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Reprinted from the December 2006/January 2007 issue of
the Charter School Monthly, www.charterschoolmonthly.org
Used with permission
Columbine. The single word that seven years after the fact still has the power to bring forth that horrible sinking feeling and that indelible image of teenagers running frantically from their high school and two deranged student gunmen.
Columbine. A large high school in a large city. An isolated occurrence. A problem endemic to large schools.
Until there was Jonesboro. Paducah. Red Lake. Nickel Mines. Small communities that most people had never heard of—Until violence and death tore their school apart.
School shootings, suicides, self-mutilations, and other tragedies occur at schools nationwide, large and small, yet few schools are prepared or willing to deal with them, according to Scott Poland, past president of the National Association of School Psychologists, author of four books on school crisis, and a frequent national crisis responder to such tragedies as Columbine, 9-11, Oklahoma City, and Hurricane Katrina.
“Schools say, ‘We have a crisis management plan. It’s 250 pages.’ How many people are going to read 250 pages?” Poland asked attendees at the recent ACSA conference, where he presented the workshop “School Crisis: Lessons from the Front Lines.”
In addition, Poland often finds that schools fail to update the plan over several years or are simply unable to locate it. Perhaps most important, the plan fails to address issues beyond evacuations and fire drills, to encompass the uncomfortable and trickier-to-deal-with issues of school violence, suicides, and self-mutilations.
A failure to develop a school community spirit and to involve students in school safety issues is at the root of many school tragedies.
“It is so important that we have charter and private schools that are trying to offer options and increase belonging among students,” Poland said. According to Poland, every school shooting would be preventable but for the “conspiracy of silence” that exists at most schools among both students and staff.
“The shootings occur because people did not believe it could happen, did not want to get involved, did not want to be a snitch, or didn’t trust adults to do the right thing and protect their anonymity.”
According to Poland, eight percent of all high school students in this country have attempted suicide: “The scariest thing is that the parent or teacher has no idea this is going on.” And even when they do know, the “conspiracy of silence” often results not only in a student death, but a school lawsuit. Poland cited a case where the Polk County (FL) school system was sued for its failure to prevent a suicide; instead of contacting the parent and other professionals upon learning that the student was considering suicide, the assistant principal quoted the student scripture.
Poland stresses prevention. “You can’t always be working with the aftermath of a tragedy. You have to work on prevention.”
Recognizing that schools vary in size and resources Poland recommends that a school’s safety program include formation of an inside building team consisting of four to eight people (staff and students) who are good communicators, work well with others, stay calm in a crisis, and want to be on the team. In Oklahoma, for example, every school must have a school safety board, and students must be on that board.
According to Poland, many schools also develop and implement a safety pledge devoted to issues of student safety and reporting that students and parents sign.
School anti-bullying programs are also crucial; according to Poland, two-thirds of all student perpetrators were victims of bullying.
Self-mutilation, a fairly recent student phenomenon that most commonly takes the form of cutting oneself, has unfortunately gone mainstream.
“We have a new breed of ‘cutter’…these kids for the most part are likable, intelligent, and functional,” according to Poland. “Now it’s continuing into adulthood. The bottom line here is that they need therapy beyond what we can offer in the schools, so it’s important to identify resources in the community that can help with this.” ?
[Next issue: A tragedy has occurred at your school. How do you deal with it?]
For information contact Jan Krygier, Charter School Monthly
Email: jkrygier@resolutions-esp.com
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