p>
<p>In our most recent <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2020.1721267">research</a> paper, we explored how boys experience, challenge and use violence in their everyday lives at a primary school in a poor community in South Africa. We related their school experiences to their social circumstances. </p>
<p>We asked questions and observed children and their teachers in the classroom and in the playground. Often, boys talked about violence in their communities and at home, where cultural norms have established males as powerful authorities in families. </p>
<p>In the context of severe social and economic problems, violence is often used as an expression of frustration and power. Boys learn from an <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09620214.2017.1319288?casa_token=HfX7JX4qNScAAAAA:YsBSdI7BBQi3ZbBeGd9yyzQk5R5ya_Xjj_7YI0pP2AFU0v4HSX0dqhA-erk2IBgD8RUyAJGhyGGDrg">early age</a> that violence is a means to power and use it in schools to achieve status and privilege.</p>
<p>Teachers are also part of a society where masculine power is associated with violence. Many countries, including South Africa, have <a href="https://www.unicef.org/violencestudy/I.%20World%20Report%20on%20Violence%20against%20Children.pdf">banned</a> corporal punishment at school. But teachers continue to use such violence to show their authority. </p>
<p>In our research, violent expressions of masculinity remained a dominant theme in the school setting, although not all boys were violent. Boys who showed feelings, who were gentle or who avoided sports, were perceived to be ‘girlish’ or ‘gay’. ‘Soft’ boys were bullied, harassed and subjected to violence. </p>
<p>Our research found that many boys dominated play when they weren’t being supervised by adults. In these play spaces they could test and expand their power. </p>
<p>The violence included physical fights, verbal harassment and threats to other boys and girls. The playground is thus not simply a place to have fun but an important space to claim power. </p>
<p>We found that the body was central to how violence was used. Since bodies vary in size and shape, the body was used to display power especially over weaker bodies.</p>
<h2>Fighting for food</h2>
<p>Some children in our study came to school from homes without much food or money. The open space of the school playground allowed boys to claim food and money from others. Boys who were smaller were in fear of bigger boys. </p>
<p>We found that even though smaller boys were angry about the violence they experienced from bigger boys, they also used violence themselves. If they didn’t, they faced further harassment for being weak and ‘girlish’. Using violence was thus a way to be seen as a ‘real’ boy – even by its victims, as boys themselves stated. </p>
<p>We asked the boys about what they did about to stop the violence and we looked at the records in some schools. When boys reported violence to teachers it was frequently dismissed as ‘boys will be boys’. When the violence was more serious, corporal punishment was used. This tells us about the circular nature of violence – that violence is used to stop violence.</p>
<h2>What needs to be done</h2>
<p>Young boys at primary school are already learning about their place in society. They use their size and power to create violence. But schools can also be places to talk about and prevent violence. Well-designed programmes show <a href="https://www.who.int/gender/documents/Engaging_men_boys.pdf">evidence</a> of change. </p>
<p>Teachers can work with boys to develop their understanding of power and the negative effects of violence. Ending corporal punishment and addressing the school playground as a site for power and violence is one way to make schools safer. Communities need to recognise primary schools as a place to challenge gender inequalities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133107/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deevia Bhana receives funding from the South African Research Chairs’ Initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation and National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant No 98407).</span></em></p>The school playground is not just a place to have fun. It’s an important space to claim power and this is often done through violence.Deevia Bhana, Professor Gender and Childhood Sexuality, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1326372020-02-27T22:14:13Z2020-02-27T22:14:13ZVideo of 6-year-old girl’s arrest shows the perils of putting police in primary schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317632/original/file-20200227-24680-1goeorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Orlando police officer Dennis Turner leads a 6-year-old girl away in handcuffs after her arrest for kicking and punching staff at her school.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Child-Arrested-Florida/9b3990e730b542fdae409707fad16c0b/1/0">Orlando Police Department/Orlando Sentinel via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When states like Florida <a href="https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/safety/explaining-floridas-new-school-safety-law/">pass laws</a> to put more police officers in schools, the idea is to keep kids safe.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-ne-dennis-turner-kaia-rolle-opd-investigation-20200226-tzflezycdnfpvjlu74lqwaltva-story.html">recent release of body camera footage</a> from the arrest of a 6-year-old in a Florida school, however, shows that sometimes one threat to the students is the officers themselves.</p>
<p>The video shows two police officers placing a 6-year-old student in restraints and removing her from the school, all while the student cries and begs to be released. One of the officers goes on to brag about how many people he has arrested and to refer to the student’s arrest as setting a “new record” for his youngest arrest.</p>
<p>As it turns out, this was one of two 6-year-olds arrested by the officer at school that day. </p>
<p>Instead of being protected, these very young students were <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-ne-child-arrests-prompt-response-outrage-20190923-q7jghgig3ngtblxcl4aeou5evy-story.html">restrained and arrested</a>. Each one faced <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-ne-child-arrests-prompt-response-outrage-20190923-q7jghgig3ngtblxcl4aeou5evy-story.html">misdemeanor battery charges</a> as a result of behavioral outbursts at school, including the student in the video who <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/florida-police-officer-arrested-handcuffed-150825644.html">kicked a school staffer</a>.</p>
<p>While the arrests of the two elementary students in Orlando are not everyday occurrences, they do reflect a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40894-015-0006-8">body of research</a> that suggests cops in schools – they are formally known as school resource officers, or SROs – can take what would otherwise be a routine school disciplinary situation and escalate it to a whole different level.</p>
<p>I base that assertion on my work as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MTcxlxMAAAAJ&hl=en">researcher</a> who has studied school discipline, school safety and the role of school resource officers in elementary schools.</p>
<p>My work sheds light on the potential unintended consequences of school resource officers – as well as ways that school leaders can prevent situations like the arrests that unfolded in Orlando.</p>
<h2>A growing presence</h2>
<p>School resource officers, who are sworn officers with full arrest powers, are increasingly common in primary schools. Between 2005 and 2015, the percentage of primary schools with school resource officers <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018036.pdf">increased 64%</a>. Now, nearly one in three elementary schools has one of these officers at least part-time.</p>
<p>This trend is set to continue as states like <a href="http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=1000-1099/1006/Sections/1006.12.html">Florida</a> and <a href="http://www.ciclt.net/sn/leg/l_detail2.aspx?ClientCode=mdcounties&L_ID=1655419&L_State=md&L_Session=2018&L_Prior=2017">Maryland</a> passed legislation in 2018 to increase the presence of police in schools.</p>
<h2>Response to student behavior</h2>
<p>Certainly, elementary schools must occasionally deal with violent behavior. In fact, my colleagues and I have found that as many as 12% of teachers <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15388220.2017.1368394">experience threats of or actual physical attacks from students</a> each year. Indeed, in the case in Orlando, one of the six-year-olds was arrested in part for <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/florida-police-officer-arrested-handcuffed-150825644.html">kicking a staff member during an outburst</a>.</p>
<p>What’s increasingly changing, however, is how schools respond to these violent incidents. The presence of police in schools has been shown to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pam.21954">increase the likelihood that students are arrested</a> for school misconduct. For example, prior research has found that police agencies that get funding for school police <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pam.21954">increase arrests</a> of youth under age 15 by as much as 21%. </p>
<p>This may be because the presence of police can <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Homeroom_Security.html?id=BzacO6Vl1tQC">shift the mindset of schools</a> to one that is more about punishment than it is about teaching students why their behavior is wrong and what they can do to make amends.</p>
<p>It may also be that the presence of a police officer in schools shifts educators’ perspectives on who is responsible for student behavior. As seen in the body camera footage, school personnel appear uncomfortable with the arrest of the student. Yet, they also defer to the decision of the police officer to arrest the student. In other words, they have yielded responsibility for responding to a 6-year-old student’s behavior to law enforcement rather than viewing this responsibility as their own.</p>
<p>In work my colleagues and I have done, we have found that even when school district policy specifies that school resource officers should not be involved in discipline, many of the officers interpret this policy differently. For example, school resource officers may use their proximity to deter misbehavior, may pull misbehaving students aside to talk or may be present while school personnel interrogate or search students.</p>
<p>School officials have a <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec01/vol59/num04/The-Right-to-Search-Students.aspx">lower standard to justify a search</a> than law enforcement. Similarly, school officials can interrogate students without providing a <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ky-supreme-court/1629318.html">Miranda warning</a> – the legally required notice of the right to remain silent or have legal counsel that police must give when they have someone in custody. So, if officers are present during interrogations or searches in schools, it could enable them to bypass legal protections that exist outside of schools.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A school police officer stands watch as students eat lunch at a school in Ohio.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sidney-oh-october-6-2014-security-1231697209?src=6oqAK3MgGXFwyuOzrFxlUw-1-1">Kate Way/Shuttterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>School resource officers are trained primarily as law enforcement agents. It should, therefore, be little surprise that they sometimes <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/2CR8E5daVIVbzqwAYgh2/full?target=10.1080/15388220.2019.1604377">default to responses like arrest</a>.</p>
<h2>Keeping school police in check</h2>
<p>Florida State Attorney Aramis Ayala <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-ne-child-arrests-prompt-response-outrage-20190923-q7jghgig3ngtblxcl4aeou5evy-story.html">declined to prosecute</a> the students arrested in Orlando. She said she refuses to “knowingly play any role in the school-to-prison pipeline.”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Florida State Attorney Aramis Ayala speaks at a news conference Monday, Sept. 23, 2019, in Orlando, Florida. She confirmed that her office would not prosecute two 6-year-old students that were arrested by an Orlando police officer .</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Tantrum-Arrest/8dd5891b42a84a16a9f9f99084a78ba8/2/0">AP Photo/John Raoux</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The local police agency has <a href="https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2019/09/23/outrage-sparked-over-sro-arrests-of-6-and-8-year-old">fired the officer</a> involved, citing violation of their policy requiring supervisor approval of arrests of children below 12 years of age. As it turns out, of the two arrests that day, only one was phoned into a superior, and this superior has <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-ne-dennis-turner-kaia-rolle-opd-investigation-20200226-tzflezycdnfpvjlu74lqwaltva-story.html">admitted being unaware of the requirement that he forward it to his supervisors</a>.</p>
<p>While these actions demonstrate a commitment by state and local leaders to avoid repeats of this incident, there are other ways that schools can prevent student misconduct from ever reaching the point of an arrest.</p>
<p>The work my colleagues and I have done suggests that schools and law enforcement agencies should have clear, mutually agreed upon guidelines for when school resource officers become involved in student misbehavior. </p>
<p>In interviews with school resource officers, we find that many are responsive to district policy that prohibits involvement in discipline. Yet, nationally, around <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018107.pdf">half of schools</a> with school resource officers do not include language around school discipline or arrests in formal agreements with law enforcement. Based on our research, we conclude that school resource officers should only get involved in cases of very serious legal violations such as a weapon or acts or threats of violence and should take into consideration the age of students involved and circumstances of the situation.</p>
<h2>Educators need training</h2>
<p>We have found that many times, a school resource officer’s involvement in student discipline comes as a result of pressure from teachers and administrators to be involved. For example, in our ongoing interviews with school resource officers and school personnel, we encounter a number of principals and teachers who specifically ask the school resource officer to lecture students on misconduct, be present for disciplinary hearings, and, in some cases, go to a classroom to handle a defiant student instead of leaving that work to the principal.</p>
<p>Instead of asking school resource officers to help out with matters of discipline, in my view, teachers and school administrators should be given training and resources that equip them to respond to student misconduct without relying on school police. In a <a href="https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/discipline-reform-through-the-eyes-of-teachers">recent national report</a>, almost 50% of teachers reported having to put up with misbehavior due to a lack of administrative support. Only 6% of teachers thought schools should hire additional police to help with student behavior. Instead, they preferred that resources be put to additional mental health professionals, teaching assistants and social workers.</p>
<p>Similarly, school resource officers should be given training that emphasizes the developmental stages of students and how to respond to student misconduct. As others have noted, training for school resource officers is <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-resource-officers-can-prevent-tragedies-but-training-is-key-93778">often limited and varies in length and quality across districts</a>. Nationally, 93% of school resource officers <a href="https://www.edweek.org/media/school-resource-officer-survey-copyright-education-week.pdf">report</a> training for active shooters. However, only about one third report training in child trauma or the teenage brain.</p>
<p>It is critical to keep students safe in school. That said, districts should carefully consider whether police should be in schools and, if present, what role they should play in student misconduct.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/arrests-of-6-year-olds-shows-the-perils-of-putting-police-in-primary-schools-124229">article</a> originally published on September 27, 2019.</em></p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132637/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>F. Chris Curran has received funding from the National Institute of Justice for research examining SROs.</span></em></p>Newly-released body camera footage shows an Orlando police officer taking a 6-year-old girl away in handcuffs. A school safety expert explains the potential pitfalls of police in primary schools.F. Chris Curran, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1261602019-11-14T22:59:55Z2019-11-14T22:59:55ZStudent violence in classrooms: How teacher crisis intervention training can help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301848/original/file-20191114-26211-kq875v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C61%2C4656%2C2676&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As teachers attempt to meet the diverse educational, mental health, and behavioural needs of their students, they face high rates of burnout.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recently, the news has been filled with stories about <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/education/article-as-teachers-report-more-violent-incidents-in-schools-boards-struggle/">the level of violence in</a> school classrooms in Canada, leading to lost instructional time and injured <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/rising-rate-of-sick-leave-emerges-as-key-issue-as-school-strike-looms">or stressed teachers</a>. Some parents and teachers are worried about what this means for kids in schools and school safety. </p>
<p>Last year, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF/FCE) conducted a <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/violence-in-schools-on-increase-says-report-by-canadian-teachers-federation">review of research</a> completed by member organizations about experiences with violence in schools. Their study included surveys from across the country, each with different design and sampling techniques and definitions. Violence was defined as ranging from verbal harassment or swearing to physical threats or assault. </p>
<p>CTF/FCE reported that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/classroom-violence-on-the-rise-teachers-tell-canadian-teachers-federation-1.4739869">between 41 and 90 per cent of surveyed teachers (depending on the jurisdiction)</a> had experienced or witnessed violence directed toward teachers from students or parents, with most violence being verbal violence. </p>
<h2>Burnout</h2>
<p>If our society <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-31810-001">expects teachers to meet the increasingly complex needs of students</a> and to address students’ <a href="https://casel.org/">social and emotional learning</a>, we need to provide them with the training to support students with <a href="https://www.ctf-fce.ca/Research-Library/StudentMentalHealthReport.pdf">mental health and behavioural challenges</a>. There are evidence-based school interventions to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2017.11.022">support students with more intense needs</a>, but they require adequate supports to be implemented effectively. Teachers cannot implement these independently.</p>
<p>When teachers have too many students with high needs and not enough resources, this is a recipe for problems. As they attempt to meet the diverse educational, mental health and behavioural needs of their students, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-31810-001">they face high rates of burnout</a>. </p>
<p>At the policy level, long-term visioning and securing adequate resources for educational assessments and supports should be part of a solution. For teachers in their everyday classrooms, short-term strategies, such as using de-escalation and crisis intervention techniques, can help to meet student needs. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301693/original/file-20191114-77291-5pllf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301693/original/file-20191114-77291-5pllf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301693/original/file-20191114-77291-5pllf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301693/original/file-20191114-77291-5pllf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301693/original/file-20191114-77291-5pllf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301693/original/file-20191114-77291-5pllf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301693/original/file-20191114-77291-5pllf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Resources for educational assessments should be part of a solution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The needs are not wrong</h2>
<p>Through my experience as a former school psychologist and a researcher in school-based mental health and in applying neuropsychological principles in schools, I have learned that it is important to spend time understanding that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781452243931.n4">student behaviour is an attempt to meet a need</a>. The need is not wrong, but students sometimes have skill deficits that result in behaviours that are problematic in classrooms. </p>
<p>When educators can figure out what those needs are, they can often reduce the likelihood of the violent behaviour by changing aspects of the environment. They can also teach students skills they are missing to help them more effectively meet their needs.</p>
<p>Most <a href="https://www.ccpa-accp.ca/making-functional-behaviour-assessments-accessible-for-teachers/">school psychologists have training to support</a> functional behavioural assessments and positive behaviour support plans — this can be an asset in supporting teachers. </p>
<p>While there are students who need a different level of support than what can be provided by a general education teacher with a class filled with students who have diverse needs, many students can be supported in regular classrooms. </p>
<h2>De-escalation approaches</h2>
<p>For example, when potentially violent situations arise, there are steps teachers can take to prevent or de-escalate potential problems early in the process. </p>
<p>Aggressive and violent behaviour by children builds up, and there are early signals that something is escalating: increased volume, more aggressive language, increased energy level and movement.</p>
<p>Here are some common strategies <a href="https://www.crisisprevention.com/en-CA/What-We-Do">discussed in crisis prevention and intervention</a>: </p>
<p><strong>Stay calm and non-confrontational:</strong> Avoid arguing or trying to reason with a student who is showing signs of escalation.</p>
<p><strong>Give choices:</strong> Clearly, and using non-emotive language, give the student a choice of behaviour with clear consequences. “You can return to your seat so that we can finish our work and go to recess; if you choose not to return to your seat, you will be asked to leave the classroom.” Make sure that you allow time for students to consider their choices and to respond.</p>
<p><strong>Acknowledge feelings:</strong> As students escalate, they often make claims about what is happening and perhaps that things are not fair to them. While their perceptions of fairness may not be accurate, you can always acknowledge that they are frustrated, disappointed or angry and make them feel heard. For example, a teacher might say: “I see that you are disappointed that you are not the line leader today.”</p>
<p><strong>Provide space:</strong> Give the child space, reduce interactions between the student and the rest of the class and if it appears likely that verbal de-escalation may be unsuccessful, make sure that the rest of the class has a clear exit route. </p>
<p>There should be a plan for incidents that escalate in spite of efforts to prevent them. A school team, rather than individual teachers, should be involved in creating and implementing this plan as inadequate support increases the chances of violence.</p>
<p><strong>Debrief the situation:</strong> After an incident, both teachers and students need an opportunity to debrief with someone on the team. Experiencing violence in the classroom can be a traumatic experience, so it is important to provide an opportunity to discuss the situation. </p>
<p>This can often be accomplished through school teams, but it may sometimes require access to an outside mental health professional. This process is especially important as students who have had a violent incident need to have teachers who can treat each day as a clean slate. This can be exceptionally difficult emotionally for teachers who have experienced violence from students. </p>
<p>We need to take steps to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2018.06.006">ensure the safety of teachers and students</a>, so that students can focus on learning and developing the skills they will need to be successful adults, and teachers can focus on teaching their students.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabrielle Wilcox does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Providing teachers with training in crisis intervention is one short-term strategy to help them meet the increasingly complex needs of students.Gabrielle Wilcox, Associate Professor, Werklund School of Education, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1242292019-09-27T11:18:40Z2019-09-27T11:18:40ZArrests of 6-year-olds shows the perils of putting police in primary schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294445/original/file-20190926-51457-1exg1go.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The portion of primary schools that have police officers on site has risen dramatically in recent years.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/school-safety-concept-armed-police-officer-1187360677?src=ocghqa7RmxzsyoPWe0SN1Q-1-0">Simone Hogan/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When states like Florida <a href="https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/safety/explaining-floridas-new-school-safety-law/">pass laws</a> to put more police officers in schools, the idea is to keep kids safe.</p>
<p>But as the arrest of two six-year-olds in a Florida school in October has shown, sometimes one threat to the students is the officers themselves. </p>
<p>Instead of being protected, these very young students were <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-ne-child-arrests-prompt-response-outrage-20190923-q7jghgig3ngtblxcl4aeou5evy-story.html">placed in handcuffs and arrested</a>. Each one faced <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-ne-child-arrests-prompt-response-outrage-20190923-q7jghgig3ngtblxcl4aeou5evy-story.html">misdemeanor battery charges</a> as a result of behavioral outbursts at school, including one instance in which one of the children <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/florida-police-officer-arrested-handcuffed-150825644.html">kicked a school staffer</a>.</p>
<p>While the arrests of the two elementary students in Orlando are not everyday occurrences, they do reflect a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40894-015-0006-8">body of research</a> that suggests cops in schools – they are formally known as school resource officers, or SROs – can take what would otherwise be a routine school disciplinary situation and escalate it to a whole different level.</p>
<p>I base that assertion on my work as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MTcxlxMAAAAJ&hl=en">researcher</a> who has studied school discipline, school safety and the role of school resource officers in elementary schools.</p>
<p>My work sheds light on the potential unintended consequences of school resource officers – as well as ways that school leaders can prevent situations like the arrests that unfolded in Orlando.</p>
<h2>A growing presence</h2>
<p>School resource officers, who are sworn officers with full arrest powers, are increasingly common in primary schools. Between 2005 and 2015, the percentage of primary schools with school resource officers <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018036.pdf">increased 64%</a>. Now, nearly one in three elementary schools has one of these officers at least part-time.</p>
<p>This trend is set to continue as states like <a href="http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=1000-1099/1006/Sections/1006.12.html">Florida</a> and <a href="http://www.ciclt.net/sn/leg/l_detail2.aspx?ClientCode=mdcounties&L_ID=1655419&L_State=md&L_Session=2018&L_Prior=2017">Maryland</a> passed legislation in 2018 to increase the presence of police to all schools.</p>
<h2>Response to student behavior</h2>
<p>Certainly, elementary schools must occasionally deal with violent behavior. In fact, my colleagues and I have found that as many as 12% of teachers <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15388220.2017.1368394">experience threats of or actual physical attacks from students</a> each year. Indeed, in the case in Orlando, one of the six-year-olds was arrested in part for <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/florida-police-officer-arrested-handcuffed-150825644.html">kicking a staff member during an outburst</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294405/original/file-20190926-51410-wi46ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294405/original/file-20190926-51410-wi46ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294405/original/file-20190926-51410-wi46ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294405/original/file-20190926-51410-wi46ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294405/original/file-20190926-51410-wi46ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294405/original/file-20190926-51410-wi46ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294405/original/file-20190926-51410-wi46ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 2012, kindergartner Salecia Johnson, then 6, was handcuffed by police after she threw a tantrum at her school. A police report stated the girl knocked over a shelf that injured the principal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Kindergartner-Handcuffed/cab3c899dd674379880bdfa273f04453/1/0">AP Photo/WMAZ-13 TV</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What’s increasingly changing, however, is how schools respond to these violent incidents. The presence of police in schools has been shown to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pam.21954">increase the likelihood that students are arrested</a> for school misconduct. For example, prior research has found that police agencies that get funding for school police <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pam.21954">increase arrests</a> of youth under age 15 by as much as 21%. This may be because the presence of police can <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Homeroom_Security.html?id=BzacO6Vl1tQC">shift the mindset of schools</a> to one that is more about punishment than it is about teaching students why their behavior is wrong and what they can do to make amends.</p>
<p>In our work, we have found that even when school district policy specifies that school resource officers should not be involved in discipline, many of the officers interpret this policy differently. For example, school resource officers may use their proximity to deter misbehavior, may pull misbehaving students aside to talk or may be present while school personnel interrogate or search students.</p>
<p>School officials have a <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec01/vol59/num04/The-Right-to-Search-Students.aspx">lower standard to justify a search</a> than law enforcement. Similarly, school officials can interrogate students without providing a <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ky-supreme-court/1629318.html">Miranda warning</a> – the legally required notice of the right to remain silent or have legal counsel that police must give when they have someone in custody. So, if officers are present during interrogations or searches in schools, it could enable them to bypass legal protections that exist outside of schools.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A school police officer stands watch as students eat lunch at a school in Ohio.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sidney-oh-october-6-2014-security-1231697209?src=6oqAK3MgGXFwyuOzrFxlUw-1-1">Kate Way/Shuttterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>School resource officers are trained primarily as law enforcement agents. It should, therefore, be little surprise that they sometimes <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/2CR8E5daVIVbzqwAYgh2/full?target=10.1080/15388220.2019.1604377">default to responses like arrest</a>.</p>
<h2>Keeping school police in check</h2>
<p>Florida State Attorney Aramis Ayala <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-ne-child-arrests-prompt-response-outrage-20190923-q7jghgig3ngtblxcl4aeou5evy-story.html">declined to prosecute</a> the students arrested in Orlando. She said she refuses to “knowingly play any role in the school-to-prison pipeline.”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Florida State Attorney Aramis Ayala speaks at a news conference Monday, Sept. 23, 2019, in Orlando, Florida. She confirmed that her office would not prosecute two 6-year-old students that were arrested by an Orlando police officer .</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Tantrum-Arrest/8dd5891b42a84a16a9f9f99084a78ba8/2/0">AP Photo/John Raoux</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The local police agency has <a href="https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2019/09/23/outrage-sparked-over-sro-arrests-of-6-and-8-year-old">fired the officer</a> involved, citing violation of their policy requiring supervisor approval of arrests of children below 12 years of age.</p>
<p>While these actions demonstrate a commitment by state and local leaders to avoid repeats of this incident, there are other ways that schools can prevent student misconduct from ever reaching the point of an arrest.</p>
<p>Our work suggests that schools and law enforcement agencies should have clear, mutually agreed upon guidelines for when school resource officers become involved in student misbehavior. </p>
<p>In interviews with school resource officers, we find that many are responsive to district policy that prohibits involvement in discipline. Yet, nationally, around <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018107.pdf">half of schools</a> with school resource officers do not include language around school discipline or arrests in formal agreements with law enforcement. Based on our research, we conclude that school resource officers should only get involved in cases of very serious legal violations such as a weapon or acts or threats of violence and should take into consideration the age of students involved and circumstances of the situation.</p>
<h2>Educators need training</h2>
<p>We have found that many times, a school resource officer’s involvement in student discipline comes as a result of pressure from teachers and administrators to be involved. For example, in our ongoing interviews with school resource officers and school personnel, we encounter a number of principals and teachers who specifically ask the school resource officer to lecture students on misconduct, be present for disciplinary hearings, and, in some cases, go to a classroom to handle a defiant student instead of leaving that work to the principal.</p>
<p>Instead of asking school resource officers to help out with matters of discipline, in my view, teachers and school administrators should be given training and resources that equip them to respond to student misconduct without relying on school police. In a <a href="https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/discipline-reform-through-the-eyes-of-teachers">recent national report</a>, almost 50% of teachers reported having to put up with misbehavior due to a lack of administrative support. Only 6% of teachers thought schools should hire additional police to help with student behavior. Instead, they preferred that resources be put to additional mental health professionals, teaching assistants and social workers.</p>
<p>Similarly, school resource officers should be given training that emphasizes the developmental stages of students and how to respond to student misconduct. As others have noted, training for school resource officers is <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-resource-officers-can-prevent-tragedies-but-training-is-key-93778">often limited and varies in length and quality across districts</a>. Nationally, 93% of school resource officers <a href="https://www.edweek.org/media/school-resource-officer-survey-copyright-education-week.pdf">report</a> training for active shooters. However, only about one third report training in child trauma or the teenage brain.</p>
<p>It is critical to keep students safe in school. That said, districts should carefully consider whether police should be in schools and, if present, what role they should play in student misconduct.</p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124229/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>F. Chris Curran receives funding from the National Institute of Justice for ongoing research on school resource officers.</span></em></p>About one-third of America’s primary schools have a school police officer on hand. Do these officers make schools safer, or are they turning primary schools into mini police precincts?F. Chris Curran, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1181962019-09-04T17:34:33Z2019-09-04T17:34:33ZTeachers’ quality of life in France: is the picture really that bleak?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290143/original/file-20190829-106512-1ipsry2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C24%2C5420%2C3318&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Although disparities exist, French teachers are generally satisfied with their jobs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Now and then, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-27193638">here</a> and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/16/us/20-deadliest-mass-shootings-in-u-s-history-fast-facts/index.html">there</a>, some dramatic events crop up <a href="https://www.cnews.fr/france/2019-04-14/saint-denis-un-adolescent-interpelle-apres-lagression-dune-enseignante-avec-un">in teaching establishments</a>, painting a specific, sometimes dire, picture of the teaching profession.</p>
<p>But do such extreme events really represent what most teachers actually experience? To form a more accurate picture of the reality of teaching at a given level, one must be able to draw on information which represents all teachers at that level.</p>
<p>In France, this was the objective of a representative health survey among teachers titled <a href="https://www.fondationmgen.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Rapport_descriptif_QVE_VF_newlogoFili-1.pdf">“Qualité de vie des enseignants” [Teachers’ Quality of Life]</a> conducted in 2013 by the MGEN Foundation for Public Health, in partnership with France’s Ministry of Education.</p>
<p>The overview offered by the survey establishes a nuanced state of play on the teachers’ quality of life and deconstructs certain clichés associated with the profession. At the end of the day, the picture is not quite as bleak as one might (at first) believe.</p>
<p>In 2013, 5,000 teachers were selected from members of the national education directory. They were sent a detailed questionnaire focused on their work environment, professional well-being and quality of life. The response rate was 54%, which is quite high for this kind of study. The responses were weighted using administrative data on gender, age, teaching level and sector, to make them applicable to all teachers in France.</p>
<h2>Teachers: reasonably satisfied</h2>
<p>According to the survey results, teachers are coping well on the whole. While close to 60% recognise that the job is becoming increasingly difficult, 82% say they are satisfied or very satisfied with their professional experience.</p>
<p>Teachers in France generally feel positive about their quality of life: 65% feel it as good or very good, compared to 8% who feel it as bad or very bad (the rest indicate that it was “neither good nor bad”). They are also satisfied with the state of their general health, their physical mobility, their ability to concentrate and their psychological health. On the whole, teachers positively rate their social relationships, both at home and at work, as well as their physical environment, including place of residence, access to medical care, and transport.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, satisfaction appears to be more mixed when it comes to the balance between income and expenses, the opportunities for leisure activities, the quality of sleep as well as feeling safe in their daily lives.</p>
<p>Furthermore, these general tendencies should be balanced against certain professional factors, including the level of teaching, the type of establishment and seniority. An important lesson from the study is that despite the profession’s supposed uniformity, working conditions and teachers’ level of experience are very diverse. The everyday life of a teacher of a multilevel class in a small rural school will be quite different to that of a P.E. teacher in a secondary school in the suburbs or that of a university lecturer.</p>
<h2>The voice: a teacher’s Achilles’ heel</h2>
<p>One organ is particularly sought after in the classroom: vocal chords. For teachers, the voice is an indispensable tool of the trade and as soon as it stops working properly, all areas of daily life, both professional and private, are negatively affected. This has been highlighted by a <a href="https://www.em-consulte.com/en/article/1035079">specific part of the survey</a> dedicated to vocal problems.</p>
<p>Voice disorders among teachers are far from rare, and, more importantly, they are never trivial. At the time of the survey, 13% of teachers complained of a moderate to severe vocal handicap, 16% were unable to give classes at least once a year and 23% had already consulted a health professional because of a voice problem.</p>
<p>The worse the social-environmental context was reported to be (e.g., living environment judged to be unhealthy, educational establishment located in a socially-underprivileged area), the more frequent vocal problems were. Voice disorders were closely associated with less satisfaction with the professional experience and quality of life.</p>
<h2>A profession that is less lonely than it seems</h2>
<p>A lone teacher, on a platform in front of a board, facing his/her class. This is the image that often comes to mind when we think about the teaching profession.</p>
<p>However, social connections formed by teachers within the professional setting, with students, their families, colleagues, managerial staff, etc. are numerous and rich. A large majority of teachers appreciate these interactions. Moreover, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-019-01431-6">social support at work</a>, particularly from supervisors, appears to be important for teachers to combat the symptoms of burnout.</p>
<p>In the section of the analysis dedicated to the <a href="http://www.em-consulte.com/article/1169377/bien-etre-au-travail-et-qualite-de-vie-des-enseign">differences in teachers’ feelings according to their seniority</a>, a decrease in well-being, particularly professional well-being, has been brought to light among teachers nearing the end of their careers (i.e., 30-plus years in the profession). This trend is seen even though their working conditions are globally better: for example, these teachers tend to more often work in higher-level educational settings and with more privileged pupils.</p>
<p>Also, the study highlighted a hot topic for teachers at the beginning of their careers: while they lack experience, and need more time to prepare their lessons, these young teachers also experience less favourable environmental conditions overall (both at work and at home).</p>
<h2>School violence from the point of view of teachers</h2>
<p>During the school year, 17% of teachers were victims of hostile behaviour and 40% witnessed this type of behaviour in their workplace. A <a href="http://cache.media.education.gouv.fr/file/revue_92/07/6/depp-2016-EF-92-Violence-a-ecole-violence-au-travail-le-cas-des-enseignants_686076.pdf">careful analysis</a>, including textual analysis, of cases of violence described by teachers who were themselves victims has highlighted that the “school” violence (typically from students in secondary school or from parents in pre-school) is not the only type of violence affecting teachers’ well-being. “Internal” violence, inherent in the professional world (i.e. conflicts between colleagues or with the hierarchy), is equally problematic. This is particularly the case in confrontational relationships or tensions with leadership.</p>
<p>Having been a victim of violence is closely associated with negative health indicators: symptoms of burnout, reduced quality of life, voice problems and absence at work.</p>
<h2>Gender inequality exists in teaching too</h2>
<p>Teaching is a very female-centred sector. Nonetheless, there is a clear gradient that shows that the higher the level of teaching, the more the men are represented. In the study, this gradient was accurately reproduced, as well as <a href="http://cache.media.education.gouv.fr/file/revue_96/68/8/DEPP-EF96-2018-article-11-bien-etre-travail-enseignants-differences-hommes-femmes_905688.pdf">differences in working conditions between men and women</a> in primary, secondary and higher education. For example, female teachers more often work part-time than their male peers, who more often teach in scientific or technical disciplines and in secondary and higher education.</p>
<p>In terms of professional well-being, gender-based differences were less notable, except in secondary education where female teachers appeared overall to be a little more satisfied with their professional experience than the male teachers. While, statistically speaking, female and male teachers might work according to significantly different modalities, their professional well-being would be comparable, with a few exceptions.</p>
<h2>Satisfied and healthy teachers overall</h2>
<p>In conclusion, the overview of the results of the “Teachers’ Quality of Life” survey reveals that teachers in France are generally in good health and satisfied with their professional experience, but that, nonetheless, some refinement is needed regarding their shared concerns for the future. This set of results opens up potential ways to improve teachers’ quality of life, in particular by strengthening social support at the educational team level or by improving the psychosocial and environmental framework.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118196/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie-Noël Vercambre-Jacquot works for Fondation d'entreprise MGEN pour la Santé Publique</span></em></p>Nearly 1 million teachers in France – 4% of the employed population – work with students on a daily basis, in the public or private sector. How do they feel?Marie-Noël Vercambre-Jacquot, Chercheur épidémiologiste, Fondation MGEN pour la santé publiqueLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1162502019-05-15T10:44:59Z2019-05-15T10:44:59ZHow traumatic injury has become a health care crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274404/original/file-20190514-60545-iyhq9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Doctors care for a trauma patient. While survival rates for trauma victims have improved, if you live to leave the hospital, you’re still at risk of dying.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/medical-team-working-on-patient-emergency-168769259?src=BkzkASv_ZfckNepGHYgPmA-1-18">MonkeyBusinessImages/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Traumatic injury, or sudden physical injury requiring immediate medical attention, is an epidemic in the United States. It affects individuals of all ages, races and societal classes and accounts for over <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/overview/key_data.html">41 million emergency department visits</a> and 2.3 million hospital admissions each year.</p>
<p>Additionally, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/overview/key_data.html">214,000 people die yearly</a> from traumatic injury, including things such as falls, car crashes and violence. That is one person every three minutes. Trauma is the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/overview/key_data.html">leading cause of death</a> for individuals from 1 to 46 years and the <a href="http://www.aast.org/trauma">fourth leading cause of death for all age groups</a>. Traumatic injury affects our schoolchildren, your grandparents, our troops – no one is safe. </p>
<p>The staggering death toll is only a superficial assessment of the impact that traumatic injury has on our society. For every trauma victim who dies, many more <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/overview/key_data.html">survivors face lifelong physical, mental and financial challenges</a>. Compared to a decade ago, trauma victims requiring hospitalization are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5269564/">increasingly older</a>, more severely injured and have multiple other diseases, which complicates their medical care. Together, fatal and nonfatal injury cost society over <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/overview/key_data.html">US$671 billion</a> annually. </p>
<p>As physicians who treat trauma patients, we see the substantial impact that traumatic injury has on individual victims, their families and society. As medical researchers, we understand that more research needs to be directed at improving the lifelong challenges associated with traumatic injury.</p>
<h2>Big gains, but not enough</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274410/original/file-20190514-60549-vqiqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274410/original/file-20190514-60549-vqiqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274410/original/file-20190514-60549-vqiqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274410/original/file-20190514-60549-vqiqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274410/original/file-20190514-60549-vqiqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274410/original/file-20190514-60549-vqiqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274410/original/file-20190514-60549-vqiqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Falls are the leading cause of accidental death in people 65 and older.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/elderly-woman-falling-bathroom-because-slippery-623199359?src=duW19xgBfI3zVZm8jh8sTg-1-42">Toa55/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1966, the National Academy of Sciences recognized the massive societal burden of traumatic injury and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK222962/">released a report</a> detailing the extent of unintentional, or traumatic, injury in the U.S. This report <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK222962/">provided recommendations</a> for the development of pre-hospital care, trauma systems, patient registries and injury research.</p>
<p>A decade later, the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma developed guidelines that set treatment standards for local and regional trauma centers. These initiatives have led to <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMsa052049?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov">remarkable improvements</a> in 30-day or in-hospital trauma mortality rates. Additionally, safer automobiles with airbags, legal alcohol limit reduction and movements such as <a href="https://www.bleedingcontrol.org/">Stop the Bleed</a> have all led to improvements in immediate trauma survival. In 2003, in-hospital mortality rates were <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3327791/">22%</a>; today mortality rates average less than <a href="https://insights.ovid.com/crossref?an=00000658-900000000-95304">4%</a>. </p>
<p>However, the worrisome fact is that we still do not know what factors contribute to long-term mortality following trauma. When trauma victims are followed past hospital discharge, studies show that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2009.12.035">mortality rates increase at an alarming rate</a>, reaching <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21386078">16% at three years</a>. </p>
<p>Elderly people appear to be especially vulnerable, such as former Pres. Jimmy Carter, who suffered a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/13/politics/former-president-jimmy-carter-fall/index.html">broken hip from a fall on May 13, 2019</a>. For example, in 2013 alone, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Falls/adultfalls.html">2.5 million older adults sustained injuries due to falls</a>. Over 800,000 of these patients <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Falls/adultfalls.html">were hospitalized</a>, most often due to a traumatic brain injury or a hip fracture.</p>
<p>Elderly patients who sustain a hip fracture have an estimated <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23569656">one-year mortality as high as 58%</a>. This implies that although injured trauma patients may live to leave the hospital, they remain at increased risk of long-term mortality following their initial injuries. Therefore, the medical community should view traumatic injury not just as single incident in time but as a debilitating chronic disease that has long-term consequences. </p>
<h2>Reasons for increased mortality unclear</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274411/original/file-20190514-60567-11qawl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274411/original/file-20190514-60567-11qawl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274411/original/file-20190514-60567-11qawl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274411/original/file-20190514-60567-11qawl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274411/original/file-20190514-60567-11qawl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274411/original/file-20190514-60567-11qawl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274411/original/file-20190514-60567-11qawl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One-year mortality rates for falls remain high. Trauma experts believe more research could yield answers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/asian-nurse-helps-man-on-adult-757885324?src=Wj2m6X52gWlHbuR7g33RgA-1-15">VGStockstudio/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Especially concerning for those of us who treat and study trauma, is that we can only speculate the reasons behind this increased long-term mortality. Trauma registries, or systems that collect information following traumatic injuries, currently <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3603725/">lack data</a> on both long-term survival and functional outcomes after discharge from the hospital. This lack of data hinders our ability to understand why trauma victims die after leaving the hospital.</p>
<p>Medical research works to reduce both the risk and burden of human disease. Unfortunately, research funding aimed at improving traumatic injury outcomes is lacking compared to other public health concerns. </p>
<p>The National Institutes of Health invests nearly <a href="https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/budget#note">$37.3 billion</a> annually into medical research. Traumatic injury receives only 2.1% of the NIH budget, which correlates to the <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2089358">least amount</a> of funding relative to the disease burden among all common public health problems. Without sustainable research funding, interventions that support independence, enhance quality of life and reduce long-term traumatic injury mortality cannot be developed and implemented. Additionally, since traumatic injury encompasses a diverse range of injuries, from falls to gunshot wounds, there are many factors that could be leading to increased mortality in these victims. </p>
<p>The NIH established the National Cancer Institute, dedicated to eliminating suffering and deaths from cancer. In 2016, the <a href="https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/nih-almanac/appropriations-section-1">NCI</a> received over US$5 billion to fund research. Research efforts have revealed new ways to prevent, detect and treat malignancies. </p>
<p>The results have been dramatic. Between 1975 and 2012, the 5-year survival rate for the most common childhood cancers increased 27%, and the 5-year survival rate for the most common cancer types among all ages <a href="https://seer.cancer.gov/report_to_nation/survival.html">increased 16% </a>. These astonishing successes are examples of how adequate research support can alleviate disease morbidity and mortality. </p>
<p>However, the NIH does not have an institute dedicated to traumatic injury, even though the <a href="https://www.nattrauma.org/what-is-trauma/trauma-statistics-facts/">incidence, cost and life years lost are greater</a> for traumatic injury than <a href="https://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/ypll.html">cancer</a>.</p>
<p>In 2016, <a href="https://report.nih.gov/categorical_spending.aspx">$450 million</a> was portioned to the study of all injuries combined. That is $4.5 billion fewer than that allocated for cancer research. In order for traumatic injury victims to experience the same mortality reductions as cancer survivors, we believe that NIH support and research funding must be increased. This research funding would allow the development of more robust trauma registries that track victims’ long-term outcomes following a trauma. Research that focuses on identifying the effects of traumatic injury on common co-morbid diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis, can help us better understand how treating these diseases in trauma victims can be optimized.</p>
<p>Additionally, we need to increase societal awareness and national support for traumatic injury. For cancer, there are support ribbons, cancer walks and national television commercials featuring the “faces of cancer” with celebrities urging everyone to support the fight for a world without cancer. It is this dedicated focus and associated funding that have allowed the substantial advances in cancer care and quality survivorship. </p>
<p>Reducing violence, ensuring safer roadways and improving quality outcomes from traumatic injury are some answers which are in everyone’s best interest. How many more young people must succumb to acts of mass violence – Highlands Ranch, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Mandalay Bay hotel – before we intervene? </p>
<p>Traumatic injury can and will impact all of us at one time or another. The 2016 report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27748086">outlines a vision</a> for a national trauma care system motivated by the clear aim of zero preventable deaths after injury and minimal <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27748086">trauma-related disability to our troops</a> and every American. </p>
<p>We believe that if the lack traumatic injury funding is not addressed, the U.S. will remain along the current path of increased long-term mortality from preventable injury with limited therapeutic options.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116250/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lynn Marie Frydrych receives funding from National Institutes of Health (NIH) T32 HL007517.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew J. Delano receives funding from 2016 American Surgical Association Foundation Research Fellowship Award. </span></em></p>Trauma results in 41 million emergency department visits a year and hundreds of thousands of deaths. May is National Trauma Awareness month, and two experts explain why it’s time to pay attention.Lynn Marie Frydrych, General Surgery Resident, University of MichiganMatthew J. Delano, Professor of Surgery, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1167862019-05-09T10:43:54Z2019-05-09T10:43:54ZColorado shooting eerily recalls Columbine massacre<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273380/original/file-20190508-183096-bq86wb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Parents gather in a circle to pray at a recreation center where students were reunited with their parents after a shooting at a suburban Denver middle school May 7.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-School-Shooting-Colorado/b04c65bf75054099b71e28618547a3cf/22/0">David Zalubowski/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Columbine. Contagion. Clusters.</p>
<p>These are the culprits to consider as the nation reels from yet <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/07/us/colorado-school-shooting.html">another school shooting</a>. </p>
<p>This one took place on May 7 at the STEM School Highlands Ranch – just a few miles from <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/1990s/columbine-high-school-shootings">Columbine High School</a>. The high school was the site of a shooting in 1999, which – at the time – was the nation’s worst school shooting in history. It also took place just a couple of weeks after the 20-year anniversary of the Columbine shooting.</p>
<p>One teenager was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/07/us/colorado-school-shooting.html">killed</a> and eight others injured after two students allegedly opened fire at the STEM School Highlands Ranch.</p>
<p>The shooting is eerily reminiscent of the Columbine tragedy. Similarities between the two shootings include the geography and the fact that not one, but two, school insiders are accused of carrying it out “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/07/us/colorado-school-shooting.html">deep inside the school</a>.” Columbine is the one school shooting that all others are measured against, and it has become a script for a new form of violence in schools.</p>
<p>We make that argument as researchers – a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hoHQX8MAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">psychologist</a> and a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=iS4HAEMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">sociologist</a> – who have been studying mass public shootings as <a href="https://www.theviolenceproject.org/mass-shooters">part of a grant</a> from the U.S. Department of Justice.</p>
<p>Since the 1999 tragedy at Columbine High School, we identified six mass shootings and 40 <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/active-shooter-study-2000-2013-1.pdf/view">active shooter</a> incidents at elementary, middle or high schools in the United States. Mass shootings are <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44126.pdf">defined by the FBI</a> as an event in which four or more victims died by gunfire. </p>
<p>In 20 – or nearly half – of those 46 school shootings, the perpetrator purposely used Columbine as a model.</p>
<p>Columbine’s influence continues until this day. On April 17, just three days ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Columbine shooting, authorities <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/columbine-related-threat-by-armed-woman-shuts-denver-area-schools-11555501233">closed schools across Colorado</a> due to a credible threat of a woman armed with a shotgun and who was “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2019/04/16/jefferson-county-schools-lockout/">infatuated with Columbine</a>.” The 18-year-old Florida woman was reportedly <a href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/fl-ne-columbine-lockdown-20190416-story.html">found dead in Colorado</a> later in the day from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.</p>
<h2>The ties that bind to Columbine</h2>
<p>In our study of school shootings, we only looked at cases where a gun was fired on campus, following the practice of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/local/school-shootings-database/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c542ac9200c5">The Washington Post’s</a> database on school shootings. Had we included <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/10/columbine-effect-mass-shootings-copycat-data/">foiled plots</a>, the number would be <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/columbine-shootings-grim-legacy-50-school-attacks-plots/story?id=26007119">significantly higher</a>.</p>
<p>Several school shooters in our study were <a href="https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/a-dark-day-for-fort-gibson-school-shooting-now-years/article_0f51d05b-999c-575f-bff6-6465404a9d24.html">fascinated with Columbine</a> and <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/21/at-least-2-dead-in-nevada-school-shooting">researched</a> the massacre before their own. This includes the <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/cruz-researched-columbine-massacre-parkland-shooting-article-1.3953545">Parkland shooter</a>, a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/12/12/jesse-osborne-pleads-guilty-south-carolina-school-shooting/2297747002/">14-year-old</a> who aspired to be “<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/12/12/jesse-osborne-pleads-guilty-south-carolina-school-shooting/2297747002/">the youngest mass murderer</a>,” and a <a href="https://www.pantagraph.com/news/th-grader-detailed-shooting-in-deadly-diary/article_02d99158-90ac-55b5-9ec4-b56fab93b49f.html">15-year-old</a> who shot at his teacher after she <a href="https://www.pantagraph.com/news/th-grader-detailed-shooting-in-deadly-diary/article_02d99158-90ac-55b5-9ec4-b56fab93b49f.html">refused to praise Marilyn Manson</a>, the rock singer who was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/sep/21/columbine-destroyed-my-entire-career-marilyn-manson-on-the-perils-of-being-the-lord-of-darkness">erroneously blamed</a> for inspiring the Columbine killers.</p>
<p>Prior perpetrators chose the anniversary of Columbine to commit their shootings, including <a href="https://www.rockdalenewtoncitizen.com/news/local/tj-solomon-heritage-high-school-shooter-released-after-years/article_66508783-e652-5f3c-94c3-acaa6164f3ee.html">one month</a> and <a href="https://www.apnews.com/3df17eb2c8aef3e916a6a866ce97013c">two years</a> after. A different shooter talked of how he was going to “<a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,102077,00.html">pull a Columbine</a>.” Others discussed Columbine with <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/was-columbine-the-trigger/">classmates</a>, even <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/william-atchison-led-double-life-online-749363">joked about it</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/adam-lanzas-terrifying-online-life-revealed-mass-shooting-spreadsheets-columbine-collages-and-murder-tumblrs">Sandy Hook Elementary School</a> shooter idolized the Columbine killers and curated a Tumblr account paying homage, alongside a graphic collage of Columbine victims. A North Carolina shooter was so <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/14591327/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/cops-nc-suspect-e-mailed-columbine-official/#.XKzqaZhKjD5">obsessed with Columbine</a> that he <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/21/north.carolina.castillo.trial/index.html">took a vacation</a> there with his mother and fantasized about <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article10353572.html">“finishing off”</a> any wounded survivors.</p>
<p>Multiple shooters, including one <a href="https://katu.com/news/local/school-shooting-suspect-claims-columbine-influence">15-year-old in Oregon</a> and another in <a href="https://komonews.com/news/local/teen-charged-in-freeman-high-shooting-in-court">Washington state</a>, were inspired by a <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0754392/">documentary</a> about Columbine that included detailed recreations of what happened. One <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wisconsin-hostage-standoff-gunman-shoots/story?id=12272586">Wisconsin teenager</a> held his classroom hostage after <a href="https://www.theawl.com/2010/12/two-hours-in-marinette-lessons-from-a-school-shooting/">reading a book</a> about Columbine.</p>
<h2>Separating myth from reality</h2>
<p>School shooters are almost always <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-shooters-usually-show-these-signs-of-distress-long-before-they-open-fire-our-database-shows-111242">current students</a> of their schools. They are students who are in crisis, students who have experienced trauma, and students who are <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/03/27/school-safety-security-policy-minn-researchers-question">actively suicidal</a> prior to the shooting and expect to die in the act. </p>
<p>Such children have always existed. But for 20 years they’ve had a new script to follow.</p>
<p>And we, the public, have contributed to the production and direction of this script. Again and again and again. Through our obsession with <a href="https://theweek.com/articles/736073/why-true-crime-obsession-bad-society">true crime</a> and films, <a href="https://www.columbine-guide.com/">books</a>, memes and entire websites devoted to Columbine. By releasing CCTV footage of the shooting to the public. By running our children through regular lockdowns and <a href="https://theconversation.com/active-shooter-drills-may-reshape-how-a-generation-of-students-views-school-93709">active shooter drills</a> starting in preschool through 12th grade. By sending them to school through secure entrances with <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/more-school-choice-means-more-school-safety">clear backpacks</a> and <a href="https://www.wfsb.com/news/bulletproof-school-supplies-put-to-the-test/article_29b34fdf-1bf3-5154-9536-b87f41521cb6.html">bulletproof binders</a>. Society and culture have reared a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/02/22/generation-columbine-has-never-known-world-without-school-shootings/361656002/">Columbine generation</a>, modeling that this is just part of childhood in America.</p>
<h2>Flipping the script</h2>
<p>Beyond the Columbine effect, research shows that school shootings have a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0002764218756918">contagious effect</a> and <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mass-shootings-are-contagious/">tend to take place in clusters</a>.</p>
<p>A 2015 study found “<a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0117259">significant evidence of contagion in school shootings</a>.” Specifically, it found that a school shooting is “contagious for an average of 13 days” and incites other school shootings. Although college campus shootings and K-12 school shootings are distinct, it is notable that the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting comes just one week after a shooter opened fire and killed two and wounded four <a href="https://theconversation.com/university-of-north-carolina-at-charlotte-shooting-has-these-things-in-common-with-other-campus-shootings-116409">at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte</a> on April 30.</p>
<p>After 20 years, it’s time to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/16/opinions/florida-shooting-drills-not-enough-peterson-densley-opinion/index.html">rewrite the script</a> being rehearsed with young people.</p>
<p>It starts with no names, no photos and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002764217730854">no notoriety</a> for mass shooters in media coverage – which is why we don’t indulge here. At the same time, the fact that both of the suspects in the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting survived, presents an opportunity to better understand the motivations of the shooters in an effort to prevent further tragedies like this occurring. As we have argued in the past, school shooters almost always <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-shooters-usually-show-these-signs-of-distress-long-before-they-open-fire-our-database-shows-111242">show warning signs</a> well before they open fire.</p>
<p>The next step is a paradigm shift from <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814748206/homeroom-security/">homeroom security</a> to holistic violence prevention in schools – mental health, supportive environments, strong relationships and crisis intervention and deescalation. Teachers should feel as comfortable asking a student about suicide as they feel going into lockdown; empowered to spend as much time teaching empathy and resilience as they do now training to <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/about/partnerships/office-of-partner-engagement/active-shooter-resources/responding-to-an-active-shooter-crisis-situation">run, hide, fight</a>.</p>
<p>The victims and survivors of school violence must not be forgotten, but to prevent another two decades of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280030460_Contagion_in_Mass_Killings_and_School_Shootings">contagion</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0002764217739663">copycats</a>, it requires a recognition that it is time to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/23/opinions/social-media-fuels-right-wing-extremism-opinion-peterson-densley/index.html">close the curtain</a> on the spectacle of Columbine.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of a story published <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-columbine-became-a-blueprint-for-school-shooters-115115">April 17, 2019</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116786/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jillian Peterson receives funding from the National Institute of Justice.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Densley receives funding from the National Institute of Justice. </span></em></p>The 1999 Columbine high school shooting spawned a generation of school shooters who tried to copy it, research shows.Jillian Peterson, Professor of Criminal Justice, Hamline University James Densley, Professor of Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1151152019-04-17T15:56:11Z2019-04-17T15:56:11ZHow Columbine became a blueprint for school shooters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269825/original/file-20190417-139104-10ey627.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students leave Columbine High School late April 16, 2019, in Littleton, Colo., following a lockdown at the school and other Denver area schools.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Columbine-Lockdown/ba5b3e213ebf435681a0da19752181e3/12/0">David Zalubowski/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When 12 students and one teacher were killed in Littleton, Colorado 20 years ago, it not only became what at the time was the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/1990s/columbine-high-school-shootings">worst high school shooting</a> in U.S. history. It also marked when American society was first handed a script for a new form of violence in schools.</p>
<p>We make that observation as researchers – a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hoHQX8MAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">psychologist</a> and a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=iS4HAEMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">sociologist</a> – who have been studying mass public shootings as <a href="https://www.theviolenceproject.org/mass-shooters">part of a grant</a> from the U.S. Department of Justice. </p>
<p>Since the 1999 tragedy at Columbine High School, we identified six mass shootings and 40 <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/active-shooter-study-2000-2013-1.pdf/view">active shooter</a> incidents at elementary, middle or high schools in the United States. Mass shootings are <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44126.pdf">defined by the FBI</a> as an event in which four or more victims died by gunfire.</p>
<p>In 20 – or nearly half – of those 46 school shootings, the perpetrator purposely used Columbine as a model.</p>
<p>Columbine’s influence continues until this day. On April 17 – just three days ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Columbine shooting – authorities <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/columbine-related-threat-by-armed-woman-shuts-denver-area-schools-11555501233">closed schools across Colorado</a> due to a credible threat of a woman armed with a shotgun and who was “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2019/04/16/jefferson-county-schools-lockout/">infatuated with Columbine</a>.” The 18-year-old Florida woman was reportedly <a href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/fl-ne-columbine-lockdown-20190416-story.html">found dead in Colorado</a> later in the day from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.</p>
<h2>The ties that bind to Columbine</h2>
<p>In our study of school shootings, we only looked at cases where a gun was fired on campus, following the practice of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/local/school-shootings-database/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c542ac9200c5">The Washington Post’s</a> database on school shootings. Had we included <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/10/columbine-effect-mass-shootings-copycat-data/">foiled plots</a>, the number would be <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/columbine-shootings-grim-legacy-50-school-attacks-plots/story?id=26007119">significantly higher</a>.</p>
<p>Several school shooters in our study were <a href="https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/a-dark-day-for-fort-gibson-school-shooting-now-years/article_0f51d05b-999c-575f-bff6-6465404a9d24.html">fascinated with Columbine</a> and <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/21/at-least-2-dead-in-nevada-school-shooting">researched</a> the massacre before their own. This includes the <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/cruz-researched-columbine-massacre-parkland-shooting-article-1.3953545">Parkland shooter</a>, a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/12/12/jesse-osborne-pleads-guilty-south-carolina-school-shooting/2297747002/">14-year-old</a> who aspired to be “<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/12/12/jesse-osborne-pleads-guilty-south-carolina-school-shooting/2297747002/">the youngest mass murderer</a>,” and a <a href="https://www.pantagraph.com/news/th-grader-detailed-shooting-in-deadly-diary/article_02d99158-90ac-55b5-9ec4-b56fab93b49f.html">15-year-old</a> who shot at his teacher after she <a href="https://www.pantagraph.com/news/th-grader-detailed-shooting-in-deadly-diary/article_02d99158-90ac-55b5-9ec4-b56fab93b49f.html">refused to praise Marilyn Manson</a>, the rock singer who was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/sep/21/columbine-destroyed-my-entire-career-marilyn-manson-on-the-perils-of-being-the-lord-of-darkness">erroneously blamed</a> for inspiring the Columbine killers.</p>
<p>The timing of the April 17 threat to Colorado schools is no coincidence. Prior perpetrators chose the anniversary of Columbine to commit their shootings, including <a href="https://www.rockdalenewtoncitizen.com/news/local/tj-solomon-heritage-high-school-shooter-released-after-years/article_66508783-e652-5f3c-94c3-acaa6164f3ee.html">one month</a> and <a href="https://www.apnews.com/3df17eb2c8aef3e916a6a866ce97013c">two years</a> after. A different shooter talked of how he was going to “<a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,102077,00.html">pull a Columbine</a>.” Others discussed Columbine with <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/was-columbine-the-trigger/">classmates</a>, even <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/william-atchison-led-double-life-online-749363">joked about it</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/adam-lanzas-terrifying-online-life-revealed-mass-shooting-spreadsheets-columbine-collages-and-murder-tumblrs">Sandy Hook Elementary School</a> shooter idolized the Columbine killers and curated a Tumblr account paying homage, alongside a graphic collage of Columbine victims. A North Carolina shooter was so <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/14591327/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/cops-nc-suspect-e-mailed-columbine-official/#.XKzqaZhKjD5">obsessed with Columbine</a> that he <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/21/north.carolina.castillo.trial/index.html">took a vacation</a> there with his mother and fantasized about <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article10353572.html">“finishing off”</a> any wounded survivors.</p>
<p>Multiple shooters, including one <a href="https://katu.com/news/local/school-shooting-suspect-claims-columbine-influence">15-year-old in Oregon</a> and another in <a href="https://komonews.com/news/local/teen-charged-in-freeman-high-shooting-in-court">Washington state</a>, were inspired by a <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0754392/">documentary</a> about Columbine that included detailed recreations of what happened. One <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wisconsin-hostage-standoff-gunman-shoots/story?id=12272586">Wisconsin teenager</a> held his classroom hostage after <a href="https://www.theawl.com/2010/12/two-hours-in-marinette-lessons-from-a-school-shooting/">reading a book</a> about Columbine.</p>
<p>Perpetrators also <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/story/student-charged-in-missouri-middle-school-shooting">dressed in trench coats</a> like the Columbine shooters, including those responsible for the <a href="https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Teen-suspect-in-Santa-Fe-shooting-promoted-12926019.php">2018 Santa Fe shooting</a>, where 10 people died, and a 2004 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/nyregion/student-agrees-to-20year-term-after-nonfatal-shooting-spree-in.html">nonfatal shooting</a> in New York. Indeed, the <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/santa-fe-shooting-trench-coat-ban">trench coat</a> has appeared in subsequent school shootings because Columbine gave it meaning beyond any intrinsic use.</p>
<h2>Why Columbine?</h2>
<p>Columbine has spawned an entire <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0002764218755835">subculture of “Columbiners” and copycats</a>. A March 2019 <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-violence-school/inspired-by-columbine-brazil-pair-kill-eight-and-themselves-in-school-shooting-idUSKBN1QU1TT">shooting in Brazil that killed eight</a> shows that Columbine’s influence is global. But Columbine was not the <a href="https://www.k12academics.com/school-shootings/history-school-shootings-united-states">first school shooting</a>, not even that year. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/05/22/612465197/20-years-ago-oregon-school-shooting-ended-a-bloody-season">Eleven months</a> before the horror in Littleton unfolded, an expelled 15-year-old – also wearing a trench coat – killed two and injured 25 at a school in Springfield, Oregon. Why do we not now talk about the “Springfield effect”?</p>
<p>Partly because the perpetrator in Springfield was <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kinkel/trial/sack.html">professionally diagnosed as psychotic</a>, meaning his attack could be more easily explained away. He also acted alone, whereas having two shooters immediately intensified the intrigue around Columbine. But the main reason for Columbine’s longevity was that its perpetrators created <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/us/07columbine.html">manifestos</a> and <a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,992873,00.html">home movies</a> of their preparations in hopes that their story would outlive them. Unfortunately, it has.</p>
<p>Before Columbine, there was no script for how school shooters should behave, dress and speak. Columbine created “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/9998.html">common knowledge</a>,” the foundation of coordination in the absence of a standardized playbook. Timing was everything. The massacre was one of the first to take place after <a href="https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-orlando-shooting-media-20160618-snap-story.html">the advent of 24-hour cable news</a> and during the “<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/574132.stm">the year of the net</a>.” This was the dawn of the digital age of <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/9436.html">perfect remembering</a>, where words and deeds live online forever. Columbine became the pilot for future episodes of <a href="http://www.startribune.com/terrorism-is-a-performance-don-t-watch/507322442/">fame-seeking violence</a>.</p>
<h2>Separating myth from reality</h2>
<p>Our research has found that school shootings have nothing to do with <a href="http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19990613&slug=2966238">jock envy</a>, <a href="https://www.bethwinegarner.com/the-columbine-effect">satanism</a>, <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2007/07/04/study-links-computer-denial-to-columbine/">video games</a>, or <a href="https://www.westword.com/news/keanu-reeves-blamed-for-parkland-and-columbine-10010081">Keanu Reeves</a>, and school shooters are not <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2004/04/at-last-we-know-why-the-columbine-killers-did-it.html">psychopathic masterminds</a>. In fact, these soundbite explanations for aberrant behavior only blind us to the reality of school violence.</p>
<p>School shooters are almost always <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-shooters-usually-show-these-signs-of-distress-long-before-they-open-fire-our-database-shows-111242">current students</a> of their schools. They are students who are in crisis, students who have experienced trauma, and students who are <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/03/27/school-safety-security-policy-minn-researchers-question">actively suicidal</a> prior to the shooting and expect to die in the act. Such children have always existed. But for 20 years they’ve had a new script to follow.</p>
<p>And we, the public, have contributed to the production and direction of this script. Again and again and again. Through our obsession with <a href="https://theweek.com/articles/736073/why-true-crime-obsession-bad-society">true crime</a> and films, <a href="https://www.columbine-guide.com/">books</a>, memes and entire websites devoted to Columbine. By releasing CCTV footage of the shooting to the public. By running our children through regular lockdowns and <a href="https://theconversation.com/active-shooter-drills-may-reshape-how-a-generation-of-students-views-school-93709">active shooter drills</a> starting in preschool through 12th grade. By sending them to school through secure entrances with <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/more-school-choice-means-more-school-safety">clear backpacks</a> and <a href="https://www.wfsb.com/news/bulletproof-school-supplies-put-to-the-test/article_29b34fdf-1bf3-5154-9536-b87f41521cb6.html">bulletproof binders</a>. Society and culture have reared a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/02/22/generation-columbine-has-never-known-world-without-school-shootings/361656002/">Columbine generation</a>, modeling that this is just part of childhood in America.</p>
<h2>Flipping the script</h2>
<p>After serial killing peaked in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/15/are-american-serial-killers-a-dying-breed">late 1980s</a>, it’s hard to know which <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2011/01/the-decline-of-the-serial-killer.html">faded first</a> – the serial killers themselves or the public obsession with them. The same fear and fascination that created the <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Using-Murder-The-Social-Construction-of-Serial-Homicide/Jenkins/p/book/9781351328449">serial killer panic</a> is what drives the <a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,35098,00.html">Columbine effect</a>. After 20 years, it’s time to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/16/opinions/florida-shooting-drills-not-enough-peterson-densley-opinion/index.html">rewrite the script</a> being rehearsed with young people.</p>
<p>It starts with no names, no photos and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002764217730854">no notoriety</a> for mass shooters in media coverage – which is why we don’t indulge here. The next step is a paradigm shift from <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814748206/homeroom-security/">homeroom security</a> to holistic violence prevention in schools – mental health, supportive environments, strong relationships and crisis intervention and deescalation. Teachers should feel as comfortable asking a student about suicide as they feel going into lockdown; empowered to spend as much time teaching empathy and resilience as they do now training to <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/about/partnerships/office-of-partner-engagement/active-shooter-resources/responding-to-an-active-shooter-crisis-situation">run, hide, fight</a>.</p>
<p>The victims and survivors of school violence must not be forgotten, but to prevent another two decades of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280030460_Contagion_in_Mass_Killings_and_School_Shootings">contagion</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0002764217739663">copycats</a>, it requires a recognition that it is time to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/23/opinions/social-media-fuels-right-wing-extremism-opinion-peterson-densley/index.html">close the curtain</a> on the spectacle of Columbine.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115115/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jillian Peterson receives funding from the National Institute of Justice.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Densley receives funding from the National Institute of Justice. </span></em></p>Media coverage of the Columbine school shooting that took place in 1999 has ended up becoming a playbook for school shooters in the United States and beyond, an analysis of school shootings reveals.Jillian Peterson, Professor of Criminal Justice, Hamline University James Densley, Professor of Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.