tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/school-safety-30979/articlesSchool safety – The Conversation2023-03-03T13:24:22Ztag: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>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/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>
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<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>
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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>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<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>
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<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/1973932023-01-18T13:38:56Z2023-01-18T13:38:56ZDozens of US schools, universities move to ban TikTok<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504510/original/file-20230113-14-datjvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4608%2C3442&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The TikTok social media app has raised concerns about cybersecurity and online safety.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/illustration-tiktok-a-short-video-platform-suqian-jiangsu-news-photo/1245918786">Future Publishing via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A growing number of public schools and colleges in the U.S. are moving to ban TikTok – the popular Chinese-owned social media app that allows users to share short videos.</p>
<p>They are following the lead of the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/tiktok-ban-biden-government-college-state-federal-security-privacy-rcna63724">federal government</a> and <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/tiktok-bans-government-devices-raise-222316798.html">several states</a>, that are banishing the social media app because <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/students-question-tiktok-bans-public-universities-rcna62801">authorities believe foreign governments – specifically China – could use the app</a> to spy on Americans.</p>
<p>The app is created by ByteDance, which is based in China and has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/07/tiktoks-china-bytedance-data-concerns">ties to the Chinese government</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/students-question-tiktok-bans-public-universities-rcna62801">The University of Oklahoma, Auburn University in Alabama</a> and <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/social-media/tiktok-also-banned-by-some-us-universities/">26 public universities and colleges in Georgia</a> have banned the app from campus Wi-Fi networks. <a href="https://www.bestcolleges.com/news/these-colleges-just-banned-tiktok/">Montana’s governor has asked</a> the state’s university system to ban it. </p>
<p>Some K-12 schools have also blocked the app. Public schools in Virginia’s <a href="https://www.fox5dc.com/news/stafford-county-public-schools-blocking-students-access-to-tiktok">Stafford, Prince William and Loudoun counties</a> have banned TikTok on school-issued devices and schools’ Wi-Fi networks. Louisiana’s state superintendent of education recommended that <a href="https://www.wdsu.com/article/louisiana-superintendent-education-tik-tok-ban/42393440">schools in the state remove the app from public devices</a> and <a href="https://www.edweek.org/technology/should-schools-ban-tiktok-louisiana-ed-chief-urges-districts-to-do-it/2023/01#:%7E:text=He%20implored%20districts%20to%20delete,laptops%2C%20a%20department%20spokesman%20added.">block it</a> on school-issued devices. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=g-jALEoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researcher</a> who specializes in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1097198X.2019.1603527">cybersecurity</a>, I don’t believe these schools are overreacting. TikTok captures user data in a way that is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jul/19/tiktok-has-been-accused-of-aggressive-data-harvesting-is-your-information-at-risk">more aggressive than other apps</a>.</p>
<p>The version of TikTok that is raising all these concerns is not available in China itself. In an effort to protect Chinese students from the harmful effects of social media, the Chinese Communist Party has issued a rule that limits the time students can spend on TikTok to <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/fbi-says-it-has-national-security-concerns-about-tiktok/6836340.html">40 minutes a day</a>. And they can view only <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/fbi-says-it-has-national-security-concerns-about-tiktok/6836340.html">videos with a patriotic theme or educational content</a> such as science experiments and museum exhibits.</p>
<h2>Aggressive tactics to capture and harvest user data</h2>
<p>All <a href="https://www.wdsu.com/article/louisiana-superintendent-education-tik-tok-ban/42393440">major social media platforms</a> <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/11/15/americans-and-privacy-concerned-confused-and-feeling-lack-of-control-over-their-personal-information/">raise privacy concerns and include security risks</a> for users.</p>
<p>But TikTok does more than the rest. Its default privacy settings allow the app to collect much more information than the app needs to actually function. </p>
<p>Every hour, the app accesses users’ <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jul/19/tiktok-has-been-accused-of-aggressive-data-harvesting-is-your-information-at-risk">contact lists and calendars</a>. It also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jul/19/tiktok-has-been-accused-of-aggressive-data-harvesting-is-your-information-at-risk">collects the location of devices</a> used to access the service and can scan hard drives attached to any of those devices. </p>
<p>If a user changes privacy settings to avoid that scrutiny, the app <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jul/19/tiktok-has-been-accused-of-aggressive-data-harvesting-is-your-information-at-risk">persistently asks for that permission to be restored</a>. Other social networking apps, like Facebook, don’t ask users to revise their privacy settings if they lock down their information.</p>
<p>How TikTok handles the data it collects from users also raises concerns. Ireland’s data protection regulator, for instance, is <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-leaders-fire-warning-shots-at-tiktok-over-privacy/">investigating possible illegal transfers</a> of European citizens’ data to Chinese servers and potential violations of rules protecting children’s privacy.</p>
<h2>Cybersecurity vulnerabilities</h2>
<p>As <a href="https://businessplus.ie/tech/social-media-lost-user-data/">with other social media services</a>, researchers have found <a href="https://research.checkpoint.com/2020/tik-or-tok-is-tiktok-secure-enough/">serious vulnerabilities</a> with TikTok.</p>
<p>In 2020, cybersecurity company Check Point found that it could send users messages that looked as if they came from TikTok but actually contained malicious links. When users clicked on those links, <a href="https://futurism.com/major-security-flaws-tiktok">Check Point’s researchers could seize control of their TikTok accounts</a>, get access to private information, delete existing content and even post new material under that user’s account.</p>
<p>Hackers have also taken advantage of <a href="https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/29/tiktok_invisible_challenge_malware/">viral TikTok trends to distribute malicious software</a> that creates additional cybersecurity problems. For instance, a trend called the “Invisible Challenge” encouraged users to use a TikTok filter called “Invisible Body” to film themselves naked – assuring users their followers would only see a blurry image, not anything revealing. </p>
<p>Cybercriminals created TikTok videos that claimed they had made software that would reveal users’ nude bodies by reversing the body-masking filter. But the software they encouraged users to download actually just stole people’s <a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/tiktok-invisible-body-challenge-exploited-to-push-malware/">social media, credit card and cryptocurrency credentials</a> from elsewhere on their phones, as well as files from victims’ computers.</p>
<h2>National security concerns</h2>
<p>Many U.S. lawmakers have objected to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/12/22/1144745813/why-the-proposed-tiktok-ban-is-more-about-politics-than-privacy-according-to-exp">the app’s location tracking services</a>, saying it could allow the Chinese government to monitor <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/tiktok-security-concerns-explained-republican-led-states-look-ban-it-1765790">the movements and locations of U.S. citizens</a> – including members of the military or government officials.</p>
<p>If the Chinese government wants information about the <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1100836/number-of-us-tiktok-users/">more than 90 million TikTok users</a>, it does not need to hack anything.</p>
<p>That’s because China’s <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/05/huawei-would-have-to-give-data-to-china-government-if-asked-experts.html">2017 National Intelligence Law</a> <a href="https://usa.kaspersky.com/resource-center/preemptive-safety/is-tiktok-safe">requires Chinese companies</a> to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jul/19/tiktok-has-been-accused-of-aggressive-data-harvesting-is-your-information-at-risk">share any data they collect if the government asks</a>.</p>
<p>Technology industry observers have also raised concerns that ByteDance, the company that makes TikTok, may be <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/tiktok-owned-controlled-china-communist-party-ccp-influence-1752415">partially owned by the Chinese government</a>.</p>
<p>These problems take on even more importance in the context of the Chinese government’s alleged efforts to build a <a href="https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/chinas-mss-linked-to-marriott/">huge “data lake” of information about all Americans</a>. China has been linked to several large-scale cyberattacks targeting federal employees and U.S. consumers. These attacks include the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/24/politics/fbi-arrests-chinese-national-in-opm-data-breach/index.html">2015 hack of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management</a>, 2017 attacks on the <a href="https://www.csoonline.com/article/3444488/equifax-data-breach-faq-what-happened-who-was-affected-what-was-the-impact.html">consumer credit reporting agency Equifax</a> and the 2018 attack on hotel group <a href="https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/chinas-mss-linked-to-marriott/">Marriott International</a>. </p>
<h2>Negative effects outweighing positive ones?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.edweek.org/technology/tiktok-gas-twitter-how-social-media-is-influencing-education/2022/12">Teachers and school administrators have used TikTok</a> in some interesting, and useful, ways – such as connecting with students, building relationships, teaching about the risks of social media and delivering small, quick lessons.</p>
<p>But it is not clear whether those positive effects counterbalance the potential and actual harm. In addition to general concerns about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439316660340">the possible risks of social media addictions</a>, some school officials say increased TikTok use has <a href="https://www.fox5dc.com/news/stafford-county-public-schools-blocking-students-access-to-tiktok">distracted students from paying attention</a> to teachers.</p>
<p>Also, the app’s algorithm for recommending videos to watch next has increased students’ risk of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/15/tech/tiktok-teens-study-trnd/index.html">suicide and eating disorders</a>. The “One Chip Challenge,” which asks TikTok users to eat a single chip containing <a href="https://shop.paqui.com/products/one-chip-challenge">two of the world’s spiciest chili peppers</a>, sent <a href="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-10-tiktok-trend-kids-home-sick.html">some students to the hospital</a> and made others sick.</p>
<p>TikTok videos have also led students to <a href="https://www.krgv.com/news/students-destroy-steal-school-property-for-viral-tiktok-challenge/">engage in vandalism</a>. In response to one viral challenge, some students <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/viral-trend-on-tiktok-encourages-students-to-damage-school-property-steal/">stole bathroom sinks and soap dispensers</a> from schools. </p>
<p>With all that potential for harm and damage, it’s not surprising school officials are considering a ban on TikTok.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197393/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nir Kshetri 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>School officials are becoming increasingly wary of TikTok amid concerns that the app poses a risk to student safety and privacy and makes the nation vulnerable to spies.Nir Kshetri, Professor of Management, University of North Carolina – GreensboroLicensed 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/1941452022-12-07T17:57:44Z2022-12-07T17:57:44ZHow can we slow down youth gun violence? — Podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499363/original/file-20221206-3888-uw7zw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C50%2C5526%2C3650&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fifteen years after Jordan Manners was killed in a Toronto school, Canada's largest city is still struggling to curb youth violence. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/3ccb12ac-6927-4844-ae7d-3c0c82945809?dark=true"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-572" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/572/661898416fdc21fc4fdef6a5379efd7cac19d9d5/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>It was 15 years ago: police officers flooded C. W. Jefferys Collegiate in northwest Toronto. Outside, hundreds of anxious parents stood waiting for answers. The news that police delivered — as we now know — was tragic. </p>
<p>Fifteen-year-old Jordan Manners had been killed. It was the first time anyone had been fatally shot inside a Toronto school. Jordan’s death stunned his community and the nation. And for many, it punctured the illusion of safety in Canadian schools.</p>
<p>Since then, we’ve seen a slew of reports and funds directed at anti-violence projects in Toronto. But youth violence in Canada’s largest city hasn’t let up. </p>
<p>In fact, it’s getting worse.</p>
<p>This year, on Valentine’s Day, a student was fatally shot inside a Toronto high school and in October, another shooting happened outside a school. </p>
<p>In the Toronto District School Board, <a href="https://thelocal.to/two-school-shootings-15-years-apart/">the number of physical assaults</a> has risen by 174 per cent between 2014 and 2019 and the number of incidents involving a weapon has risen by 60 per cent.</p>
<p>Why is gun violence increasing? And can we slow it down? </p>
<p>Devon Jones has spent the past 15 years tackling these very questions. He is a teacher and well-recognized youth worker in the Jane and Finch community — where Jordan Manners was killed. It has been described as Toronto’s most dangerous area to be a kid.</p>
<p>Jones has seen many students who have lost their lives to violence over the years, including Manners. But he has also saved many lives through programs offered by YAAACE — an organization he founded in 2007 that focuses on basketball and academics. He’s a busy man, who had just rushed from dealing with a youth emergency before talking to us from school.</p>
<p>One of the former volunteers of Jones’s organization is Ardavan Eizadirad. Eizadirad is now the executive director of YAAACE. He is also an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University who has written about the root causes of gun violence.</p>
<p><a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/https-theconversationcom-how-can-we-slow-down-youth-gun-violence-194145">Join us on <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a> as we speak to Jones and Eizadirad about the rising rates of gun violence in Canada and the role community organizations play in the solution.</p>
<h2>Follow and Listen</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. <a href="mailto:theculturedesk@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<h2>Articles in the Conversation</h2>
<p><strong>Read</strong> the companion article to this episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em>: </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/to-resolve-youth-violence-canada-must-move-beyond-policing-and-prison-190825"><strong><em>To resolve youth violence, Canada must move beyond policing and prison</em></strong></a></p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-shouldnt-be-smug-about-gun-violence-its-a-growing-problem-here-too-184210">Canada shouldn't be smug about gun violence — it's a growing problem here, too</a>
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<p><em><strong>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/gun-violence-can-be-reduced-with-a-strategy-focused-on-deterrence-187682">Gun violence can be reduced with a strategy focused on deterrence</a></strong></em></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-once-sold-the-idea-that-guns-turned-boys-into-men-121296">Canada once sold the idea that guns turned boys into men</a></em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/thugs-is-a-race-code-word-that-fuels-anti-black-racism-100312">‘Thugs’ is a race-code word that fuels anti-Black racism</a></em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/toronto-mass-shooting-how-the-city-is-coping-a-month-later-100813">Toronto mass shooting: How the city is coping a month later</a></em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/calls-for-stronger-handgun-laws-in-canada-have-deep-roots-101051">Calls for stronger handgun laws in Canada have deep roots</a></em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/proposed-canadian-gun-bill-will-create-u-s-style-patchwork-of-firearms-laws-156480">Proposed Canadian gun bill will create U.S.-style patchwork of firearms laws</a></em></strong></p>
<h2>Sources</h2>
<p><a href="https://thelocal.to/two-school-shootings-15-years-apart/">Two School Shootings, 15 Years Apart</a></p>
<p><a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/student-fatally-shot-inside-toronto-high-school-1.5780952">Student fatally shot inside Toronto high school
</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/scarborough-school-shooting-1.6635808">Shooting outside Toronto high school leaves 1 dead, 1 teen injured
</a></p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2021.1879097">Prevalence and Impact of Harassment and Violence against Educators in Canada</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2017/05/27/the-death-of-jordan-manners-tore-apart-his-school-how-cw-jefferys-was-resurrected.html">The death of Jordan Manners tore apart his school. How C.W. Jefferys was resurrected. the Toronto Star by Andrea Gordon</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2015/12/04/news/how-american-gun-deaths-and-gun-laws-compare-canadas">How American gun deaths and gun laws compare to Canada’s
</a></p>
<p><a href="https://yaaace.com/">Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (YAAACE)
</a></p>
<p><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient is produced in partnership with the Journalism Innovation Lab at the University of British Columbia and with a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Youth violence hasn’t let up in Toronto. In fact, it’s getting worse. Community members say it’s a major problem that needs a more holistic solution.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientDannielle Piper, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me Resilient, The ConversationLicensed 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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<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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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/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/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/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/1666102021-08-24T12:18:20Z2021-08-24T12:18:20ZBlack parents say their children are being suspended for petty reasons that force them to take off from work and sometimes lose their jobs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417454/original/file-20210823-24-1cshsa5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=43%2C34%2C5708%2C3785&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black parents are having to call off work to deal with their children's minor infractions at school.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/exasperated-black-mother-with-computer-tutoring-royalty-free-image/1285442238?adppopup=true">Cavan Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When “Mike,” the father of a ninth grade student, got a call from his daughter’s school, the first thing he asked was: “How important is this?”</p>
<p>“They said, ‘Well, it’s important,’” Mike told me during an interview for my research. </p>
<p>When Mike went to his daughter’s school to see what was the problem, school officials told him his daughter was being suspended for giving a boy a hug. He ended up missing out on some of his hourly wages to deal with the situation.</p>
<p>“I was like, ‘Nah. Not only am I missing out on some hours at work, I’m missing out on some important meetings, and also commitments that I have made, to come up here and talk about suspensions, a five-day suspension for giving somebody a hug,” Mike told me. “That’s one of the things that every time they call me, I always raise my voice about that. It’s been times where the school has suspended her, and I told the school, 'Well, she can’t stay home with me. She doesn’t have nowhere else to go, so she has to stay at the school.’”</p>
<p>Mike’s dilemma is just one of dozens that I document in my 2021 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> into how Black families view school punishment and its impact on their daily lives. For my book, I interviewed 55 students from urban and suburban school districts throughout Michigan who received school suspensions, and their parents. I used fake names to protect their confidentiality.</p>
<p>As millions of students transition to in-person learning in the 2021-2022 school year, many may be wondering if an increase in school suspensions will follow. If suspensions do rise, my research suggests that could result in lost wages and even lost jobs for parents of Black students, who are suspended at <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/school-climate-and-safety.pdf">substantially higher rates</a> than white students.</p>
<h2>Harm to employment</h2>
<p>Much of the research about school suspensions focuses on how suspensions harm students. For instance, although school suspensions are meant to decrease violence and help create a safe environment, research shows suspensions are associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spv026">declines in academic achievement</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104757">an increase in Black students leaving school districts with a record of being punitive</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X17752208">dropping out of school</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427816643135">being arrested</a>.</p>
<p>However, as my new book shows, school suspensions also harm parents’ employment. Specifically, mothers and fathers told me that school suspensions led to a reduction in wages, job loss and even forced some of them to accept part-time work.</p>
<p>One such parent is Vanessa, the mother of Franklin, a 10th grade student, who told me she met with school officials to create an individualized education plan – known in schools as an IEP – for her son because of his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, diagnosis. Instead of implementing the plan as they agreed, she said school officials continued to suspend her son for minor offenses related to his ADHD. During our interview, Vanessa shared one instance in which her son’s suspension cost her a job.</p>
<p>“I was working at [place of employment] as a social worker before this job, and at that time I was making $37 an hour,” Vanessa told me. “My husband and I were going through a little difficulty, as we were separated at that time. They were calling me from the school because Franklin was having a rough time. He was gonna get suspended. I said, ‘Well, I have to leave.’ When you’re a social worker at that job, you can’t keep calling in” to say you have to leave work.</p>
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<h2>Reforms inadequate</h2>
<p>I also learned that the legislative reforms policymakers have passed in recent years to reduce school suspension rates may not be working in some districts. For instance, several parents told me school officials did not use alternatives to suspension in the years after the reforms were enacted, even though they’re supposed to.</p>
<p>One such parent is Dana, whose son Philip, a ninth grade student, got a two-day suspension for fighting after a school official saw him wrestling with his friends in the gym. Dana says the boys were playing. In our interview, Dana expressed considerable doubt regarding the reforms. Dana told me she wished she would have been aware that school officials were supposed to try alternatives to suspension first.</p>
<p>“I wish I would’ve known that because I don’t think they [school administrators] been doing that,” Dana told me. “I feel like it could be effective, but I don’t feel like it was done with my son at all.” </p>
<p>In recent years, legislators in several states, such as <a href="https://malegislature.gov/laws/sessionlaws/acts/2012/chapter222">Massachusetts</a> in 2012, <a href="https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=100&GAID=13&DocTypeID=SB&SessionID=88&GA=99">Illinois</a> in 2015 and <a href="http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2015-2016/publicact/pdf/2016-PA-0360.pdf">Michigan</a> in 2016, have passed school punishment reform laws that were intended to reduce suspension rates. </p>
<p>In Michigan, the reform guidelines require school officials to consider a student’s age, disability, disciplinary history and the severity of the offense before issuing a punishment. The reform guidelines also encourage school officials to use <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2020.1783670">restorative justice practices</a>, such as peer mediation and conflict resolution strategies, instead of suspensions. Yet, when I interviewed parents, many of them said school officials were not following the rules.</p>
<p>When school officials don’t follow the reforms, it affects parents such as Linda, whose son Deshaun, a 12th grade student, received a three-day suspension because a video showed he was present in the restroom when a fight occurred. When school officials issued the punishment, Deshaun expressed that he entered the restroom before the other boys and did not participate in the fight. Although the video, which I reviewed, shows he was not fighting or talking to the other students, school officials upheld the suspension. Their argument was that all the bystanders should have contacted a school security guard instead of just watching the fight.</p>
<p>When I asked Linda about the effectiveness of the school punishment reforms, she stated:</p>
<p>“I don’t think they have implemented that at all. I haven’t seen that recourse. My son was very upset that he got suspended, ‘cause he was like, 'I wasn’t even part of it.’”</p>
<h2>In search of solutions</h2>
<p>Though school punishment reforms were intended to reduce suspension rates, studies have found schools that enroll a large percentage of minority students are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204016681414">less likely</a> to implement restorative justice practices.</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/suspended">Suspended</a>,” I offer some potential reasons why school officials resist implementing the discipline reforms. For example, some school officials told me the reform guidelines did not recommend a course of action for administrators who violated them and continued to issue suspensions. </p>
<p>I also express the need for stronger legislation, emphasizing restorative justice as a means to reduce suspension rates and increase school safety.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166610/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>Suspensions don’t just harm Black children – they also harm their parents’ employment, a school discipline expert argues in a forthcoming book.Charles Bell, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Sciences, Illinois State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1605922021-05-21T12:24:16Z2021-05-21T12:24:16ZVideo shows students still get paddled in US schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401913/original/file-20210520-21-1f32zy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C0%2C8210%2C5485&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">At least 92,000 K-12 students in the U.S. were paddled or spanked at school in the 2015-2016 school year.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/punishment-book-wooden-paddle-for-spanking-on-royalty-free-image/1250709739?adppopup=true">dannikonov/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The image of a teacher paddling or spanking a student at school may seem to belong in a history book – as archaic a practice as the dunce cap. However, for thousands of students across America each year, the use of corporal punishment for violating school rules is still <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/corporal-punishment-use-found-in-schools-in-21-states/2016/08">a routine part of their education</a>. </p>
<p>Surprising to many, corporal punishment in schools remains <a href="http://ecs.force.com/mbdata/MBQuest2RTanw?rep=SD1808">legal in 19 states nationwide</a>. In the 2015-2016 school year, <a href="https://ocrdata.ed.gov/estimations/2015-2016">more than 92,000</a> public school students were paddled or spanked at the hands of school personnel, with most of these incidents <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56986827">concentrated in fewer than 10 states, mostly in the South</a>.</p>
<p>Corporal punishment has again captured national attention following the release of a video in May 2021 of a <a href="https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2021/05/03/clewiston-principal-caught-paddling-first-grader-over-damaged-computer/">Florida principal paddling a young girl</a>. The video, secretly captured by the student’s mother, shows the principal striking the student with a wooden paddle in response to her damaging a computer. While a violation of district policy, the principal’s actions were deemed legal by both the <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-school-principal-sheriff-no-crime-principal">local sheriff’s office</a> and <a href="https://cbs12.com/news/local/state-attorney-declines-to-prosecute-florida-principal-for-paddling-6-year-old-student">the state attorney’s office</a>.</p>
<p>Many who have viewed the video have questioned how this practice remains legal and in use in the United States. As an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MTcxlxMAAAAJ&hl=en">educational researcher who studies school discipline</a> – and as a former teacher who has seen other teachers use this practice – I have found that the answer to this question is complex. </p>
<h2>Deference to local decision-making</h2>
<p>In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in <a href="https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/casebrief/p/casebrief-ingraham-v-wright">Ingraham v. Wright</a> that corporal punishment in schools is constitutional, establishing a federal standard for its continued legal use. </p>
<p>While corporal punishment <a href="http://ecs.force.com/mbdata/MBQuest2RTanw?rep=SD1808">remains legal in 19 states</a>, there <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2017/01/23/ban-corporal-punishment-colorado-public-schools/">have been efforts</a> in <a href="https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/ky-general-assembly/2021/01/05/kentucky-lawmaker-tries-again-ban-paddling-corporal-punishment-schools/4140075001/">some of those states</a> to ban the practice. In May of 2021, <a href="https://www.katc.com/news/covering-louisiana/louisiana-house-rejects-bill-banning-corporal-punishment-in-public-schools">Louisiana considered such a bill</a>.</p>
<p>However, these efforts have not been able to get much traction. Louisiana’s bill <a href="https://www.katc.com/news/covering-louisiana/louisiana-house-rejects-bill-banning-corporal-punishment-in-public-schools">failed to pass in the House</a>, with critics pointing to a preference for local school districts to make the decision. In fact, the last state ban <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435036">occurred in 2011</a>, when <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spanking-newmexico/new-mexico-bans-spanking-of-children-in-schools-idUSTRE73648X20110407">New Mexico outlawed the practice</a>.</p>
<p>Research that I have conducted with others shows this <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435036">deference to local school districts is common</a>. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435036">our 2018 study</a> on corporal punishment, we found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435036">state bans generally come after local school district bans</a> or reductions in use. </p>
<p>For example, Rhode Island <a href="https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/discipline-compendium/choose-state/results?field_sub_category_value=Use+of+corporal+punishment&title_selective%5B%5D=Rhode%2BIsland">enacted a state ban on corporal punishment in 2002</a>, even though the practice had not been used in the state <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435036">since 1977 because of local decisions</a>. In North Carolina, the practice has been <a href="https://www.fayobserver.com/news/20190308/nc-public-schools-have-stopped-using-corporal-punishment-that-could-now-become-state-law">eliminated by all districts in the state</a> since 2019, but a subsequent bill to formalize this ban at the state level <a href="http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2020/06/23/corporal-punishment-a-structural-racism-success-story-thats-not-yet-complete/#sthash.cTopXe3B.dpbs">failed to advance to law</a>.</p>
<p>For many local leaders and educators, the continued use of corporal punishment <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/20120831/corporal-punishment-florida-schools">reflects shared community norms</a> and a belief that the practice is beneficial to maintaining order in schools. For many state policymakers, there is a <a href="https://www.katc.com/news/covering-louisiana/louisiana-house-rejects-bill-banning-corporal-punishment-in-public-schools">general belief</a> that such decisions should be made at the local level. Unfortunately, research suggests that this deference to local decisions to use corporal punishment is harmful for students.</p>
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<h2>The harm of corporal punishment</h2>
<p>Though studies of the impact of corporal punishment in schools are limited, <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED502020.pdf">those that exist</a> suggest the practice <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/CORPORAL%20PUNISHMENT%20IDP2finalrev.pdf">harms students’ academic performance</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-19-states-its-okay-to-hit-kids-with-a-wooden-board-47744">future behavior</a>. Such negative outcomes have also been <a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-spanking-could-lead-to-health-problems-antisocial-behavior-58566">linked with corporal punishment use in the home by parents</a>.</p>
<p>The burden of these negative impacts is disproportionately experienced by students of color and boys. Black students are <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/school-discipline/files/corporal-punishment-dcl-11-22-2016.pdf">two to three times as likely</a> as their white peers to experience corporal punishment, and boys make up <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/school-discipline/files/corporal-punishment-dcl-11-22-2016.pdf">about 80%</a> of those subjected to the practice.</p>
<p>Based on such evidence, many <a href="https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/106/2/343">national</a> and <a href="https://endcorporalpunishment.org/">international organizations</a> recommend against the use of corporal punishment in schools. Former acting Secretary of Education John B. King called explicitly for U.S. schools to <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/school-discipline/files/corporal-punishment-dcl-11-22-2016.pdf">cease the practice</a>. Despite this, <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-spankings-are-banned-just-about-everywhere-around-the-world-except-in-us-118236">the U.S. has not joined</a> the over <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2016.1271955">100 countries worldwide that ban corporal punishment</a> in schools. </p>
<h2>Seeking alternatives</h2>
<p>For many educators, the appeal of corporal punishment may be its efficiency. It can be quickly administered by a teacher or principal with limited commitment of time or institutional resources. Though unproductive in the long term, it may result in compliance in the short term.</p>
<p>It is important, then, for discussions about bans on corporal punishment to include alternatives. In fact, not doing so may result in schools trading corporal punishment for other <a href="https://doi.org/10.17105/spr-14-0008.1">negative disciplinary practices like suspension</a>.</p>
<p>In my <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435036">own research</a>, my colleague and I found that when school districts serving large proportions of Black or Hispanic students decrease or stop using corporal punishment, suspension rates tend to increase. In contrast, suspension rates decreased in districts with more white students.</p>
<p>Given the negative effects of corporal punishment and the risk that bans alone could lead to increased suspensions in schools with more minority students, how should educators and policymakers approach the issue?</p>
<p>There are alternative approaches to corporal punishment and suspension that offer promise for eliminating the practice of paddling students while also ensuring that students remain in school to learn. <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED595733.pdf">Restorative practices</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1300/J019v24n01_03">positive behavior interventions</a> are such examples. These approaches focus on addressing student trauma, building relationships and rewarding positive behavior.</p>
<p>For example, rather than being paddled, students who damage school property might <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/blog/restorative-justice-resources-matt-davis">discuss their behavior with adults and other students involved</a> and then <a href="https://cdpsdocs.state.co.us/safeschools/CSSRC%20Documents/CSSRC%20Examples%20of%20Restorative%20Justice.pdf">contribute to repairing the property</a>. </p>
<p>A focus on building a <a href="https://www.schoolclimate.org/about/our-approach">strong school climate</a> – characterized by supportive relationships between teachers and students as well as engaging instructional practice – also holds promise for improved student behavior without corporal punishment.</p>
<p>Ultimately, gaining local support for corporal punishment bans may be easier if schools know more effective alternatives are available.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160592/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, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the American Educational Research Association for work on school discipline.</span></em></p>Decisions on whether to allow corporal punishment in school have been largely local.F. Chris Curran, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1572982021-04-08T12:03:39Z2021-04-08T12:03:39ZBringing ‘behavioral vaccines’ to school: 5 ways educators can support student well-being<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393851/original/file-20210407-21-11u68aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=72%2C0%2C7956%2C4922&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Research shows small acts of kindness can make a big difference in classrooms. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/preschool-teacher-students-in-class-wearing-masks-royalty-free-image/1294218659?adppopup=true">kali9/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As many schools in the U.S. figure out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-can-all-schools-safely-reopen-157475">how to safely and fully resume in-person instruction</a>, much of the focus is on <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/why-teacher-vaccinations-are-so-hard-to-track/2021/03">vaccinations</a>.</p>
<p>But there’s another type of “vaccine” that may be beneficial for some returning K-12 students that could be overlooked. Those are known as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-008-0036-x">behavioral vaccines</a>.”</p>
<p>Behavioral vaccines are not some sort of serum to help control how children behave. There are no needles, shots or drugs involved. Behavioral vaccines are simple steps that educators and parents can take to help support child well-being throughout the day. </p>
<p>Those actions can be as easy as offering students a warm welcome when they enter the classroom. Studies have shown positive greetings can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300717753831">reduce disruptive behavior and increase academically engaged behavior</a>. Written notes of praise from teachers or other students – such as a thank-you note for helping someone with a math problem – are another example of a behavioral vaccine. These sorts of notes have been found to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300716675733">reduce problem behavior during recess</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-008-0036-x">Behavioral vaccines</a> can also entail activities like breathing exercises to help students feel calm or aerobic play to reduce stress. Each simple action can be used alone or in combination to deliver supports that promote well-being. </p>
<h2>Challenging times</h2>
<p>As a concept, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020977107086">behavioral vaccines</a>” have been around for centuries. Intended to prevent disease and promote public health, a behavioral vaccine is a simple action that can lead to big results. Think about hand-washing or seat belt-wearing – behaviors to promote physical well-being and prevent larger problems for individuals and within communities.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=C9YZiOsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">school psychologist who focuses on matters of student mental health</a>, I believe behavioral vaccines can help improve the social, emotional and behavioral well-being of students. I also think these vaccines are especially important as schools seek to fully resume in-person instruction.</p>
<p>Over the course of the pandemic, there have been reports of increased <a href="https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2020/sia-mental-health-crisis.pdf">teen stress</a>, <a href="https://www.edweek.org/research-center/student-mental-health-during-the-pandemic-educator-and-teen-perspectives">negative states of mind</a> and even more <a href="https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/147/3/e2020029280">suicide attempts</a> as students struggle with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-029280">isolation</a>, <a href="https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2020/sia-mental-health-crisis.pdf">disruption</a> of their routines and <a href="https://www.edweek.org/research-center/student-mental-health-during-the-pandemic-educator-and-teen-perspectives">remote-learning fatigue</a>. </p>
<p>Since schools can play a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2018.1515296">critical role</a> in child development, they represent an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0020731415585986">ideal venue</a> for public health interventions. With those things in mind, here are five ways that schools can offer behavioral vaccines to returning students:</p>
<h2>1. Build strong connections with every child</h2>
<p>Positive relationships are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2017.1398650">key drivers</a> of healthy development. Strong social connection <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.08.011">buffers against other risks</a> present in young people’s lives, such as belonging to a group that is seen as a minority, living in poverty or having family members who fall ill. When school provides supportive social connection, it can help reduce vulnerabilities.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02796015.2009.12087850">Teacher support and connection</a> has been shown to help students feel better about being in school. Behavioral vaccines focused on supportive connection can involve offering an enthusiastic hello when meeting, building confidence about assignments by giving <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/xge-a0033906.pdf">wise feedback</a> and encouraging students to ask questions. It can also involve taking interest in life outside of the classroom, and adding a daily routine of sharing appreciation for others. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two school girls wearing masks play together in a classroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.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">Promoting a positive attitude in the classroom can help students learn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/joyful-school-girls-playing-clapping-game-while-royalty-free-image/1269827900?adppopup=true">FluxFactory/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>2. Foster positive emotions</h2>
<p>Positive emotions such as joy, pride and interest <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00192.x">affect learning</a>. Experiencing positive emotions helps children be more aware, focused and ready to solve problems. </p>
<p>A fancy curriculum or a lot of time is not needed – adults can embed simple, easy-to-do strategies throughout the school day. These strategies can include helping students <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760500510676">visualize their best possible selves</a> or practice calming breaths.</p>
<p>Figure out which techniques help children be their best. Some students may need to be physically active to boost positive emotions, whereas others may benefit from just being quiet and sitting still.</p>
<h2>3. Include adults</h2>
<p>Behavioral vaccines can apply across the entire school system – including for every teacher and adult in the setting. Just as with students, teachers can benefit from opportunities to choose and incorporate <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22279">strategies for reducing stress</a> and bolstering well-being. Peer-to-peer written praise notes, for example, have been found to work for <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43694168">teachers</a> as well as students to increase positive feelings and connection.</p>
<p>Student well-being is connected to teacher well-being. Since the classroom is the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2017.1398650">primary place</a> for nurturing child well-being in school, prioritizing each teacher’s well-being is critical.</p>
<h2>4. Be mindful of disciplinary practices</h2>
<p>As students return to fully in-person classes, they may bring social, emotional and behavior challenges. Recent estimates suggest over 37,000 students have already <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.0161">lost at least one parent</a> to COVID-19. Students also have missed time to learn and practice classroom skills, such as how to take turns, understand others’ perspectives or even work quietly. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1523698113">Being empathetic</a> toward student experiences will be critical to reducing reliance on suspensions and expulsions.</p>
<p>School teams must carefully monitor their use of exclusionary discipline to make sure it does not <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654318791582">disproportionately</a> affect certain subgroups, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1808307116">Black students</a>, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-06-22/boys-bear-the-brunt-of-school-discipline">boys</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2018.11.001">students with disabilities</a>.</p>
<h2>5. Recognize different student needs</h2>
<p>In typical circumstances, children <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2018.1515296">develop at different rates, times and ways</a>. Every student will enter school with a different set of risks, some that were previously present and some magnified.</p>
<p>As British writer <a href="https://www.damianbarr.com/latest/damian-barr-george-takei-we-are-not-all-in-the-same-boat">Damian Barr</a> stated: “We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm. Some are on super-yachts. Some have just the one oar.” Each child’s boat is different. Some will need more than others to keep moving in the right direction and stay afloat. </p>
<p>Schools need to be prepared to deliver different types and “doses” of behavioral vaccines. Having a variety of behavioral vaccines at the ready can help schools more quickly bring about well-being for all students.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157298/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandra M. Chafouleas receives funding from the Institute for Education Sciences, National Institutes for Health, and the Neag Foundation.</span></em></p>‘Behavior vaccines’ – practices meant to improve safety and well-being – have been around for years. An educational psychologist says they are particularly important for schools to adopt now.Sandra M. Chafouleas, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1512482020-12-14T13:21:54Z2020-12-14T13:21:54ZWhy getting back to ‘normal’ doesn’t have to involve police in schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372607/original/file-20201202-24-w02ua4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5463%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Roughly half of public schools have a police presence.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/los-angeles-school-police-officer-henry-anderson-center-on-news-photo/496418636?adppopup=true">Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since COVID-19 forced many of America’s schools to teach kids remotely, parents and elected officials have been rightly concerned about when things will get back to normal.</p>
<p>But there are certain aspects of education where a return to a prepandemic “normal” may not be in the best interests of America’s students.</p>
<p>I believe that stationing large numbers of police officers inside public schools is one reality ripe for reform. I say this not only as a <a href="https://www.stanlitow.com/about">scholar of the politics of education</a>, but as former deputy chancellor of New York City’s public schools. I served right before New York City’s mayor at the time – Rudolph Giuliani – moved to have the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">police department take over school security</a> for the city’s school system.</p>
<p>A look back at that decision – and its consequences – can help inform the ongoing discussion about whether or how police belong in America’s schools.</p>
<h2>Police takeover</h2>
<p>Upon becoming mayor in 1994, Giuliani moved forward with the extraordinary step of shifting the responsibility for school discipline <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">to the New York City Police Department</a>, which he ultimately got the <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/n-y-c-mayor-gains-control-over-schools/2002/06">then-independent</a> Board of Education to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">approve in 1998</a>.</p>
<p>Giuliani wanted schools to have a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/09/nyregion/giuliani-sees-role-for-police-in-the-schools.html">more visible police presence</a>, even though there was evidence that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/13/nyregion/violence-is-scarce-in-schools-police-find.html?searchResultPosition=8">violence in the city’s schools was rare</a>.</p>
<p>As the city’s deputy schools chancellor in the early 1990s, I opposed this move, as did <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">then-Chancellor of Schools Ramón Cortines</a>, and his successor, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">Rudy Crew</a>. We all expressed concerns that it would not make schools safer, but would negatively affect the entire school climate and impede educational progress. </p>
<p>At the time, when the Division of School Safety reported to me, it had roughly <a href="https://www.cdfny.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/10/CDF-NY-Report-History-of-Policing-in-NYC-Public-Schools.pdf">2,900 school safety officers</a> – none of whom were police officers – and a budget of about <a href="https://www.cdfny.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/10/CDF-NY-Report-History-of-Policing-in-NYC-Public-Schools.pdf">US$72 million</a>. By 2020 under New York City’s police force, staffing for school safety officers roughly doubled in size, growing to <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2020/07/02/school-safety-agents-will-stay-under-nypd-this-year-despite-citys-claims-of-1b-cut-1296868">5,511</a>.</p>
<p>And some budget reports now document spending growing to over <a href="https://www.cdfny.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/09/NYPD-School-Safety-Budget-Explainer.pdf">$400 million</a>. But the massive spike in staffing and spending is part of a larger social justice problem known as the “<a href="http://www.justicepolicy.org/news/8775">school-to-prison pipeline</a>,” in which exposure to the justice system takes place as a result of even minor infractions at school.</p>
<h2>Disparities in discipline</h2>
<p>Nationally, Black boys get suspended once or more during the school year at more than <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419844613">three times the rate</a> that white boys do. In one state, Indiana, Black students’ probability of being suspended or expelled in a school year is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419844613">roughly 16% higher</a> than it is for white students.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1808307116">Research</a> has shown that Black students are “more likely to be seen as problematic and more likely to be punished than white students are for the same offense.”</p>
<p>In the 2018 school year, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/030419-acluschooldisciplinereport.pdf">roughly half of U.S. schools</a> had some law enforcement officials stationed in them. This is evidence that many U.S. school systems have been following a more visible form of school discipline with closer and deeper connections to policing and law enforcement than in the past.</p>
<h2>Alternatives to police</h2>
<p>I believe there is a different way.</p>
<p>School districts such as <a href="https://edsource.org/2020/oakland-school-board-unanimously-agrees-to-eliminate-its-police-force/634544">Oakland</a>, California, and <a href="https://coloradosun.com/2020/06/11/denver-public-schools-police/">Denver</a>, Colorado, have moved to eliminate or phase out police presence in schools.</p>
<p>There are plans to use the savings, at least in the case of Oakland, toward more counselors, social workers and workers who focus on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X12473125">restorative justice</a>, which involves practices such as peer mediation, restitution and community service instead of punitive measures, such as suspension or expulsion.</p>
<p>The results of pilot studies in both Oakland and Denver were quite positive. In Oakland, <a href="https://www.ousd.org/cms/lib07/CA01001176/Centricity/Domain/134/OUSD-RJ%20Report%20revised%20Final.pdf">graduation rates increased 60%</a> in schools that implemented restorative justice practices, and <a href="https://www.ousd.org/cms/lib07/CA01001176/Centricity/Domain/134/OUSD-RJ%20Report%20revised%20Final.pdf">suspensions fell by 56%</a>.</p>
<p>The incoming administration – through the U.S. Department of Education – has an opportunity to focus attention and resources away from having more police in schools. Instead, the administration of President-elect Joe Biden can provide funding incentives that would encourage school districts to increase school safety and school success, by investing more heavily in counselors and other forms of student support.</p>
<p>As I see it, by doing so, America’s schools will be safe, but also <a href="https://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/resources/projects/center-for-civil-rights-remedies/school-to-prison-folder/federal-reports/the-high-cost-of-harsh-discipline-and-its-disparate-impact">more students will graduate</a> and fewer young people will be fed into the school-to-prison pipeline.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151248/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stanley S. Litow 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>A former deputy chancellor of New York City schools explains why the police don’t need to patrol the nation’s public schools.Stanley S. Litow, Visting Professor of the Pratice, Public Policy, Duke UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1398212020-06-05T20:40:13Z2020-06-05T20:40:13ZThe good-guy image police present to students often clashes with students’ reality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340158/original/file-20200605-176564-1rn6003.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For police officers, building trust is a key part of their job. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/male-police-officer-high-fiving-a-young-boy-royalty-free-image/76536234">UpperCut via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Eight days after George Floyd was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html">killed</a> during an encounter with Minneapolis police in an incident that sparked <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/world/george-floyd-global-protests-intl/index.html">protests around the world</a>, Minneapolis Public Schools <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2020/06/minneapolis-public-schools-cancel-contract-with-police.html">terminated</a> its contract for the Minneapolis police to provide officers in schools.</p>
<p>“I value people and education and life,” school board chairwoman Kim Ellison <a href="https://www.startribune.com/mpls-school-board-ends-contract-with-police-for-school-resource-officers/570967942/">told a local newspaper</a>. “Now I’m convinced, based on the actions of the Minneapolis Police Department, that we don’t have the same values.”</p>
<p>On June 4, Guadalupe Guerrero, the superintendent of Portland Public Schools in Oregon, followed suit, saying: “We need to re-examine our relationship” with the Portland Police Bureau.</p>
<p>“The time is now,” <a href="https://twitter.com/Super_GGuerrero/status/1268599331981938689">Guerrero tweeted</a>. “With new proposed investments in direct student supports (social workers, counselors, culturally-specific partnerships & more), I am discontinuing the regular presence of School Resource Officers.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520284203/the-real-school-safety-problem">Research</a> supports these efforts to limit the number of police officers regularly stationed in schools. Other approaches, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3043">improving school climate</a>, are better at keeping schools safe.</p>
<p>Further, as researchers who study <a href="https://nij.ojp.gov/library/publications/understanding-school-safety-and-use-school-resource-officers-understudied">school safety and the use of police in schools</a>, we recently discovered another reason why taking cops out of America’s schools may be a welcome trend.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340159/original/file-20200605-176550-jo7u23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340159/original/file-20200605-176550-jo7u23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340159/original/file-20200605-176550-jo7u23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340159/original/file-20200605-176550-jo7u23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340159/original/file-20200605-176550-jo7u23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340159/original/file-20200605-176550-jo7u23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340159/original/file-20200605-176550-jo7u23.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">The image police project in schools doesn’t always mirror reality.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/elementary-school-student-asks-policeman-a-question-royalty-free-image/596374182">SDI Productions</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Based on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12472">our research</a>, school resource officers don’t view their job only as keeping kids safe. They also spend a lot of time trying to make students trust the police and believe that the police are generally good.</p>
<p><a href="https://cops.usdoj.gov/supportingsafeschools">School resource officers</a> are sworn police officers who work in schools. They are usually armed and in uniform, and are trained and generally supervised as police officers, not school employees.</p>
<p>The problem we see with that sort of pro-police messaging is that the message is often at odds with some of the <a href="https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/crime/JAR_Display.asp?ID=qa05260&selOffenses=1">violent police behavior students have experienced</a> or seen <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/03/us/minneapolis-police-use-of-force.html">in their communities</a>.</p>
<p>For example, research on the experiences and perceptions among black students and students from largely black communities finds that they <a href="https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-87.4.512">have also learned</a> that the police are an ever-present <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1745-9133.2007.00423.x">threat to their freedom</a> and their lives. The <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/police-shootings-caught-on-tape-video/">all too common scenes</a> of people of color dying at the hands of police reinforce what they’ve learned.</p>
<p>Thus, when the cops they see in their schools are saying one thing but the cops on the street are doing something else, it puts students in a position where an authority figure is asking them to believe something that blatantly contradicts their own reality. </p>
<p>A better way, we think, would be to have educators and police think more critically about the conflict between what police tell students and what they see – and to consider whether police even need to be in schools to start with.</p>
<h2>Message versus reality</h2>
<p>Consider, for instance, the words of one student we interviewed who told us how his school resource officer’s message contradicts what he sees in the news about the police.</p>
<p>“I always see on the news police officers doing everything to hold people down and stuff and I’m like nope, don’t want to run into them,” the student said. He added that his school resource officer “just makes me think different about them they may be doing the right thing.”</p>
<p>In another instance, a teacher described how a school resource officer justified the arrest of a student’s father, suggesting that the father was at fault for the family’s suffering. “We weren’t out to get your father,” the officer told the student. “Your father broke the law.”</p>
<p>In a different case, a Hispanic student asked whether the school resource officer was going to arrest the student’s mother due to concerns about her citizenship status. The officer dismissed the student’s concern as biased, failing to recognize how law enforcement’s role in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration/crackdown-on-immigrant-families-to-start-sunday-trump-says-idUSKCN1U71TU">actions against undocumented immigrants</a> might have contributed to the student’s worries.</p>
<h2>Pro-law enforcement message</h2>
<p>About <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018036.pdf">half of all public schools</a> nationwide have police officers in schools, including <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018036.pdf">large proportions</a> of rural (44%), town (58%), suburban (49%) and city (45%) schools. </p>
<p>Over the past several years, we, along with education researcher <a href="https://cehd.gmu.edu/people/faculty/sviano">Samantha Viano</a> of George Mason University, have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12472">discovered</a> dozens of instances where school resource officers use their positions of power to deliver pro-law enforcement messages – often to counter the <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/majority-say-police-more-likely-to-use-excessive-force-on-black-suspects-poll">negative news coverage</a> that police have been getting as of late for use of excessive force.
The school resource officers in our study, who worked at all levels of K-12 education, from elementary school through high school, consistently described teaching students to trust police as their second-highest priority, safety being the first. They saw negative portrayals of police as unwarranted. One officer argued that “the news media… puts a bad rep on a lot of police officers.” </p>
<p>The school resource officers actively sought to counter negative views about their profession with positive messages about what they do. One officer told us “it’s a PR thing … we’re wanting to make sure that those kids know that, you know, police are not the bad guys.”</p>
<p>To build trust and goodwill, the officers fostered relationships with students, greeted them with high-fives and worked to be approachable. </p>
<p>School leaders reinforced this approach. One district leader stated: “I think that is desperately needed to understand that law enforcement are a positive in our society.” </p>
<h2>Alleged anti-police bias</h2>
<p>School resource officers, as well as teachers and principals, recognized that not all students came to school with a positive view of police. But, rather than considering how police might contribute to such views, our research shows that they described students as biased against police because of negative news stories. </p>
<p>The officers acknowledged to students that sometimes police need to arrest people or use force. However, they taught students that this happens only when the person is committing a crime. They taught students that incidents of police violence are the result of isolated “bad apple” officers and not true of police in general. And, they explained that students shouldn’t blame police for doing their jobs – even if the person arrested is a loved one. </p>
<h2>Moving forward</h2>
<p>Where there are schools with officers present, we see a need for school leaders, teachers and school resource officers to allow more critical discussions about policing. This could involve explicitly <a href="https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2020/06/15_classroom_resources_for_discussing_racism_policing_and_protest.html">teaching about police violence</a>, facilitating <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2020/5/31/21276371/educators-tackle-tough-conversations-about-race-and-violence-this-time-virtually">student-led activism</a> projects or <a href="https://neaedjustice.org/social-justice-issues/racial-justice/talking-about-race/">dialogue</a> about police behavior.</p>
<p>As school resource officers seek to build positive relationships with students, they should also recognize that the high-fives they give them at the school door aren’t emblematic of the treatment those children and teens may receive once they leave the school premises. Educators and the police should listen to and validate students’ experiences and acknowledge problems of policing rather than ignore them.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139821/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 and the American Civil Liberties Union for work on school policing.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aaron Kupchik has received funding from the National Institute of Justice to do research on school policing.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin W. Fisher has received funding from the National Institute of Justice for work on school violence, including school policing. </span></em></p>Some school districts are starting to remove police. A team of researchers explains why that could be a welcome trend.F. Chris Curran, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of FloridaAaron Kupchik, Professor of Sociology & Criminal Justice, University of DelawareBenjamin W. Fisher, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, University of LouisvilleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1384012020-05-19T12:12:12Z2020-05-19T12:12:12ZSchool buildings need more space to safely reopen<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335464/original/file-20200515-138634-863q8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C503%2C4369%2C1471&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A teacher drops by her idled classroom.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/teacher-collects-supplies-needed-to-continue-remote-news-photo/1224853619">Michael Loccisano/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When COVID-19 first arose, the battle cry was “<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-cases-are-growing-exponentially-heres-what-that-means-135181">flatten the curve</a>.” As states make <a href="https://apnews.com/b984f9a970d7a81a520dbd456f92cd59">plans to reopen</a>, get ready for another important strategy: “<a href="https://www.gensler.com/research-insight/blog/what-happens-when-we-return-to-the-workplace">de-densify</a>.”</p>
<p>Simply put, to make it safer to go to schools, restaurants and other places where people have to go in big groups, these places will have to become less crowded than they used to be.</p>
<p>It may help to think of the density of a building as a fraction. You’ll find the right fraction by calculating the number of total people inside – the numerator – divided by the walkable floor area – the denominator. There are two ways to make that building less crowded. Either decrease the numerator by reducing the number of people inside the space or increase the denominator by expanding the physical space available. </p>
<p>To flatten the curve, most U.S. schools reduced the numerator to zero when about <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/map-coronavirus-and-school-closures.html">51 million children stopped attending school</a> in person. Over 100,000 schools are now <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/map-coronavirus-and-school-closures.html">closed through the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year</a>. </p>
<p>There’s no agreement yet on what it will take to get classrooms safely humming again. To observe the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation that everyone <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/social-distancing.html">remain 6 feet apart</a>, another government agency has suggested that schools aim for a <a href="https://www.usfa.fema.gov/coronavirus/planning_response/occupancy_social_distancing.html">density of 1 student per 113 square feet</a>. Anecdotal evidence suggests <a href="https://spaces4learning.com/Articles/2015/12/01/School-Capacity.aspx">classroom density was around 1 student per 20-30 square feet</a> before the pandemic.</p>
<p>How can schools find or create more space?</p>
<h2>Increasing school space</h2>
<p>We are <a href="https://www.informs.org/Explore/Operations-Research-Analytics">operations researchers</a> who study educational logistics problems such as <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=q8TWVIEAAAAJ&hl=en">school bus transportation</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1vTXCPAAAAAJ&hl=en">making decisions with tight budgets</a>.</p>
<p>There are widespread <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/should-schools-reopen-kids-role-pandemic-still-mystery">public health concerns about whether it will be safe to reopen schools</a> after what would have been the usual summer break. Information changes daily. For example, there are reports of a new <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-mysterious-illness-is-striking-children-amid-the-coronavirus-pandemic-but-is-it-kawasaki-disease-137986">illness striking children</a> that appears to be related to COVID-19.</p>
<p>Still, schools need to plan to reopen, perhaps in time for the start of the 2020-2021 school year.</p>
<p>There’s more to it than figuring out how to maintain enough distance between students when they’re sitting at their desks. Schools also have to decide how to handle everyday situations such as kids playing basketball in the school gym, eating in the cafeteria or sitting together in the auditorium for a school assembly.</p>
<p>Students need to be able to safely enter and exit buildings without bumping into each other. They’ll need to have the room needed to pass one another in hallways. Districts may need to purchase and distribute masks and other personal protective equipment to teachers, janitorial staff, students and others.</p>
<p>Students will need to keep the sharing of calculators and technology to a minimum and make a frequent habit of wiping down all devices. They’ll have to wash their hands more often and for longer periods of time. The frequency and intensity of cleaning and sanitizing floors, walls, tables and other surfaces will need to increase as well. </p>
<p>To make this easier, one general approach under consideration is to reduce the number of students in school buildings at one time.</p>
<p>Some states, like <a href="https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/education/k-12-students-in-indiana-likely-to-have-hybrid-experience-next-school-year/article_3e0046c8-895b-11ea-b793-ab666f70dc15.html">Indiana</a> and <a href="https://www.beaconjournal.com/news/20200506/one-option-for-ohio-schools-this-fall-two-days-in-person-per-week">Ohio</a>, are considering a mix of remote and in-person instruction, with students alternating what they do day by day.</p>
<p>A related strategy is <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/04/24/842528906/what-it-might-look-like-to-safely-reopen-schools">staggering attendance</a> during the same school day. Some students would attend in the morning and some in the afternoon. Halving the number of kids present would make it easier for schools to follow through with <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/guidance-for-schools.html#schools-prepare">CDC guidelines</a> to reduce congestion in classrooms, hallways and cafeterias. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335861/original/file-20200518-83367-j6vw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335861/original/file-20200518-83367-j6vw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335861/original/file-20200518-83367-j6vw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335861/original/file-20200518-83367-j6vw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335861/original/file-20200518-83367-j6vw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335861/original/file-20200518-83367-j6vw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335861/original/file-20200518-83367-j6vw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335861/original/file-20200518-83367-j6vw6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Schools were too crowded even before everything changed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/students-use-their-ipads-to-take-a-quiz-in-their-news-photo/1094671290">Lewis Geyer/Digital First Media/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Finding new space</h2>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/richmond-cunningham-reopening-schools-safely-brings-risks-and-challenges-heres-one-way-some-districts-could-get-it-done/">education leaders</a> have proposed considering another strategy: finding new space.</p>
<p>Splitting students in different classes or grades across multiple locations lowers the building density. This can be done by moving half of a school’s students and teachers to another location. Students who attend at each location could be more spread out than if they were all in just one place. </p>
<p>One way to do this is to keep high school instruction fully remote in the fall, and teach <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/richmond-cunningham-reopening-schools-safely-brings-risks-and-challenges-heres-one-way-some-districts-could-get-it-done/">younger students in vacated high school buildings</a>. </p>
<p>Our research suggests there is <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2944087">another strategy to find new space</a> for schools.</p>
<p>For years, public, charter, and private schools have shared space with community organizations such as churches and community centers that accommodate programs running before or after official school hours.</p>
<p>Schools could use YMCAs, public libraries or community centers to expand the space they have available. If schools split attendance between their main school site and those other sites, then most students at all grade levels in a district could potentially have an in-person option when schools reopen. </p>
<h2>Different strokes</h2>
<p>In the end, the best approach will be depend on what’s right for specific schools and their local communities. </p>
<p>Operations researchers have helped find solutions since the 1960s. For example, they assisted with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-0121(68)90014-1">school desegregation in the 1960s and 1970s</a>. More recently, they aided high schools that <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/116/13/5943.full.pdf">shifted their start times to let students get more sleep</a>. </p>
<p>Today, operations researchers can help local school systems face the threat of COVID-19.</p>
<p>[<em>You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=upper-coronavirus-help">Read The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138401/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Keppler receives funding from the National Science Foundation to explore school-community partnerships and resource sharing. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Smilowitz receives funding from the National Science Foundation to explore transportation in public schools</span></em></p>Making classrooms, cafeterias and other spaces less crowded will be essential. There are two main ways to do that.Samantha Keppler, Assistant Professor of Technology and Operations, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of MichiganKaren Smilowitz, James N. and Margie M. Krebs Professor in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, Northwestern UniversityLicensed 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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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/1317742020-02-24T13:17:39Z2020-02-24T13:17:39ZSome Kenyan schools are dangerously overcrowded. What must be done<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315232/original/file-20200213-11044-obkkwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students at school on Rusinga Island, Kenya</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">JLwarehouse/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>A stampede at a primary school in Kenya <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/counties/kakamega/Kakamega-tragedy--pupils-funeral-underway/3444890-5447236-mkut14z/index.html">resulted in</a> the deaths of 14 young children. Though there’s speculation over why the children died, it highlights the issue of overcrowding in Kenyan schools. The school <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001359170/school-tragedy-facts-about-kakamega-primary-school">had</a> 3,128 pupils and 51 classrooms – on average classes would have over 60 students in them at a time. Maurice Mutisya shares his insights with Moina Spooner from The Conversation Africa on just how bad the overcrowding situation is and what can be done about it.</em></p>
<p><strong>How big a problem is overcrowding in Kenya’s schools and what’s behind it?</strong></p>
<p>Overcrowding in primary and secondary government schools in Kenya has been an issue of <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/news/education/Overcrowding-woes-as-schools-reopen/2643604-5415790-3pp9toz/index.html">great concern</a>. </p>
<p>The cause of this overcrowding can be traced back to the introduction of <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1080614.pdf">free primary education</a> in 2003. The government wanted to ensure all Kenyans could go to school and abolished school fees. </p>
<p>As a result, enrolment in government primary schools <a href="https://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/sites/planipolis/files/ressources/kenya_kessp_final_2005.pdf">increased by</a> almost 1.3 million students in 2003, from 6 million in 2002 to 7.3million in 2003.</p>
<p>We are also seeing similar patterns in secondary schools, more so since the government in 2018 introduced a push to achieve a <a href="https://www.kenyanews.go.ke/push-to-for-100-percent-transition-in-secondary-school-enrollment/">100% transition rate</a> from primary to secondary school. This meant that in 2019, almost <a href="https://open.africa/dataset/kenya-economic-survey-2019/resource/5b9357a4-6227-4fbf-9e10-ae7043a41ce3">200,000</a> more students transitioned to secondary school compared to 2018. Unfortunately, the growth is happening in already overstretched schools that <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201901140069.html">don’t have</a> enough resources or facilities to meet the growing demand. </p>
<p>The national average classroom size <a href="https://www.education.go.ke/images/REPORTS/Basic-Education-Statistical-Booklet---2016.pdf">is about</a> 38 students. When looking at Africa as a whole, there are <a href="http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/school-resources-and-learning-environment-in-africa-2016-en/school-resources-and-learning-environment-in-africa-2016-en.pdf">more than</a> 50 students per class in primary schools in countries with data. </p>
<p>But, while Kenya’s case may look good, huge disparities exist between counties as well as between the rural and urban areas. <a href="https://www.education.go.ke/images/REPORTS/Basic-Education-Statistical-Booklet---2016.pdf">For instance</a>, Turkana has on average 92 learners per teacher, while Mandera had 80 and Garissa had 67. These are extremely crowded classrooms. In contrast, counties like Nyeri, Machakos and Nairobi have 25, 32, and 40 respectively.</p>
<p>Crowding is also more common in schools in urban poor areas, where there are many more students and not enough schools. The crowding in these settings has led to parents seeking out low-fee private schools. A study by the African Population and Health Research Center shows that on average <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Moses_Ngware/publication/271764794_Quality_and_Access_to_Education_in_Urban_Informal_Settlements_in_Kenya/links/57c6de4608ae28c01d4f65d7/Quality-and-Access-to-Education-in-Urban-Informal-Settlements-in-Kenya.pdf">almost half</a> of the children from poor urban households in five major urban areas – Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Nyeri, and Nakuru – are enrolled in low-fee private schools. </p>
<p><strong>What are some of the consequences of overcrowding?</strong></p>
<p>Overcrowding can have severe negative consequences for the education and the safety of learners. </p>
<p>Classes are larger and this usually leads to a <a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/saje/v36n2/05.pdf">drop in</a> student performance because teachers do not have enough time to meet the individual learning needs of each child. </p>
<p>Overcrowded classrooms and schools can also lead to <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/MAKING-THE-GRADE%3A-THE-IMPACT-OF-CLASSROOM-BEHAVIOR-Cortes-Moussa/802a6622957c483442c13a425bc72ec7786a0e7f">poor student behaviour</a> – such as absenteeism or lack of interest – because teachers can’t control or monitor the behaviour of all learners.</p>
<p>The consequences are not only felt by learners, but also by teachers. They have <a href="https://issuu.com/educationinternational/docs/managing_the_effects_of_large_class">more workload and this can be demotivating</a>. </p>
<p>In addition there are safety concerns in the schools. In emergency situations, overcrowding can <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/opinion/star-blogs/2020-02-05-schools-should-have-crowd-control-policy-for-emergencies/">make it hard</a> to evacuate people safely. While the <a href="http://cwsglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/CWS-SSZ-Schools-Manual_Kenya.pdf">Kenya schools safety guidelines</a> call for disaster and emergency preparedness for all schools, response to any eventuality may be hampered when schools sizes are large than usual.</p>
<p>Overcrowding can also lead to high rates of disease transmission, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10389-016-0777-9">such as</a> tuberculosis and pneumonia. </p>
<p><strong>How is the government trying to address the problem?</strong></p>
<p>The Kenyan government has taken steps to expand existing infrastructure and build new schools. But this hasn’t had much impact.</p>
<p>For instance, <a href="https://www.education.go.ke/images/REPORTS/Basic-Education-Statistical-Booklet---2016.pdf">between 2012 and 2016</a>, the number of public primary schools grew by just 13% to 22,945. By comparison, private schools grew by 64.5%. Public schools aren’t growing fast enough for the millions of students that need them.</p>
<p>The government also engaged with <a href="https://www.education.go.ke/index.php/downloads/file/83-national-education-sector-plan-volume-one-basic-education-programme-rationale-and-approach">development partners</a> in an effort to expand access. Private schools play a critical role in bridging the supply gap, hence reducing overcrowding. While this could help reduce overcrowding in some areas, it only benefits those that can afford it. </p>
<p>The government must ensure that it can provide a quality public education to all. Among the urban poor, low-fee private schools are used <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059309000984">as a result of</a> excessive public school demand and concerns over quality.</p>
<p><strong>Is there anything else that can be done?</strong></p>
<p>There is a need to learn from countries that have managed to address the problem of overcrowding. Sometimes this may require radical decisions such as adopting a <a href="https://classroom.synonym.com/advantages-disadvantages-double-shift-schools-12305457.html">double shift school system</a>, where some learners school in the morning and the others in the afternoon. This may however be relevant in areas where overcrowding is common.</p>
<p>The government has also set out <a href="http://cwsglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/CWS-SSZ-Schools-Manual_Kenya.pdf">safety standards</a> for schools to ensure learners are not exposed to otherwise avoidable risks. These standards must be better enforced and monitored to ensure compliance. </p>
<p>The government must also work more closely with school administrators and communities to explore potential solutions given their understanding of the local contexts and needs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131774/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maurice Mutisya 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>Overcrowding can have severe negative consequences for the education and safety of learners.Maurice Mutisya, Research Scientist, Education and Youth Empowerment, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1316052020-02-12T13:15:55Z2020-02-12T13:15:55ZSchools should heed calls to do lockdown drills without traumatizing kids instead of abolishing them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314816/original/file-20200211-146674-1ghrxxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Do kids need to practice how to do this?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kindergarten-teacher-closes-the-windows-as-her-students-news-photo/1802127?adppopup=true">Phil Mislinski/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, an advocacy group, has joined with the American Federation of Teachers and the National Educators Association, the nation’s two biggest teachers unions, to produce a report on <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/school-safety-drills/">lockdown drills</a> in schools. The report calls for drastic changes in how these drills are conducted today. They say that drills <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/02/11/804468827/2-big-teachers-unions-call-for-rethinking-student-involvement-in-lockdown-drills">shouldn’t be a surprise, involve realistic details or include kids</a>.</p>
<p>These concerns reflect questions I consider in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=NPCGC0YAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">my research about the impact of lockdown drills</a>: Is it possible to be prepared without being scared? And do kids need this training or just teachers and other school staff?</p>
<p>I agree with some of the teachers’ and Everytown’s concerns, but I don’t agree that kids shouldn’t participate in drills.</p>
<h2>Lockdown drill excesses</h2>
<p>There’s been no shortage of troubling headlines about lockdown drills and similar practices in recent years.</p>
<p>Teachers in <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/21/active-shooter-training-for-schools-teachers-shot-with-plastic-pellets/3231103002/">Monticello, Indiana</a>, in March 2019, were hurt when they got shot in the back with plastic pellets.</p>
<p>Students in <a href="https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/shotgun-blanks-shot-inside-school-today-part-drill/YzcCV3bXeJA3tM35oZyIHL/">Franklin, Ohio</a>, were exposed to sounds of simulated gunfire.</p>
<p>Sometimes, role-playing kids and teens, covered in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47711020">fake blood</a>, are scattered throughout their schools – screaming.</p>
<p><iframe id="DDwRu" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/DDwRu/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Holding emergency drills</h2>
<p>Today, more than <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2019047">95% of public schools</a> conduct lockdown drills. They became considerably more commonplace and focused on active attacker situations after the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, in which 12 students and a teacher were murdered. </p>
<p>But U.S. schools have held emergency preparedness drills for decades.</p>
<p>In the 1950s, students <a href="https://www.history.com/news/duck-cover-drills-cold-war-arms-race">practiced duck-and-cover drills</a> to prepare for the atomic attacks Americans feared would occur during the Cold War.</p>
<p>Fire drills became <a href="https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Publications-and-media/NFPA-Journal/2008/July-August-2008/Features/When-the-Angels-Came-Calling">commonplace in schools after 1958</a> – when a student at a Chicago parochial school started a fire in the building’s boiler room. The conflagration killed 93 students and two teachers.</p>
<p>Across the nation, students, faculty and staff participate in drills to prepare for <a href="https://www.shakeout.org/dropcoverholdon/">earthquakes</a> and <a href="https://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/school.html">tornadoes</a> without hesitation or second thoughts. These practices have become routine.</p>
<p>So why is resistance to lockdown drills rising to the point where teachers and activists are <a href="https://www.yang2020.com/policies/end-active-shooter-drills/">calling for their abolition</a>?</p>
<h2>The importance of practicing</h2>
<p>There are two key reasons why there is such an aversion to lockdown drills. </p>
<p>The first comes from a muddling of two things that are related but not the same: <a href="https://training.fema.gov/is/courseoverview.aspx?code=IS-362.a">exercises and drills</a>. Exercises incorporate realistic sights and sounds, such as the simulated screaming and bleeding that might occur during a mass shooting.</p>
<p>Drills, on the other hand, only require practice, such as evacuating a building or locking doors and getting as many people as possible out of sight.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20190816/school-shootings-and-lockdowns-how-do-kids-cope">Nobody sets schools on fire</a> during fire drills to make them seem realistic. Instead, everyone practices how to respond so that it’s easier to do the right thing in frightening situations.</p>
<p>Exercises and drills are often talked about as if they are the same. But they are different, a point that often is lost in the call to end the practices associated with them because both are often perceived as traumatic. </p>
<h2>Three studies</h2>
<p>A second reason that lockdown drills are misunderstood is the lack of available research.</p>
<p>Anecdotes about the impact of lockdown drills are everywhere. Evidence, however, is scarce. To date, just three studies published in academic journals have examined the effects of a lockdown drill on students.</p>
<p>In 2007, psychologists <a href="https://www.moravianacademy.org/academics/upper-school/faculty--staff">Elizabeth Zhe</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=16nAfxIAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">Amanda Nickerson</a> found that when conducted in accordance with <a href="https://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/sites/dcjs.virginia.gov/files/publications/law-enforcement/virginia-educators-drill-guide.pdf">best practices</a>, drills can increase awareness of how to respond to a situation without increasing anxiety or making people feel less safe. </p>
<p>Ten years later, researchers at Sam Houston State University, Misty Jo Dickson and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=BScl0TUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">Kristina Vargo</a>, found similar results: With continued practice, kindergarten students were able to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.369">master most of the steps</a> required during lockdown drills.</p>
<p>Most recently, Nickerson, Syracuse school safety leader <a href="http://www.syracusecityschools.com/districtpage.cfm?pageid=510">Thomas Ristoff</a> and I found that participation in training and accompanying lockdown drills <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2019.1703720">makes students feel more prepared</a>. Building confidence enhances the ability to do what’s needed during an emergency, our research indicates.</p>
<p>Consistent with the calls made in the report by Everytown and the teachers unions, I believe <a href="https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-climate-safety-and-crisis/systems-level-prevention/best-practice-considerations-for-schools-in-active-shooter-and-other-armed-assailant-drills">schools should use best practices</a> when conducting lockdown drills. According to the National Association of School Psychologists and others, this doesn’t include simulation exercises that involve fake blood and screams. </p>
<p>Experts agree that participants should know that they’re experiencing a drill, rather than a real situation, to minimize the <a href="https://www.nbc12.com/story/38326397/parents-outraged-over-unannounced-active-shooter-drill/">possibility of trauma</a>. School administrators can schedule these drills in advance so they aren’t completely unexpected. Mental health professionals should help with planning. And these drills should be appropriate both for the ages involved and for special needs such as prior traumatic experiences.</p>
<p>Also, teachers and staff should always talk with students afterward to answer any questions they may have.</p>
<p>Although lockdown exercises have become more elaborate since 2007, lockdown drills have remained largely the same. </p>
<h2>Defining objectives</h2>
<p>Lockdown drills, like fire drills, should help people respond correctly in emergency situations by making them practice. Along with training, having <a href="https://emergencypreparednesspartnerships.com/emergency-drills-exercises-utilities/">clearly defined objectives</a> is critical. Students must learn what to do and why. </p>
<p>Schools typically have <a href="https://iloveuguys.org/srp.html">three clearly defined goals</a> during lockdown drills: lock doors, turn off lights and remain silent and out of view of anyone in the hallway.</p>
<p>In real life, situations that would result in a lockdown being called – such as an armed attacker on school grounds – usually <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/active-shooter-incidents-in-the-us-2018-041019.pdf/view">end within minutes</a>. Locking doors slows down assailants, giving first responders more time to stop them.</p>
<p>Turning lights off makes it harder for an attacker to find their targets, as does remaining out of sight and staying quiet.</p>
<p>Each emergency situation is different. Each has unique circumstances dictating the right response. This is why I believe that training is so important: It empowers students, teachers and others to make critical decisions in a crisis.</p>
<p>The nature of an active shooting means that adults can’t always make all of the decisions. In both the <a href="https://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Sandy-Hook-children-ran-to-neighbor-s-4136455.php">Sandy Hook</a> and <a href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/parkland/florida-school-shooting/fl-ne-full-commission-report-20181212-story.html">Parkland</a> shootings, teachers were killed, leaving rooms full of students vulnerable. Students must have the necessary skills to respond on their own. That’s why I consider calls to only train teachers and staff shortsighted.</p>
<h2>Being prepared</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302536/original/file-20191119-111655-b30v9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302536/original/file-20191119-111655-b30v9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302536/original/file-20191119-111655-b30v9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302536/original/file-20191119-111655-b30v9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302536/original/file-20191119-111655-b30v9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302536/original/file-20191119-111655-b30v9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302536/original/file-20191119-111655-b30v9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302536/original/file-20191119-111655-b30v9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&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 and parents gathered a year after the Parkland mass shooting at a memorial event.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Parkland-Victims-Memorial-Service/234506c717ad4b60be40583796b2330c/63/">mpi04/MediaPunch /IPX via AP</a></span>
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<p>Although <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/6-7-of-students-skip-school-out-of-fear-worry-over-school-shootings-is-up-yet-school-violence-is-down-what-does-this-mean">school shootings have become a matter of grave public concern</a>, public schools remain <a href="https://news.northeastern.edu/2018/02/26/schools-are-still-one-of-the-safest-places-for-children-researcher-says/">among the safest places</a> for children to be. <a href="https://theconversation.com/have-we-become-too-paranoid-about-mass-shootings-125364">Mass shootings at schools are rare</a>. Yet they do occur.</p>
<p>I believe kids should be prepared, but also that drills don’t have to be scary to be effective. Schools can take steps to <a href="https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-climate-safety-and-crisis/systems-level-prevention/mitigating-psychological-effects-of-lockdowns">minimize the anxiety and trauma</a> surrounding lockdown drills and still help students, rather than just their teachers, know how to respond.</p>
<p>While I don’t recommend exercises featuring plastic pellets and fake blood, the evidence available indicates that practicing what to do when an emergency arises is worthwhile.</p>
<p><em>This article incorporates material from an article published <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-lockdown-drills-do-any-good-126913">Nov. 22, 2019</a>.</em></p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131605/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jaclyn Schildkraut receives grant funding from The Syracuse City School District to support her research on lockdown drills. </span></em></p>Teachers unions and gun-control advocates who decry the use of fake blood and simulated shootings have cause for concern. But getting students ready does take training and practice.Jaclyn Schildkraut, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, State University of New York OswegoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1304452020-02-06T13:45:31Z2020-02-06T13:45:31ZViolence and other forms of abuse against teachers: 5 questions answered<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313407/original/file-20200203-41527-yi5yad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teachers can suffer abuse on the job.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teacher-man-using-glasses-sleepy-expression-1080089846">Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Concerns about <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/schoolviolence/fastfact.html">violence and other forms of abuse in schools</a> typically emphasize the safety of students. But teachers and other school staff also suffer acts of violence and abuse. A group of scholars on a <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/a0031307">task force</a> organized by the American Psychological Association <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=Awl0ddQAAAAJ">studying</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=9prRmY0AAAAJ">violence</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=p1Gew10AAAAJ">against teachers</a> shine light on the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=BKR3GeEAAAAJ">extent</a> and nature of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=a2br4Y0AAAAJ">this problem</a>.</em></p>
<h2>1. How common are violence and other forms of abuse against teachers?</h2>
<p>In 2010, soon after we began to look at this issue, we administered a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21777">nationwide survey</a> to assess the extent of violence perpetrated against the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=28">3.6 million teachers</a> in U.S. public schools. The roughly 3,000 teachers from 48 states who participated were comparable to the population of teachers in the United States. About 80% said they had personally experienced some form of violence or abuse within the current or past year.</p>
<p>But, according to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/School_Violence_Fact_Sheet-a.pdf">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, in 2014, only 9% of U.S. teachers recounted being threatened with injury, and 5% said they were physically attacked in the current or prior year. We believe that the actual numbers could be much higher, as our research indicates, because teachers may fear that reporting these incidents could jeopardize their jobs. </p>
<p>The forms of violence and abuse teachers described varied greatly in our survey. For example, nearly 75% said they had been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21777">harassed at least once</a> during the previous year, more than half experienced damage to their cars or other property and almost half experienced some type of physical attack. One teacher told us that “my keys have been stolen, my tires slashed, and my car was keyed,” while another described having “been hit, spit at, bitten, kicked, pushed, had things thrown at me, had someone try to stab me in my eye with a pencil.” Another said “I was threatened by a student at a school after I reported to the security officer that he was beating up another student. The officer did nothing and when the student saw me again he called me a rat and threatened me.” </p>
<h2>2. Who attacks teachers?</h2>
<p>Although students committed most of these violent acts, parents and even other school employees were responsible for some of these incidents. Among the teachers in our sample who had been victimized at least once, 37% said the parents of students were responsible and 21% relayed incidents by their own colleagues. Most of those incidents involved some type of harassment rather than physical attacks.</p>
<h2>3. Where does this happen?</h2>
<p>We asked the teachers who told us about being victimized to think about all of the times they experienced either violence or abuse at school and to describe the most upsetting incident. We found that <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/vio0000256">high school teachers</a> were more likely to say they were threatened than elementary school teachers. Indeed, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23398708">threats expressed verbally</a> are more frequent for teachers of older students compared with younger students. However, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21777">elementary school teachers</a> were more likely to be subjected to physical abuse or even be assaulted than teachers who work at middle and high schools.</p>
<h2>4. How do teachers respond?</h2>
<p>Although you might expect that teachers would tell school administrators about all these incidents, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-018-9438-x">1 out of 5</a> of the teachers who told us about an incident said they never did that. What’s more, while the vast majority of teachers (87%) discussed the incident with another teacher, only 12% of the teachers spoke to a counselor or a mental health professional about the incident.</p>
<p>There are many reasons why teachers might not want to talk about these incidents. Some may feel embarrassed or worry about losing their jobs. Others may fear that they won’t be taken seriously. In one case, a teacher told us about seeing a student walking around in an unauthorized area. The school expelled the student, who had already been suspended several times for other serious infractions. At the end of the day, the student tracked down the teacher outside of a classroom and threatened the teacher, saying “I know where you live and I know your people. You better watch out.” The teacher then reported this incident to school administrators, but she was simply “laughed off by the administration.”</p>
<p>The administrators told the teacher that they felt the problem had been appropriately addressed, since they had expelled the student, and she would no longer be attending the school.</p>
<h2>5. What’s next for your research?</h2>
<p>Our task force is now studying how the way schools are managed and their <a href="https://theconversation.com/culture-of-trust-is-key-for-school-safety-92731">overall cultures</a> might actually be creating the conditions that lead to teacher assaults. We are also examining the relationship between safety issues in general and violence against educators. For example, we are looking into the cumulative effects of <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-shootings-prompted-protests-debates-about-best-ways-to-keep-students-safe-5-essential-reads-108976">school shootings</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-lockdown-drills-do-any-good-126913">lockdown drills</a> and the impact of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-trumps-idea-to-arm-teachers-may-miss-the-mark-92335">arming teachers</a>. Although many teachers never personally experience violence, these incidents can be life-changing for those who do.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/2003123516_Rena_F_Subotnik">Rena Subotnik</a>, director of the American Psychological Association’s Center for Psychology in the Schools and Education, contributed to this article.</em></p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric M. Anderman receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Psychological Association.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorothy Espelage, Linda A. Reddy, Ron Avi Astor, and Susan McMahon 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>From being subjected to harassment and threats to getting assaulted or having their cars keyed, many American teachers are being victimized.Eric M. Anderman, Professor of Educational Psychology and Quantitative Research, Evaluation, and Measurement, The Ohio State UniversityDorothy Espelage, Professor of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillLinda A. Reddy, Professor of Psychology & Assistant to the Dean for Research and Innovations, Rutgers UniversityRon Avi Astor, Crump Endowed Chair, Professor of Social Welfare and Education, University of California, Los AngelesSusan McMahon, Professor of Clinical and Community Psychology; Associate Dean for Research, DePaul UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1309452020-01-31T05:48:10Z2020-01-31T05:48:10ZCoronavirus fears can trigger anti-Chinese prejudice. Here’s how schools can help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313022/original/file-20200131-41554-1razzsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every disease outbreak brings an accompanying outbreak of <a href="https://www.wired.com/2014/10/ebolanoia/">fear</a>. Already we’re seeing coverage on the spread of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-30/coronavirus-economic-impact-caused-by-fear/11912366">coronavirus fear</a> which leads to <a href="https://www.khaleejtimes.com/coronavirus-outbreak/coronavirus-fear-misinformation-spreads-on-social-media">misinformation</a>, an <a href="https://theconversation.com/fear-spreads-easily-thats-what-gives-the-wuhan-coronavirus-economic-impact-130780">effect on the economy</a> and, perhaps the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/01/30/real-danger-coronavirus/">most alarming</a>, <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/voices/health/article/2020/01/30/coronavirus-and-avoiding-spread-xenophobia">xenophobia</a> .</p>
<p>Social <a href="https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/stigmatization-complicates-infectious-disease-management/2010-03">stigmatisation and xenophobia</a> are, unfortunately, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/10/8/6941749/ebola-panic-is-getting-pretty-racis">well known features</a> of disease outbreaks. And there is potential for xenophobic sentiment to build in Australian schools. </p>
<p>In an outbreak situation, xenophobia does not feel like racism. Excluding people who “come from” the epicenter of the outbreak is merely seen as a safety precaution. But precautions can sometimes go too far.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/28/coronavirus-australian-education-minister-chastises-schools-advising-students-to-stay-away">NSW government</a> and <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/coronavirus-private-schools-risk-panic-with-student-ban-watchdogs-warns/384a65a0-4143-4601-b80c-aad2468a78d2">several private schools</a> have requested students who have just returned from China remain at home for two weeks. This goes beyond the advice of Australia’s chief medical officer and federal government – that only <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/29/coronavirus-australian-students-get-conflicting-advice-about-return-to-school">those returning</a> for the Hubei province (or those who have been in contact with an infected person) stay away from public places.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-my-child-get-coronavirus-at-school-heres-some-perspective-for-aussie-parents-130782">Will my child get coronavirus at school? Here's some perspective for Aussie parents</a>
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<p>The NSW health minister <a href="https://education.nsw.gov.au/news/latest-news/coronavirus-department-of-education-statement">said the advice</a> was not “medically necessary” but was prompted by community wishes for such measures. </p>
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<p>Online <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/28/coronavirus-australian-education-minister-chastises-schools-advising-students-to-stay-away">petitions circulating</a> in Australia – with thousands of signatures from concerned parents – are calling for school authorities to extend restrictions to families arriving from many Asian countries, including Thailand and Singapore.</p>
<p>What if schools bowed to these calls too?</p>
<p>Giving way to public pressure for unnecessary control measures validates panic and can <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/opinion/coronavirus-wuhan-outbreak.html">generate unintentional</a> xenophobia. Extensive <a href="https://www.psandman.com/handouts/AIHA/AIHA_book.pdf">research tells us</a> the fears in the early stages of an outbreak will soon pass. But the effects of xenophobia and exclusion on those who suffer them may last much longer.</p>
<h2>What past evidence tells us</h2>
<p>The progressive city of Toronto is often claimed the <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/canada/articles/toronto-named-most-diverse-city-in-the-world-by-bbc-radio/">world’s most diverse</a> city. Yet, Asian students <a href="https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA195680111&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=07078412&p=AONE&sw=w">experienced extensive xenophobia</a> during the 2004 SARS outbreak. This ranged from people refusing to sit near Asian university students in class, to social exclusion of school students.</p>
<p>Disease stigma can <a href="https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA195680111&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=07078412&p=AONE&sw=w">take a toll</a> on a young person’s self-esteem and identity as well as making school environments feel unsafe. In Canada this experience had a <a href="https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA195680111&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=07078412&p=AONE&sw=w">profound impact</a> on people’s sense of belonging and well-being.</p>
<p>Toronto resident Frank Ye, who was eight at the time of the SARS outbreak, wrote on Twitter: “I remember when the other kids on the playground would tell me to go away because ‘all Chinese people had SARS’.”</p>
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<p>Disease becomes racialised and xenophobia increases through the dominance of particular images, such as Asian faces wearing masks, in news articles about the coronavirus. These images occur in the context of our <a href="https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/49261/39/09chapter7.pdf">history of shunning and mistreating our Chinese diaspora communities</a> during disease outbreaks.</p>
<p>We’re seeing this happening across the world. Some <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/coronavirus-spreads-so-does-concern-over-xenophobia-n1125441">schools in the US</a> have cancelled cultural education excursions to Chinatowns for Chinese New Year, despite the outbreak being 7,000 miles away.</p>
<p>Sam Phan, a master’s student at the University of Manchester, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/27/coronavirus-panic-uk-hostile-environment-east-asians">wrote in the Guardian</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This week, my ethnicity has made me feel like I was part of a threatening and diseased mass. To see me as someone who carries the virus just because of my race is, well, just racist.</p>
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<h2>How should schools respond?</h2>
<p>Like other social groups <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01596300601073630">schools are not free of racism</a>.</p>
<p>Instead of excluding Chinese students, schools can build trust by actively providing clear information about the <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-my-child-get-coronavirus-at-school-heres-some-perspective-for-aussie-parents-130782">rationale for control measures</a>. They can encourage students to take protective actions such as practising good hand hygiene, and seeking medical advice by telephone in cases of illness.</p>
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<p>Past research shows <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13613324.2015.1095170">teachers are willing</a> to confront these attitudes when they emerge .</p>
<p>Teachers can provide students with reliable information. They might show students advice from radio or TV, from state and federal health officials, and help students understand the difference between evidence and speculation or comment.</p>
<p>They can also equip students to analyse the information they are receiving from all sources and encourage critical reflection and analysis of those messages. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/listen-up-health-officials-heres-how-to-reduce-ebolanoia-33637">Listen up, health officials – here's how to reduce 'Ebolanoia'</a>
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<p>Providing opportunities for students to consider the messages around coronavirus (or any disease for that matter) sets them up to actively discern the reality from the panic in this situation. It will also help them during other disease outbreaks (and crisis situations) they will face throughout their lives. </p>
<p>In situations where fear and sometimes hyperbole is in the mix, students need the skills to analyse information and use evidence to assess situations.</p>
<p>Restricting the rights and freedoms of students returning from China on the basis of public fear risks subjugating the minority (Chinese and Chinese-Australians) to the unfounded fears of the majority. Drastic measures that limit educational opportunities should be based on scientifically grounded recommendations of public health officials.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130945/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 organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Asian students were bullied and excluded during the SARS outbreak. Here’s how we can get schools to help prevent that happening again.Claire Hooker, Senior Lecturer and Coordinator, Health and Medical Humanities, University of SydneyDiego S. Silva, Lecturer, Sydney Health Ethics, Sydney School of Public Health, University of SydneyMichael Anderson, Professor, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1248512019-12-12T13:18:49Z2019-12-12T13:18:49ZSchool resource officers aren’t arrested often – but when they are, it’s usually for sexual misconduct<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303825/original/file-20191126-112531-q2c4o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trust is key for school resource officers to be effective, research shows.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/school-safety-concept-armed-police-officer-1187360677?src=4764cf8f-ad78-4fc9-b0bb-f458168e8a31-1-8">Simone Hogan/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The presence of law enforcement in schools – better known as school resource officers – has become <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ssocs/tables/all_multi_tab_201601.asp?referrer=css">increasingly common</a>. These officers, who have full law enforcement powers, are supposed to keep students safe. Earlier this year, however, a former Michigan school resource officer – Matthew Priebe – was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/us/michigan-officer-sentenced-sexual-assault/index.html">convicted and sentenced</a> to one year in jail for doing just the opposite.</p>
<p>Instead of protecting students from threats, Officer Priebe had been <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/us/michigan-officer-sentenced-sexual-assault/index.html">sexually preying on female students</a>, using his power as a school police officer to engage in inappropriate and nonconsensual sexual acts with students. </p>
<p>This latest headline is not a singular event. Within the past year, several <a href="https://fox43.com/2019/07/30/former-downingtown-west-hs-resource-officer-arrested-accused-of-having-relationship-with-student/">other school resource officers</a> have been arrested or <a href="https://whnt.com/2019/02/12/former-madison-county-school-resource-officer-pleads-guilty-to-sodomy/">convicted of sexual misconduct</a> with students.</p>
<p>The good news is this kind of sexual misconduct appears to be relatively rare.</p>
<p>Still, with police officers now present in about <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018036.pdf">half of schools nationwide</a>, incidents like these raise a number of questions. Just how common are cases of sexual misconduct by school resource officers? And what can be done to prevent incidents in the future?</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MTcxlxMAAAAJ&hl=en">educational researcher</a> who studies school resource officers and school safety, here are my observations regarding these pressing questions.</p>
<h2>Prevalence of the problem</h2>
<p>According to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244014521821">research</a> by <a href="https://www.bgsu.edu/arts-and-sciences/center-for-family-demographic-research/about-cfdr/research-affiliates/philip-stinson.html">Philip Stinson</a> using the <a href="https://policecrime.bgsu.edu/">Henry A. Wallace Police Crime Database</a>, there were 32 arrests of school resource officers between 2005 and 2011 for sexual misconduct. Over half (56%) of these incidents occurred with students in the officers’ own schools.</p>
<p>This amounts to fewer than five arrests of school resource officers per year for sexual misconduct out of the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018036.pdf">more than 30,000 public schools that had police present</a> at least part time during this period. </p>
<p>Of course, research has shown that most acts of sexual misconduct <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10391513">go unreported</a>. <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/misconductreview/report.pdf">Prior research</a> finds that about 10% of students experience sexual misconduct from school personnel at some point in their educational career. This suggests that, while still not the norm, the arrest rate of school resource officers may underestimate the true scope of the problem.</p>
<h2>Relationship-building with students</h2>
<p>In my <a href="https://news.umbc.edu/umbcs-chris-curran-receives-major-nij-grant-for-research-on-law-enforcement-in-k-12-schools/">own research</a>, my collaborators and I have found that <a href="https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/asc/asc18/index.php?cmd=Online+Program+View+Paper&selected_paper_id=1408348&PHPSESSID=em1sjeosud16gjvt44724mjv22">relationship-building with students is an important part</a> of how school resource officers approach their job. In fact, we find that school resource officers prioritize relationship-building with students second only to maintaining security. Similarly, the National Association of School Resource Officers <a href="https://nasro.org/about/">positions counseling/mentoring</a> as one of three key components of school resource officers’ roles.</p>
<p>In our study, school resource officers routinely meet with students one-on-one for informal counseling and give students high-fives and hugs. The officers explain that such activities are aimed at improving students’ views of police and facilitating reporting of threats to security.</p>
<p>We find that students who trust and report comfort talking to school resource officers are more likely than other students to <a href="https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/aera/aera19/index.php?cmd=Online+Program+View+Paper&selected_paper_id=1439004">report feeling safe</a> at school. Unfortunately, abuses by school resource officers may undermine this trust and comfort.</p>
<h2>Ideas for prevention</h2>
<p>School resource officers are hardly the only profession where individuals have been found guilty of sexual misconduct. <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/misconductreview/index.html">Teachers</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/31/us/texas-catholic-church-sex-abuse/index.html">priests</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-49907376/sex-for-grades-undercover-in-west-african-universities">professors</a>, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ex-olympic-skating-coach-richard-callaghan-accused-of-sexual-abuse_n_5d506dd9e4b0820e0af7052d">coaches</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/22/sports/larry-nassar-case-scandal.html">doctors</a>, among many others, have been exposed in recent years for a number of sexual abuses of youth. Increasingly, more voices have been empowered to bring these abuses to light and hold perpetrators accountable.</p>
<p>How then, might future abuses by school resource officers and others in the education environment be prevented?</p>
<p>Laws and sentences that hold perpetrators accountable with stiffer sentences may be one step in the right direction for deterring future incidents. The <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/us/michigan-officer-sentenced-sexual-assault/index.html">one-year sentence</a> for the school resource officer in Michigan is, in my assessment, a light response to a serious abuse of power.</p>
<p>It may also be important for agencies to consider the gender diversity of their school resource officers. All of the school resource officers arrested for sexual misconduct in the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244014521821">Stinson study</a> were male. <a href="https://www.edweek.org/media/school-resource-officer-survey-copyright-education-week.pdf">Fewer than 2 in 10</a> school resource officers nationally are female. While <a href="https://fox43.com/2019/07/30/former-downingtown-west-hs-resource-officer-arrested-accused-of-having-relationship-with-student/">female school resource officers have also been perpetrators</a> of similar sexual misconduct, a more gender diverse workforce of school resource officers and their leadership may facilitate better oversight and accountability.</p>
<p><a href="https://connect.springerpub.com/content/sgrvv/28/6/1054?implicit-login=true">Training</a> for <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED593742.pdf">school resource officers, teachers and students</a> may also help potentially inappropriate relationships be avoided and those that occur be reported. For example, <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/670/660375.pdf">federal guidance</a> in this area suggests training that helps other adults recognize the signs of abuse, delineates proper boundaries in adult-child relationships and supports the development of policy governing sexual misconduct in schools.</p>
<p>Finally, agencies should look for ways to facilitate safe and easy reporting of incidents that involve sexual misconduct by police. Anonymous tip lines and digital reporting apps may be one way to facilitate greater reporting. Transparency in the record keeping of such incidents would help ensure that patterns of questionable activity are probed and that perpetrators are not protected behind the veils of bureaucracy. </p>
<p>Taking such steps as these could help prevent what occurred in Michigan from repeating elsewhere.</p>
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<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>When school resource officers run afoul of the law, more often than not the reason is sexual misconduct with students, research shows.F. Chris Curran, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.