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Safe Schools

What can a local association do to promote safe schools?

Local Education Associations can facilitate safe schools by implementing the equation, Safe Schools = Safe Communities + Safe Families. Here are some suggestions:

Within the Schools

• Help establish a school safety committee in your district. Make sure that its members represent the local education association, governmental and community agencies, clubs, private and service organizations and professional groups. And hold at least two meetings.
  
  First, the committee should address the school's immediate problems and begin long-range planning. Then, it should assess the community's problems and their school manifestations, with members gathering socioeconomic, crime and violence data about the community and school; discussing crime and violence in the school, community, and family (including child abuse); and identifying those involved in criminal and violent activities.
  
  
• Help the school safety committee develop and implement two plans, one for continuous action and one for crisis management.
  
  The action plan should address school management, including discipline codes, crime and violence reporting, off-campus crime, student involvement, and alternative educational environments. It should also address curriculum relating to school safety policies, peer mediation, conflict resolution and multicultural education.
  
  It should also address the physical environment, including whether or not to use metal detectors, eliminate lockers, improve lighting, oversee areas where students congregate and reduce school size.
  
  The crisis management plan should specify who does what, when, and with whom in the event of a crisis, such as a shooting on school grounds. It should address communications with the media, parents, staff and police; assistance to be provided to victims, offenders and police; and counseling for students and staff.
  
  
• Help the school safety committee monitor and assess data from the school and surrounding community. These activities entail collecting socio-demographic data (population shifts, unemployment, and poverty), crime data (arrests for robbery, drugs, and prostitution), and violence (assault, child and spousal abuse, and gang- and drug-related activity).

Within the Community

• Involve key community leaders in the process of making schools safe. Such involvement can include a one-day seminar for formulating a common vision and deciding on conducting a school and community assessment. It should culminate in the formation of a community task force or board that will oversee the violence reduction effort and design and carry out needs assessment studies, crisis and long-term action plans that are compatible with community resources and existing programs, and evaluations of the effectiveness of strategies.
  
  
• Enable communities to take charge of their own violence reduction efforts by helping to develop the skills people will need to implement their programs and decide which parts are effective and ineffective.

Within Families

• Involve parents in mentoring, reading and other involvement programs.
• Develop child care programs for parents.
• Train education employees to identify, report and deal with child abuse.
• Facilitate training or parenting skills, where necessary.