How safe is your school? Following a number of school shootings, educators and politicians recommend safety policies.

How safe is your school? Following a number of school shootings, educators and politicians recommend safety policies. The recent school shootings in Colorado, Wisconsin and Pennsylvaniawere yet another wake-up call for school administrators that violencecan happen anywhere at any time and that schools must develop violenceprevention and emergency plans. Although no security plan is perfect, it can offer clear directionduring a crisis when confusion and fear take over. For instance, justweeks before a student was killed on September 27 during a hostagestandoff at Platte Canyon High School Platte Canyon High School, located in Bailey Colorado, functions as the community's educational center. It was founded in 1957 and has since been modified. The building, located on Highway 285, is actually a combination of the high school, the middle school, and the district office. in Bailey, Colo., the schoolconducted an emergency evacuation For other uses, see Evacuation.Emergency evacuation is the movement of persons from a dangerous place due to the threat or occurrence of a disastrous event. Examples are the evacuation of a building due to a bomb threat or fire and the evacuation of a district because of a drill as part of its safety plan. Sowhen the shooting did occur, students and teachers didn't panic andevacuated the building in an orderly fashion, potentially avoidingfurther chaos and injuries. In an effort to increase school safety, Education SecretaryMargaret Spellings and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales For the New York Yankees infielder, see .Alberto Gonzales (born August 4 1955) is an American jurist who served as the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. hosted theConference on School Safety in October at the request of President Bush.Spellings and Gonzalez led three panel discussions with speakersincluding Columbine columbine, in botanycolumbine(kŏl`əmbīn), any plant of the genus Aquilegia, temperate-zone perennials of the family Ranunculaceae (buttercup family), popular both as wildflowers and as garden flowers. survivor Craig Scott and Delbert Elliott, directorof the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence in Boulder, Colo. No new policies were introduced. Neither were any funding changesmade. Some educators believed the conference was a good starting point Noun 1. starting point - earliest limiting pointterminus a quocommencement, get-go, offset, outset, showtime, starting time, beginning, start, kickoff, first - the time at which something is supposed to begin; "they got an early start"; "she knew from the while others viewed it as nothing more than political rhetoric during anelection season. "Whether it's a congressman or governor or statelegislator LEGISLATOR. One who makes laws. 2. In order to make good laws, it is necessary to understand those which are in force; the legislator ought therefore, to be thoroughly imbued with a knowledge of the laws of his country, their advantages and defects; to , somehow [politicians] are supposed to show action,"says Paul Houston, executive director at the American Association ofSchool Administrators The American Association of School Administrators (AASA), founded in 1865, is the professional organization for more than 13,000 educational leaders across the United States. in Arlington, Va. "The reality isthere's not a lot they can do [besides] looking at the issue offunding." He says federal funds Federal FundsFunds deposited to regional Federal Reserve Banks by commercial banks, including funds in excess of reserve requirements.Notes:These non-interest bearing deposits are lent out at the Fed funds rate to other banks unable to meet overnight reserve for school safety have steadily declined overthe past five years. According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. CNN CNNor Cable News NetworkSubsidiary company of Turner Broadcasting Systems. It was created by Ted Turner in 1980 to present 24-hour live news broadcasts, using satellites to transmit reports from news bureaus around the world. , funding was reduced from $439.2million in 2001 to $346.5 million this year and will drop again in 2007to $310 million. Priorities Questioned While school safety ranks among educators' top issues, Houstonsays it moves up and down their list of priorities depending upon theirdistrict's challenges and national events. Before the Columbineshootings in 1999 that left 15 people dead, he says some educatorsbelieved that violence couldn't happen at their school. Columbinesingle-handedly changed their perception, creating a flurry ofprevention activities ranging from training staff to using metaldetectors. But school safety was knocked down a few steps after the No ChildLeft Behind act The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-110), commonly known as NCLB (IPA: /ˈnɪkəlbiː/), is a United States federal law that was passed in the House of Representatives on May 23, 2001 became law in 2002. "It has sucked the oxygen outof the system," says Houston. "There is no room left forthinking about much of anything other than test scores. There's thelack of focus on school safety that we had after Columbine. We'vegot to refocus Verb 1. refocus - focus once again; The physicist refocused the light beam"focus - cause to converge on or toward a central point; "Focus the light on this image"2. people back on school safety." Besides developing safety and emergency plans--which some schoolsstill lack--he says educators also need to follow the ABCs of schoolsafety: * Awareness: All staff need to be trained on how to recognize andhandle potentially dangerous situations at their school, whetherit's a stranger roaming the halls or a strange truck parked in theschool's lot. * Balance: Educators need to develop a balanced perspective andapproach to school safety. Overreacting by building a prison likeenvironment in schools can create even bigger safety issues. * Control and Connection: School administrators need to controltheir campuses by connecting with students through staff or schoolresource officers who work in collaboration with local police. "Schools should be a place of some joy and of a sense ofopenness," Houston says. "Yon want kids not to feel sorepressed re��pressedadj.Being subjected to or characterized by repression. and beaten down. So you have to have the view of there aresome things you can do to marginally make them safer but is the priceworth it? I'm not sure it is." Proof in the Pudding Since 1992, the earliest year that data is available, there havebeen 418 school-related deaths, according to the National School SafetyCenter's Report on School Associated Violent Deaths. The vastmajority--323--were caused by shootings. Yet the violent crime rate,including rapes and fights, dropped from 48 per 1,000 students in 1992to 28 in 2003. One way to ensure that those numbers keep declining is to educateschool staff and parents on bullying prevention, according to many bullyexperts. William Lassiter, manager of the Center for the Prevention ofSchool Violence in Raleigh, N.C., which offers such workshops, points toa nearly 30-year study conducted by sociologist Dan Olweus of over100,000 children at 100 different elementary schools in Norway and theU.S. It tracked third-graders who were identified as bullies as well astheir targets. By the time the bullies were 24 years old, 40 percent hadbeen arrested. By the time their targets reached age 27, they were seventimes more likely to be involved in an abusive domestic relationshipthan those that were not targets. In a Secret Service study of over 250 school shootings, 75 percentof the shooters said they were tired of being bullied. The same reportrevealed that in 81 percent of these cases, students told someone abouttheir violent crime before taking action. Lassiter says the purpose of this workshop is to raise awareness ofparents, staff and students that bullying is not a natural part ofgrowing up and should never be tolerated. No Magic Schools can be one of the safest places in a community, but itwon't happen magically, adds Kenneth S. Trump, president atNational School Safety and Security Services Security services are state institutions for the provision of intelligence, primarily of a strategic nature, but also including protective security intelligence. Examples include the Security Service (MI5) and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in the United Kingdom, and the in Cleveland. But the WhiteHouse conference confirmed what Trump says he already knew: Many schoolsstill have not mastered the basics of school violence prevention andsecurity or emergency planning. Many of those who attended--includingTrump--believe there should be a call to action. "Congress needs to take some emergency action in restructuringand retooling the federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communitiesprogram," he says, adding that Bush, the program's director,and the Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), formerly the Bureau of the Budget, is an agency of the federal government that evaluates, formulates, and coordinates management procedures and program objectives within and among departments and agencies of the Executive Branch. have labeled the programineffective. "Congress has been taking the approach over the lastcouple of years of allowing it to bleed a slow death while our childrenare bleeding a fast death in our schoolhouses. [Congress needs to] geton top of it, retool re��tool?v. re��tooled, re��tool��ing, re��toolsv.tr.1. To fit out (a factory, for example) with a new set of machinery and tools for making a different product.2. it, restructure it and relocate the responsibilityfor school security, school policing and school emergency planning outof the education department and over in the Justice Department." Meanwhile, school districts must get more involved. For example, hesays they need to evaluate and refine their security measures Noun 1. security measures - measures taken as a precaution against theft or espionage or sabotage etc.; "military security has been stepped up since the recent uprising"security , includingthe physical aspects such as lighting, and update and implement existingemergency plans. He points to one school's crisis plan thatassigned responsibility to a teacher who had since retired. Likewise, he says a fourth "R"--relationships-has beenadded to the three "Rs" of education. All school employeesmust develop stronger relationships with students, public safetyofficials and others beyond their schoolhouse borders. He says the firsttime school officials meet their local police should not be in theschool parking lot during a bomb threat evacuation. "We know what needs to be done," says Trump, explainingthat Congress must restore funding that has been cut and give itdirectly to schools. "When the next incident happens, we'renot going to have a second White House conference on school safety.Somebody is going to have to do something." Safety Checklist Compare your district's policies and practices against thischecklist offered by the Center for the Prevention of School Violence. [] Review access control. Monitor entranceways, lock doors andwindows Doors and Windows is a multimedia disk by the Irish band The Cranberries. Track listing"Dreams Live" (London Astoria) "So Cold In Ireland" "Away" "I Don't Need" "Zombie" (Live Woodstock) where possible and inform staff about all access controlpolicies. Make sure that your policies match actual practices. [] Train staff on emergency preparedness and how to approachstrangers on campus. Develop a way that strangers can be reported toproper school or law enforcement authorities. [] Use visitor ID cards. Issue badges to all visitors. [] Organize and maintain a crisis team. Train members and updateyour plan as needed as neededprn. See prn order. . [] Involve students. Provide a forum where they can share concerns.Develop a standard process where they can report suspicious activity toan adult. [] Communicate with parents. Encourage them to become more involvedin school safety, and inform them of safety procedures through mailingsor newsletters. [] Use security equipment that monitors school grounds. Conductroutine maintenance checks. Paul Houston, executive director, AASA AASA American Association of School AdministratorsAASA Asian American Student AssociationAASA Association of Academies of Sciences in AsiaAASA Aging and Adult Services AdministrationAASA Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army Carol Patton is a contributing editor A contributing editor is a magazine job title that varies in responsibilities. Most often, a contributing editor is a freelancer who has proven ability and readership draw. .