By Kelly Huffman
Guest Columnist
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, children ages 12 to 18 reported they had been afraid of attack or harm at school. This is due to the increase of violent episodes occurring during the school year.
During the 2019-2020 school year, 70 percent of the public schools reported one or more violent incidents occurring, which amounted to 1.4 million incidents occurring at schools in the United States. Unfortunately, this level of school violence increased in 2022 with 51 school shootings which resulted in injury or death, the highest amount since data collection began in 2018.
School violence has been a factor for not only public schools and college campuses but private schools as well. This level of violence can lead to long-term psychological and physical disability as well as impact students’ ability to learn and stay in school.
What causes all the violence to occur in our schools? According to recent studies, there are major trends that have emerged and factors that may lead to school violence. These factors include discipline problems, school drop-out, bullying and harassment, social isolation, gang membership and substance abuse.
However, there are several interventions that can be beneficial in decreasing school violence. These strategies are providing violence and suicide prevention and awareness, improving the school climate and overall safety, addressing problems consistently and making expectations for behavior clear and concise as well as increasing adult supervision throughout the school building.
In addition, educating youth on the inclusion of others and the effects of social isolation are extremely beneficial in helping students to feel connected and supported at school. Therefore, the schools need to implement strategies to help keep children safe, decrease the fear of violence in school and promote a safer environment for learning.
Therefore the Safety and Violence Education Students Act was put in place in Ohio in March 2019 with full implementation to be in place by 2023, which addresses some of the factors reported in his research. The SAVE Students Act is a comprehensive approach to putting supports in place to help students be safe and successful in school. This is achieved in providing evidence-based suicide and violence prevention training to students, as well as working on implementing groups to reduce social isolation.
In addition, schools need to develop a threat assessment team and have an emergency management plan. Having a threat assessment team in the school is part of the program and has been proven to reduce instances of violence and help students address issues without aggressive episodes.
Schools using this approach had reductions in the use of suspensions and improvement of student and teacher perceptions of school climate. A positive school climate helps students and staff feel safe, supported and increases academic performance.
How can we help to support our students at school? Children imitate what they see and hear, therefore we need to show them how to manage conflict and anger in a non-violent way. Teach children problem-solving skills and that violence is never a means to solve a problem. Address the importance of respecting others and treating people with respect, as well as accepting others who are different. Limit access to violent media and video games and address the real-world consequences of violence.
If you begin to notice changes in your child with increased outbursts of anger, aggression or social isolation, seek help through counseling at a local agency. Early intervention will decrease the likelihood of the problem increasing and becoming more of a risk to your child and others.
If your child witnesses bullying or issues of violence at school, encourage them to report the issue to a teacher or school administrator. If they are concerned about violence, the SAVE Students Act requires schools to have an anonymous tip line, where concerns or issues of violence can be reported. Working together we can all help our students and our schools be safer and more productive.
Our children’s safety needs to be the top priority, and children cannot learn in an environment where they do not feel safe. The SAVE Students Act is a crucial piece of legislation to help address the root causes of violence in our school system while creating a positive accepting climate for students and staff. With school violence rising at an alarming rate, we need to ensure this bill and bills of this nature are implemented successfully for the sake of our students and our future.
Kelly Huffman, of Lima, is a master’s of social work student at Our Lady of the Lake University. Her opinion does not necessarily represent the views of The Lima News or its owner, AIM Media.
