SECURITY MEASURES	SCHOOL POLICIES
VIOLENCE PREVENTION	CRISIS RESPONSE GUIDELINES
COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS	WHAT PARENTS CAN DO
MOST SCHOOLS ARE SAFE	KIDS WITNESS VIOLENCE

SECURITY MEASURES

1. Monitor the campus to be sure it is clean and safe.
   
2. Have staff visually supervise all school areas.
3. Hire security personnel.
4. Use law enforcement, full or part time.
5. Install security equipment, metal detectors, and surveillance cameras to be used daily or at random.
6. Conduct random inspections and drug sweeps.
7. Sign in visitors and limit unauthorized persons.
8. Close the campus, even at lunchtime.
9. Consider school uniforms and Student/Staff ID cards.
10. Reduce crowding by moving people along in the classrooms, hallways, and other areas of the building.
11. Eliminate dark, secluded, and unsupervised areas, and trim landscape.
12. Install break proof door and window locks.
13. Minimize private storage areas.        
14. Eliminate removable ceiling panels.

SCHOOL POLICIES

1. Have a strong academic mission.
   
2. Provide effective academic instruction for all.
3. Include students in decision-making.
4. Set clear rules governing student behavior.
5. Outline consequences for breaking rules.
6. Have consistent and fair rule enforcement.
7. Support and reward good social behavior.
8. Encourage positive emotional bonding, support, and role models.

VIOLENCE PREVENTION

1. Have a zero tolerance policy on drugs, weapons, and violence.
   
2. Encourage students and staff to participate in violence prevention as well as safety education.
3. Provide school psychologists or counselors.
4. Have a separate school setting for educating violent and weapon-carrying students.
5. Provide student programs to help prevent harassment and discrimination.
6. Teach conflict resolution skills to students and staff.

CRISIS RESPONSE GUIDELINES

1. Provide counselors.
   
2. Establish a crisis response team.
3. Create a system to report and analyze violent and noncriminal incidents.
4. Organize and practice a school evacuation plan.
5. Create a plan for notifying police, parents, and other authorities.
6. Consider a media strategy.

COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS

Build partnerships with law enforcement and community officials.
Work to make the community safer for kids.
Provide safe activities for kids after school.
Elect officials that have an active interest in the safety of your schools and community.

WHAT PARENTS CAN DO:

• Give consistent love and attention.
• Be clear and consistent with rules & discipline.
• Be good role models and teach kids how to:
• Interact socially
• Handle competition and defeat
• Learn and follow school policies
• Respect all students, faculty, and family members
• Discuss and appreciate differences.
• Avoid teasing, name-calling and other actions that could be hurtful
• Resolve conflicts nonviolently
• Deal with frustration in solving problems
• Cope with anger, stress and peer pressure
• Know your kids, their friends and how they spend their time
• Talk about acceptable views on crime, violence, weapons and the appropriate forms of self-defense
• Limit exposure to crime and violence
• Keep guns and other weapons locked up and out of reach
• Support school discipline polices
• Make sure children attend class and complete homework
• Get to know teachers and administrators
• Encourage extracurricular activities
• Attend parent-teacher conferences.
• Serve on school safety or PTA committees.
• Contact staff or authorities if a child has a concern, problem or has been a victim at school.
• Work with other parents to help children stay safe when going to and from school activities
• Get family counseling if needed.

MOST SCHOOLS ARE SAFE

Contrary to recent events, schools should not be singled out as particularly dangerous spots in a community. However, some schools do have serious crime and violence problems, which endanger children and educators. Consider these facts:

Juveniles are at the highest risk of being the victim of a violent crime in the 4 hours following the end of the school day, roughly from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Students are not any more likely to be victims of violence at school today than in years past. Students in high school may be more vulnerable to dangerous school crimes than younger students.

Nationwide, 4% of high school students missed at least 1 day of school in the past 30 days because they felt unsafe at school or when traveling to or from school.

School crime and victimization of students can be directly traced to the presence of gangs and drugs.

The most common school crime against both students and teachers is theft.

Schools play an important role in helping to prevent violence, but should not be expected to reduce violence in the entire community.

School safety is most effective when school wide policies and practices address the needs of students, school personnel, the community, and the school campus.

KIDS WITNESS VIOLENCE

Kids witness violence at younger ages than ever before from TV, magazines, newspapers, and video games. They may think violence is the way most people solve problems and may use violence themselves when they get older.

Violence and the treat of violence in schools affect kids in many ways. It may cause them to feel angry, helpless or scared which can lead to:

• Staying home from school or skipping classes.
• Having difficulty concentrating on school work.
• Being less eager to participate in class.
• Wanting to change schools.

When young people feel hopeless and powerless, they may choose violence as a way of:

• Coping
• Gaining control and power
• Expressing anger
• Resolving a conflict
• Solving problems.

Listen. In most cases violent kids have talked to someone about their problems. Liaison, trust, training and intelligence, must exist for prevention programs to succeed.

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