Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence 2nd Edition

Guide for Preventing andResponding to School Violence 2 nd EditionBureau of Justice AssistanceU.S. Department of Justice

This publication was supported by Grant No. 2007-DD-BX-K112 awarded by the Bureau of JusticeAssistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice Programs,which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office ofJuvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime. Points of viewor opinions in this document are those of the author and do not represent the official position orpolicies of the United States Department of Justice.

Guide for Preventing and Responding to School ViolenceSecond Edition

iInt e r n a t i o n a l As s o c i a t i o n of Ch i e f s of Po l i c eFounded in 1893, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) is the world’s oldest and largest association of lawenforcement executives, representing over 22,000 members in 100 countries.The goals of the IACP are to advance the science and art of police services; to develop and disseminate improvedadministrative, technical and operational practices and promote their use in police work; to foster police cooperation andthe exchange of information and experience among police administrators throughout the world; to bring about recruitmentand training in the police profession of qualified persons; and to encourage adherence of all police officers to highprofessional standards of performance and conduct.A core strength of the IACP is the unity with which it speaks on behalf of its members and the law enforcementprofession. In an effort towards inclusiveness and brevity in addressing the broad scope of the police family, the followingdemographics are implied and considered when the phrase, “state, local and tribal” or “law enforcement” is employed.University and college; state and provincial; municipal; county; federal; Indian Country; public transit; marine; railroad;environmental; military; park police; capitol police; the various special investigative branches of prosecutorial agencies; andany legislatively authorized duly sworn and certified law enforcement agency.Since 1893, the International Association of Chiefs of Police has been serving the needs of the law enforcement community.Throughout those past 100-plus years, the IACP has been launching historically acclaimed programs, conducting groundbreakingresearch and providing exemplary programs and services to our membership around the globe.Professionally recognized programs such as the FBI Identification Division and the Uniform Crime Reporting Programcan trace their origins back to the IACP. From spearheading national use of fingerprint identification to partnering in aconsortium on community policing to gathering top experts in criminal justice, the government, and education for summitson violence, homicide, and youth violence, the IACP has realized its responsibility to achieve the goals of law enforcement.International Association of Chiefs of Police

iiBur e a u of Ju s t i c e As s i s ta n c eThe Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice,which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice andDelinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime.BJA supports law enforcement, courts, corrections, treatment, victim services, technology, and prevention initiatives thatstrengthen the nation’s criminal justice system. BJA provides leadership, services, and funding to America’s communities by:• Emphasizing local control• Building relationships in the field• Providing training and technical assistance in support of efforts to prevent crime, drug abuse, and violence at thenational, state, and local levels• Developing collaborations and partnerships• Promoting capacity building through planning• Streamlining the administration of grants• Increasing training and technical assistance• Creating accountability of projects• Encouraging innovation• Communicating the value of justice efforts to decision makers at every levelBJA has three primary components: Policy, Programs, and Planning. The Policy Office provides national leadership incriminal justice policy, training, and technical assistance to further the administration of justice. It also acts as a liaisonto national organizations that partner with BJA to set policy and help disseminate information on best and promisingpractices. The Programs Office coordinates and administers all state and local grant programs and acts as BJA’s direct lineof communication to states, territories, and tribal governments by providing assistance and coordinating resources. ThePlanning Office coordinates the planning, communications, and budget formulation and execution; provides overall BJAwidecoordination; and supports streamlining efforts.Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

iiiAck n o w l e d g m e n t sThis document is the second edition of a guide that was initially prepared by the Defense Personnel Security ResearchCenter (PERSEREC) for the IACP’s Private Sector Liaison Committee. PERSEREC staff members primarily responsible forproject research and document preparation for the first edition were Alissa J. Kramen, Kelly R. Massey, Ph.D., and HowardW. Timm, Ph.D.We would like to thank our team of subject matter experts who helped revise and review the second edition of this guide.International Association of Chiefs of Police

vTab l e of Co n t e n t sSection 1: Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 1Purpose.................................................................................................................................................................................. 1Background............................................................................................................................................................................ 1Approach................................................................................................................................................................................ 3How to Use This Document.................................................................................................................................................. 3Section 2: Prevention....................................................................................................................................... 4The Role of School Administrators, Teachers, and Staff.................................................................................................... 4The Role of Students........................................................................................................................................................... 12The Role of Parents and/or Guardians............................................................................................................................... 13The Role of the Community................................................................................................................................................ 15The Role of Law Enforcement............................................................................................................................................ 16Section 3: Threat Assessment........................................................................................................................ 17Section 4: Crisis Planning and Preparation.................................................................................................... 20The Role of School Administrators, Teachers, and Staff.................................................................................................. 20The Role of Law Enforcement and Emergency Response Personnel............................................................................. 23Section 5: During a Major Crisis.................................................................................................................... 24The Role of School Administrators, Teachers, and Staff.................................................................................................. 24The Role of Students........................................................................................................................................................... 24The Role of Law Enforcement............................................................................................................................................ 25Section 6: After a Crisis................................................................................................................................. 26The Role of School Administrators.................................................................................................................................... 26The Role of Teachers and Staff........................................................................................................................................... 28The Role of School Counselors, Psychologists, and Social Workers............................................................................... 28The Role of Parents and/or Guardians............................................................................................................................... 28The Role of the Community................................................................................................................................................ 28The Role of Law Enforcement............................................................................................................................................ 28Section 7: Legal Considerations..................................................................................................................... 29Liability of Schools When Students Are Harmed.............................................................................................................. 29Liability of Schools for Wrongful Accusations and Discharge......................................................................................... 29Liability of Schools for Violating Students’ Rights............................................................................................................ 29Liability of Parents and/or Guardians................................................................................................................................. 31Section 8: Working with the Media................................................................................................................ 32Rights and Obligations of the Media................................................................................................................................. 32Recommendations for Executives in the Television, Radio, Internet, Recording, Electronic Game, andFilm Industries................................................................................................................................................................. 32Planning for Media Coverage of School Violence............................................................................................................ 34Section 9: Resources..................................................................................................................................... 37International Association of Chiefs of Police

1Sec t i o n 1Int r o d u c t i o nPurposeThe purpose of this document is to present differentstrategies and approaches for members of schoolcommunities to consider when creating safer learningenvironments. No two schools are exactly alike, so it isimpossible to establish one plan that will work well inall schools. Violence prevention programs work bestwhen they incorporate multiple strategies and addressthe full range of possible acts of violence in schools. Forany set of policies to work, it must be established andimplemented with the full participation and support ofschool board members, administrators, parents, students,community members, emergency response personnel,and law enforcement. Without such shared responsibility,the chances of safe school policies being successfullyimplemented and accepted are low.All involved in working to prevent or respond to schoolviolence should be aware that no strategies in this orany other publication provide any guarantees againstviolence. Recognition of the rarity of school shootingsand the complexity and unpredictability of humanbehavior should temper community initiatives as wellas expectations. Most of the interventions presentedin this document, however, have the potential to yieldbenefits beyond just reducing hazards associatedwith school shootings. Additional benefits include thefollowing:• Lowering rates of delinquency, disruptive behaviors,harassment, bullying, suicide, and all other forms ofviolence and antisocial behavior• Increasing the likelihood troubled youth will beidentified and receive treatment• Improving the learning environment by reducingintimidating, disruptive, and disrespectful behavior• Preparing communities for responding to not onlyshootings at schools, but also all other human-madeand natural disastersBackgroundSchool violence has come into the public eye after deadlymultiple shootings in such places as Littleton, Colorado;Jonesboro, Arkansas; Santee, California; Red Lake,Minnesota; Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania; and Cleveland,Ohio. The possibility of school shootings has become anissue for urban, rural, and suburban communities alike.Since 1992, more than 40 schools have experiencedmultiple victim homicides, many in communities wherepeople previously believed “it couldn’t happen here.”Given the number of students and schools in the UnitedStates, multiple-victim homicides are still extremely rare,and in recent years, the overall rate of violence in schoolshas actually declined. Physical conflicts, threats, andharassment are, however, still common. Many studentsSelected School and Campus ShootingsSince 1999• Mount Morris, Michigan, February 29, 2000: Six-yearoldDerrick Owens found a .32-caliber handgun inhis uncle’s home and took it to school and shot aclassmate.• Santee, California, March 5, 2001: Fifteen-year-oldAndy Williams entered a boys’ bathroom at SantanaHigh School and opened fire, killing one student.Williams then left the bathroom and began firingindiscriminately, killing one more and wounding 13others, before two off-duty officers who were visitingthe school arrested him.• Red Lion, Pennsylvania, April 24, 2003: Fourteen-yearoldJames Sheets armed himself with three handguns,two revolvers, and one semiautomatic gun. He shotand killed the principal before shooting himself.• Cold Springs, Minnesota, September 24, 2003:Fifteen-year-old Jason McLaughlin shot and killedtwo classmates before surrendering to the gymteacher. McLaughlin claimed one of the victims hadbeen teasing him.• Red Lake, Minnesota, March 21, 2005: Sixteen-yearoldJeffrey Wise shot and killed seven people on hisschool campus, including five students, one teacher,and an unarmed security guard. He had shot andkilled his paternal grandfather and his grandfather’sgirlfriend earlier that day. After exchanging fire withpolice, Wise shot himself.• Jacksboro, Tennessee, November 8, 2005: Fifteenyear-oldKenneth Bartley Jr. shot and killed assistantprincipal Ken Bruce and shot at two other schoolofficials. Bruce died of the injuries. Bruce hadconfronted Bartley about carrying a gun at school.• Bailey, Colorado, September 27, 2006: Fifty-three-yearoldDuane Morrison entered the Platte Canyon HighSchool claiming to be carrying a bomb. He took sixfemale students hostage, sexually assaulted them, andlater released four of the hostages. He shot and killedone as SWAT entered the room before killing himself.International Association of Chiefs of Police

2Selected School and Campus ShootingsSince 1999 (continued)• Cazenovia, Wisconsin, September 29, 2006: Fifteenyear-oldEric Hainstock, armed with a handgun anda shotgun, aimed the shotgun at a social studiesteacher. A school custodian, Dave Thompson,wrestled the gun away from Hainstock. The principal,John Klang, also confronted Hainstock, who was stillarmed with the handgun. Klang was shot but was stillable to wrestle Hainstock to the floor and hold himuntil officers arrived. Klang later died of his injuries.• Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, October 2, 2006: CharlesRoberts IV took hostages at an Amish schoolhouseand eventually shot and killed five girls before takinghis own life.• Blacksburg, Virginia, April 16, 2007: Seung-Hui Choshot and killed 32 people before committing suicideon the campus of Virginia Tech.• Dekalb, Illinois, February 14, 2008: A 27-year-oldformer student opened fire in a lecture hall atNorthern Illinois University, killing six and injuring atleast 15 others, before killing himself.• Fresno, California, April 16, 2008: A 17-year-oldstudent attacked a school police officer with amodified bat, seriously injuring him. The policeofficer, who had no previous interaction with thestudent, shot and killed him.• Kauhajoki, Finland, September 23, 2008: A 22-yearoldmale student shot and killed 10 people andwounded several others before shooting himself inthe head. A week before the attack, the gunmanhad posted a video of himself on YouTube firinga gun. It was titled “Jokela High School Massacre11/7/2007,” identifying the date and location ofthe attack. Police interviewed him after learning ofthe video but decided they did not have enoughevidence to revoke his firearms license.• Conway, Arkansas, October 26, 2008: Four men, ages19-20, shot and killed two students and wounded athird person. The men appear to have driven up on agroup of students near a dormitory at the Universityof Central Arkansas and fired at least eight roundsfrom a semiautomatic pistol. Police believe the victimswere not the intended targets but rather innocentbystanders.• Winnenden, Germany, March 11, 2009: A 17-year-oldmale dressed in military gear went to his former highschool and killed nine students and three teachersas well as one person at a nearby clinic. In a policeshootout, two additional passersby were killed andtwo officers seriously injured, bringing the death tollto 16, including the gunman.• Dearborn, Michigan, April 3, 2009: A murder-suicideat a campus occurred when a 28-year-old male snuckin a crudely shortened shotgun, killed a fellow student,and then turned the gun on himself. The shooter wasnotorious on the Internet, drawing condemnationfor videos on YouTube denigrating African Americanwomen and atheists.and teachers are more fearful than ever before when theyenter the doors of their school. This climate of fear makesit more difficult for schools to provide positive learningenvironments.The causes of school violence are subject to muchspeculation. Violence does not stand alone; there areusually multiple indicators. Possible contributors to schoolviolence mentioned in the literature include the following:• Exposure to violence in the family and the community• Child abuse and neglect• Poor parenting practices and lack of interest inchildren’s activities• Peer pressure to engage in harassment of other students,violent behavior, drug or alcohol use, and truancy• Prejudices based on race, religion, ethnicity, physicalappearance, social class, sexual orientation, disability,gender, and other traits• Access to information on how to make explosivedevices and unsupervised access to firearms• Excessive exposure to violence in televisionprogramming, movies, and video games• Drug or alcohol abuse• Lack of conflict resolution skills• Lack of quality role models and the availability ofinappropriate role models• Perceived lack of opportunity to be successful throughlegitimate means• Failure to detect and treat children exhibitingwarning signs of being troubled including a writtenor verbal behavior that indicates the child hasperceived injustice, revenge fantasy, obsession withrevenge, desire to be notorious, preoccupationwith previous school shootings or shooters, suicidalor homicidal ideation, feelings of insignificance,feelings of dehumanization, or a desensitization toviolence• Lack of adult supervision of, and positive interactionwith, children after school• Negative self-imageGuide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

3Selected Recent Success Stories• Dove Creek, Colorado, April 9, 2009: A plan to shootthe high school principal and others at a school wasdiscovered when two boys, ages 16 and 19, werearrested in New Mexico on suspicion of burglary andtheft. The 19-year-old told his family about the plotafter the arrest.• Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, March 17, 2009: An eighthgradeboy at a Catholic school was arrested fortrying to recruit fellow students to carry out a plotat the school. His plan was thwarted when one ofthe students revealed that he’d been recruited totake hostages at the school and shoot anyone whoresisted. The instigator had two plastic pellet gunsthat looked like real firearms.• Bells, Tennessee, October 2008: Two young men,ages 18 and 20, were charged with planning a killingspree to shoot and decapitate African-Americanpeople at a predominantly black school and topit off by killing Sen. Barack Obama. The men wereapprehended after they shot out a church windowand drew racially motivated words on the sidewalk.They were charged with possessing an unregisteredfirearm, conspiring to steal firearms, and threateninga candidate for president.• Norristown, Pennsylvania, September 24, 2008: Awoman admitted she helped her troubled, bullied14-year-old son build a cache of weapons by buyinga rifle with a laser scope and gunpowder, whichinvestigators said he was using to build grenades.He also had knives, swords, and BB guns. Theoverweight teenager had been bullied at school andwas being home-schooled. He apparently idolizedthe Columbine shooters, and violent Internet sitesfueled his revenge fantasies.• Columbia, South Carolina, April 19, 2008: A highschool senior collected enough supplies to carry outa bomb attack on his school and detailed the plot ina hate-filled diary that included maps of the buildingand admiring notations about the Columbine killers.The student was arrested after his parents calledpolice when 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate wasdelivered to their home and they discovered thejournal.ApproachGuidance for school violence prevention and response isoffered in each of the following areas:• Ways to prevent student violence• Threat assessment• Planning and training for what to do during an actualcrisis• How to respond during a crisis• How to handle the aftermath of a crisis• Legal considerations• Recommendations for the mediaThe roles of school administrators, teachers, and staff arediscussed. In addition, student, parent, law enforcement,and community roles are addressed. Throughout thereport, text boxes provide more in-depth informationor illustrate the potential value of the suggestions usingactual cases of school violence.How to Use this DocumentThe table of contents provides a way to identify thesections of greatest interest. The entire documentshould be reviewed, however, to gain an understandingof the different roles and elements needed to achievean integrated approach for addressing the problem ofviolence in schools. Among the ways the document can beused are as follows:• To help communities audit their schools’existing policies, procedures, and plans. Notevery suggestion contained in this documentis appropriate for every school. All schools andcommunities could benefit, though, from checkingto see that they have considered and, whereappropriate, implemented the recommendationslikely to enhance school safety.• To serve as a basis for strengthening collaborativeschool violence policies, proce dures, and plans. Schoolsafety planning committees can delete, revise, and addto recommendations in this document as needed toaddress their unique needs and circumstances.• To help public safety and other crisis responseagencies assess their school safety plans.• To provide guidance to members of the schoolcommunity.International Association of Chiefs of Police

4Sec t i o n 2Pre v e n t i o nThe Role of School Administrators, Teachers,and StaffTo be effective, violence prevention programs requirecommunity-wide collaborative efforts that include students,families, teachers, administrators, staff, social and mentalhealth professionals, law enforcement, emergencyresponse personnel, security professionals, school boardmembers, parents, the business community, and others.School administrators should bring together all of theabove constituencies to develop strategies appropriate fortheir own particular school and community environments.While school boards and administrators create a climateof safety in schools, teachers, especially, must be directlyinvolved and supported in all stages of developingand implementing programs to achieve safer schools.Teachers establish the first line of school safety, becausethey have the most direct contact with students. Often,they also have great insight into the potential problemsand realistic solutions applicable to their school.School SecurityThe level of physical security may need to be modified inorder to lower schools’ vulnerability to violent behaviors.Different strategies will be required to address needsspecific to individual elementary, middle, and high schools.Administrators should initiate a com prehensive securityassessment sur vey of their school’s physical design, safetypolicies, and emergency proce dures. The assessmentshould be conducted in cooperation with law enforcement,school security staff, physical facilities personnel, fireand other emergency service personnel, teachers, staff,students, and other school community members. Using theconclusions of that survey, ad ministrators should assign asafety and violence prevention committee composed of allof the above repre sentatives to develop a comprehensivesecurity plan (School Site Safety Plan). Based on eachschool’s needs, school safety plans may include some or allof the following suggestions:1.2.Use school resource officers (SROs) who may beprovided by local law enforcement. SROs oftenprovide law enforcement, law-related counseling,and law-related education to students, faculty, andstaff. Continuity of officers in individual schoolsshould be encouraged, so that students and SROsdevelop a rapport.Consider seeking one or more probation officers foruse on campus to help supervise and counsel students.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.This would be especially appropriate for high schoolswith a significant caseload of juveniles on probation.Use trained personnel—paid or volunteer—selectedspecifically to assist teachers and administratorsin monitoring student behavior and activities.Continuity of monitors within schools should beencouraged to facilitate good rapport with stu dents.Monitors should be trained on the different types ofviolence likely to occur in the school; what behaviorto look for in potential perpetrators; and how todocument and report concerning behaviors. Thenumber of monitors used should be based on thenum ber of students, the extent of problems at theschool, and the space and layout of school grounds.Develop and enforce restrictions about studentloitering in parking lots, hallways, bathrooms, andother areas. Publish restrictions in the studenthandbook or code of conduct.Consider the use of metal detectors in specialcircumstances to deter weapons on campus.Adopt policies for conducting searches for weaponsand drugs.Require visitors to sign in and sign out at the schooloffice and to wear visible visitors’ passes. Designatea staff member or volunteer monitor for eachentrance and provide each with a radio. The monitorshould notify all visitors that they must sign in, directthem to the office, and radio the office to confirmthat the visitor checks in. The monitors should betrained on what concerning behaviors to look for in apotential perpetrator. Escort any visitor that may besuspicious to the office.Encourage school personnel to greet strangers oncampus and direct them to sign in if they have not.Also instruct school personnel to report visitors whohave not signed in.Require students and staff to carry with them orwear their school photo IDs during school and at allschool-related activities.Establish a closed campus policy that prohibitsstudents from leaving campus during lunch.Establish a cooperative relationship with lawenforcement and owners of adjacent propertiesto the school that allow for joint monitoring ofstudent conduct during school hours. Encourageneighboring residents and businesses to report allcriminal activity and unusual incidents. Establisha protocol at the school to handle calls from theneighborhood.Establish a professional relationship with a forensicpsychologist who specializes in violence assessment,interruption, and prevention.Consider providing and making use of alarm,intercom, cell phone, building paging, twowayradio, and mounted and handheld cameramonitoring systems on buses and school campuses.Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

514.15.16.17.18.19.20.Ensure that people in each classroom have a way tocontact the office in case of emergencies and trainstaff on what type of information should be reportedand how it should be reported during emergencies.Do not use codes or code words.Develop a school bus rider atten dance checklist foreach bus and use it daily.Consider employing outside security personnelduring school functions. The school district mustoutline the roles, responsibilities, and limits of suchpersonnel, including whether they are armed and ifthey are supposed to respond to an active shooter.The decision to use security officers and any contractwith an outside security firm should be reviewed bylegal counsel.Patrol school grounds, especially in areas wherestudents tend to congregate, such as parkinglots, hallways, stairs, bathrooms, cafeterias, andschoolyards.Develop threat and crisis manage ment plans andprovisions as out lined in Sections 3 and 4.Develop a comprehensive set of violence preventionstrategies based on the guidance provided in thisdocument and ensure that it is fully implemented.Publish all policies and restrictions in the studenthandbook or code of conduct.ReportingEstablish a climate that encourages and enables students,teachers, and parents and/or guardians to report threatsand acts of violence.1.2.3.4.5.Within the limits of legal guidelines and statutes,maintain confidenti ality.Develop and adequately communi cate reportingprocedures with in put from school district officials andlocal public safety agencies. Standard proceduresshould in clude definitions of pertinent in formationand how and where in formation should be distributed.Consider establishing a properly staffed, confidentialhotline for re porting issues of harassment, safety,vandalism, and so on. If answering machines areused, calls need to be retrieved in time to effectivelyaddress threats of violence. Ag gressively advertisethe hotline number to students and parents and/or guardians in student handbooks, on postersthroughout the school, on pencils, on student IDs, onlockers, and so on. Parents and students should alsobe advised when to use 9-1-1 rather than the hotline.Ensure that students understand that when reportinga fellow classmate’s concerning behavior, the goalis intervention, not punishment. Communicateto students that all threats of violence should bereported even if they feel it is not a “real” threat.Obtain training to recognize whether reports ofthreats or acts of violence are false or malicious.Student RulesStudent rules must be communicated, understood,and consistently enforced. They also must comply withconstitutionally guaranteed due process.1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.Establish rules of conduct pertaining to improperstudent behavior using input from students, parentsand/or guardians, staff, public safety officials, mentalhealth agencies, and legal counsel.Annually review and, if needed, revise rules ofstudent conduct.Ensure that all rules have a purpose that isclearly understood. They should be clear andcommunicated to all students in both written andverbal formats. Students’ comprehension of the rulesshould be assessed.Post summaries of rules of student conduct inclassrooms and through out the school.Send rules home to be read by stu dents and parentsand/or guardians. Include an acknowledgment formfor students, parents and/or guardians to sign andreturn to the school.Hold meetings to communicate rules to parents and/or guardians and, to the extent practicable, make surethey understand them. Invite parents and/or guardiansto call if they have questions about the rules.Communicate rules in as many lan guages as needed.Apply rules consistently. Establish consequencesfor rule violations and apply them consistently andwithout delay.Develop a consistent, timely, and effective means tonotify parents and/or guardians of rule violations andconsequences.Establish clearly defined rules and appropriateconsequences for all types of harassment,intimidation, and disrespect. Rules should coveradult and student behavior at all school events.Parents and/or guardians and teachers need to actas positive role models for students.Develop a specific policy and procedure to dealwith disturbed writing and threat making. Ensurestudents and parents are aware of what the policyis and what steps will be taken if a student makesa threat or writes something disturbing. If unsure,school districts should consult with an individual whospecializes in analyzing disturbing writing.Suspend and recommend expulsion of students anddismiss or discipline staff for serious rule violations.Serious rule violations include the following:a. Possession of a firearm on school property or atschool events. The 1994 Gun-Free Schools Actman dates a one-year expulsion for students whobring a firearm to school. The chief administratingofficer of the local education agency can modify theexpulsion requirement on a case-by-case basis. Alllocal education agencies that receive funding fromInternational Association of Chiefs of Police

613.programs established through the Elementary andSecondary Education Act must require all studentsfound carrying a firearm to be referred to thecriminal justice or juvenile justice system.b. Possession or use of a weapon on schoolgrounds or at school events that is capable ofinflicting serious bodily harm.c. Physical assault of a teacher, an administrator, astaff member, or a student.Suspend and consider the appropri ateness ofexpulsion for the follow ing:a. A verbal threat to a teacher, an ad ministrator, astaff member, or a student.b. Possession, sale, or use of illegal drugs oncampus.c. Actual or threatened retaliation against personswho report threats or acts of violence.d. Communicated threats (e.g., bomb threats).Support for Teachers and Other StaffWorking in collaboration with faculty, the schooladministration has the re sponsibility to enforce school rules.1.2.Take quick, consistent, and appro priate actionstoward students who are reported by teachers andother staff for rule violations.Provide times and locations for teachers to meetand discuss ways to maintain classrooms that areconducive to learning. Group teachers and otherpersonnel who work with the same troubled studentinto teams to enable them to discuss that studentand strategies for managing him or her.Programs for Suspended or Expelled StudentsFor students who have been suspended or expelled, theschool should do the following:1.2.3.4.5.Provide an alternative educational program in aseparate environment. Appropriate programs shouldbe available for elementary, middle, and high schoolgrade levels.Provide a low student-to-staff ratio in the alternativeeducational program.Consider requiring suspended or expelled studentsto participa te in community-based programs so thatthey would learn while help ing others. Possibilitiesinclude working with neighborhood beautifi cationefforts or with victims of vio lence where they woulddirectly wit ness the effects of causing injury to others.Consider reducing the length of suspen sions inexchange for successful completion of communityservice.Consider providing extra counseling in areas suchas anger manage ment, conflict management andresolution, respecting the rights of others, and6.7.8.social skills. Use be havior modification or otherappli cations of rewards and punishments to reducedelinquency.Consider providing parents and/or guardi ans withcounseling or training in parenting skills orientedtoward reducing problematic behavior by students inschool and at home.Recognize the risk involved in put ting troubledstudents together. Take appropriate securitymeasures in light of that risk.Provide students of the appropriate age with careercounseling and information about employmentopportunities.Student CourtFor noncriminal offenses, consider use of peer courts.Be aware that the use of student courts to address otherstudents’ noncriminal offenses can have unintendedconsequences, such as lack of confidentiality, feelingsof being judged by fellow classmates, and increasedfeelings of group differences.1.2.3.Consider having qualified adults oversee peer courts.Provide adequate training to peer court participants.Tell the student(s) that they must abide by thepeer court’s decision and tell them about theconsequences for not complying.Positive IncentivesInstead of focusing only on punishment of negativebehaviors, find ways to en courage positive behaviors.1.2.3.4.5.6.7.Create rewards for stu dents who perform acts ofgood citizenship.Invite community leaders to tell students aboutdifferent ways they can achieve success.Consider the potential value of school-wideassemblies in which effective motivational speakersdeliver anti-drug, -alcohol, and -violence messages.Invite responsible adults to mentor and serve aspositive role models for students.Promote press coverage of all types of students whohave done well.Create programs that promote posi tive values,incorporate building blocks for developing character,and recognize students who exhibit posi tive traits.Promote partnerships between schools and lawenforcement, com munity businesses, and serviceorganizations to recognize and re ward positivestudent behavior.Employee ScreeningTeachers, staff, and volunteers can have a profoundeffect on children’s development. Investigations shouldbe conducted to avoid selecting potentially harmful orGuide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

7abusive teachers, staff, and volunteers. Some states havelaws about screening people who work with children.Use one or more of the following means in a mannerconsistent with applicable law to screen potential teachers,staff, and other non-students who are regu larly on site:• State sex offender registry check• Criminal background check• Fingerprint check• Employment, personal, and educa tion referencechecks• Personal interviews• On-the-job observation• Students’ evaluations of teacher per formance• Professional disciplinary board back ground check• Alcohol and drug testing• Psychological testing• Mental illness and psychiatric history checkClass and School Size1.2.Work toward creating and main taining optimalstudent-to-teacher ratios. This allows teachers tobetter identify warning signs demonstrated bystudents who may be prone to violence.Organize community-wide efforts to determine themost appropriate size of schools in each district.Schools where students are more connected totheir school environment (including the people, thefacility, the operations, and the ac tivities) tend tohave lower rates of violence.Parent Outreach1.2.3.4.Encourage faculty to solicit as much parentalinvolvement as possible. Among the ways thiscan be achieved are school and class newsletters,classroom activities, Web sites, personalized phonecalls, local newspapers, voice mail direct to teachers,and opportunities for participation in school clubs,organizations, and other extracurricular activities.Seek and promote innovative ways to help studentsand parents and/or guardians connect with theirschool, faculty, and staff. Examples include havingparent advisory meetings, using parents and/orguardians as mentors or guest speakers, providingparents and/or guardians with child care for theirchildren during school functions, establishing aparent lounge, and offering parenting classes.Offer training to parents and/or guardians on whatbehaviors to look for, what those behaviors can leadto, and what parents and/or guardians can do if theyare concerned about their child. Section 7 addressesthe legal implications of failing to take action.Make it known to parents and/or guardians thatthe goal is intervention before a violent incidentoccurs, not punishment. Encourage parents and/orguardians to report their concerns.Use of the School1.2.3.Serve as an advocate for Head Start and other onsite quality preschool programs for younger children.Promote free and attractive after-school activitiesfor all students. Ex amples include sporting activities,assistance with schoolwork, and so cial events. Try tohave at least one activity that would be of interest toevery type of student. The After-Schools EnrichmentGrant Program can be used to help provide fundingfor such activities. (More informa tion on after-schoolprograms is provided in the text box on page 14.Addresses of Web sites with infor mation aboutfunding are provided in Section 9.)Seek and promote partnerships with externalprograms to provide super vised after-school onsite activities. Programs selected should contributeto students’ safety and to their physical, moral,academic, emotional, or social development, suchas 4-H, Scouts, Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCA, andcommunity youth sports programs.School Physical EnvironmentA safe and secure physical environment promotes andenhances the learning process.1.2.3.Keep schools clean and in good repair to discouragevandalism and violence.Employ Crime Prevention through EnvironmentalDesign (CPTED) techniques to reduce problems.These measures use interior and exterior facilitydesigns to increase the likelihood that acts ofmisconduct on school premises will either bephysically discouraged or observed and acted upon.CPTED can also yield designs that facilitate moreeffective emergency response to critical incidents.Establish and enforce a dress code for students,faculty, and staff with input from all constituents.Consideration also should be given to requiringschool uniforms. Dress codes can simplifyrecognition of intruders, improve discipline,decrease violence and other forms of misconduct,and minimize the impact of gangs and other fringegroups on school property.Counseling ServicesSchools should provide or refer stu dents to counselingservices, including emotional (such as grief, angermanage ment, depression), social development,exceptional student (such as gifted or dis abled),academic, vocational, prena tal and reproductive, gang,psychological, family, and substance abuse. Each arearequires different knowledge, skills, and abilities.International Association of Chiefs of Police

8Schools should ensure that students in need have accessto counselors qualified to treat their respective problems.Coun seling services should be of adequate durationand provide continuity of treatment. When studentneeds exceed the counseling resources of the school,recommendations for community assis tance should beprovided. Cooperative arrangements may be possiblewith neighboring school districts or with other city, county,or state organiza tions that provide or use these services.1. Provide counseling services in a manner consistentwith national professional standards (such as those ofthe Na tional Association of School Psy chologists, theAmerican Counseling Association, and the NationalAssociation of School Social Workers) regardingappropriate treatment and student-to-counselor ratios.2. Establish training programs under the supervision ofa trained coun selor in which students can be taughtto help other students. Match stu dents with peerswho can relate to the student receiving advice andto his or her problems.3. Ensure that counselors have adequate informationabout and access to community resources.4. Ensure parents and/or guardians and students areinformed of the different types of counseling servicesavailable and know how they can obtain them.5. Identify at-risk students and provide counseling.Conflict Resolution ProgramsConflict resolution and management programs teachpeople to find peaceful solutions to conflict. Theseprograms use negotiation, mediation, and consensusdecision-making to find solutions that are positive for allparties. They attempt to create win-win situations.1.Conduct a needs assessment to de termine the typesof conflicts that tend to occur and how they are bestresolved.2. Select which conflict resolution programs would bemost appropriate for the school.3. Find trainers to implement the pro gram.4. Commence training at the earliest age-appropriateschool level. Con tinue the training throughout students’education.5. Obtain support and involvement from faculty andparents and/or guardians.6. Teach conflict resolution to students by usingactivities incorporated into the curriculum andby having teachers and staff model appropriatebehav iors.7. Evaluate the success of the program against goals.Social Skills TrainingSocial skills training enables students to have positiveand respectful interactions with other students, parents,faculty, and staff. Positive relationships can reducetendencies toward violent behavior.1. Encourage faculty to teach and model positivesocial skills.2. Implement life skills training throughout thecurriculum to teach students how to recognizeproblem situations, manage stress, achieve selfcontrol,and demonstrate emo tional maturity.Cognitive Skills TrainingEncourage faculty and staff to chal lenge the way studentsthink about problem solving. Violence in school settingsoften erupts as impulsive or irrational reactions toimmediate problems.1.Teach means-ends thinking, in which students learnhow to reach a goal by step-by-step planning,identifying potential obstacles, and accepting thatproblem solving often takes time.Examples of Conflict Resolution andManagement ApproachesThe process curriculum approach devotes a specifictime to teaching prob lem-solving skills in a separatecourse or curriculum.The mediation program approach trains people inconflict resolution to provide third-party mediation toothers trying to resolve a dispute. Peer mediation hasbeen found to work well for many but not all problems.For example, peer mediation counseling shouldnot be used for responding to serious or persistentdelinquency problems. Peer mediation also must bemade available when it is needed, not just when it isconvenient for peer counselors and staff.The peaceable classroom approach brings conflictresolution into core sub ject areas and uses thetechniques to help manage the classroom.The peaceable schools approach builds on the formerapproaches by using con flict resolution as a tool forhelping to manage the entire school.Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

92.3.4.Teach analytical thinking, in which students learn howto weigh the ap propriate pros and cons when decidingwhether to carry out an act.Teach alternative solution thinking, in which studentslearn to find new solutions to a problem.Teach consequential thinking, in which students learnto consider different outcomes that might result froma given action.Diversity IssuesIntolerance often leads to conflict, inter feres with thelearning process, and has been a factor in violence inthe schools. The purpose of diversity training is to try toreduce intolerance.1.2.3.4.5.Design and distribute a diversity acceptance policyto students, par ents and/or guardians, teachers, andstaff. Include a description of forbidden behaviors,responsibilities of stu dents and staff, consequencesof engaging in prohibited behaviors, and locations ofpertinent school and community resources.Provide diversity acceptance training to all staff andfaculty.Give all students diversity accep tance training in theclassroom and in assemblies, incorporating small groupdiscussions to augment awareness and sensitivity.Consider activities that celebrate the school’s culturaldiversity. Make sure that all activities are appropriatefor the particular age and cultural groups with and forwhom they are being implemented.Use progressive discipline for acts of intolerance.Use nondisciplinary actions (such as counseling,parent conferences, community service, or awarenesstraining) for minor, first-time infractions. Progressivelyincrease discipline (from detention to suspension toexpulsion, for instance) for re curring or more seriousviolations.Recognize that certain types of graf fiti, literature, andactions may be indicators of a hate crime or a caseof harass ment. Collect, store, and monitor data onthese types of occurrences and share this informationwith po lice. Consider photographing graffiti.Anti-bullying ProgramsBullying is a range of behaviors, both verbal and physical,that intimidate others and often lead to antisocial andunlawful acts. Staff, students, and parents and/or guardiansneed to understand that bullying is a pervasive problemthat leads to violence. Bullying should neither be thought ofas a kids-will-be-kids occurrence nor be accepted as a wayof life. Implement anti-bullying programs that include thefollowing school-wide, classroom, and individual tactics:1.Clearly define what constitutes bul lying activity withinput and in volvement from the school commu nity2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.(students, staff, parents and/or guardians, teachers,volunteers, and law en forcement). Communicatethat defi nition to students, teachers, parents and/orguardians, and staff. The definition should includephysical, verbal, and psychological aspects ofbullying.Establish specific rules prohibiting, and consequencesfor, bullying activity as part of acomprehensive school code of conduct.Seek information about the motiva tions behindspecific incidents of bullying.Establish a reporting mechanism by whichincidents of bullying can be reported and recordedimmediately after they occur.Ensure reporting procedures address with whom andunder which circumstances information will and will notbe shared. Care should be taken to do the following:a. Protect witnesses and victims from retaliation.b. Meet applicable standards for confidentiality.c. Ensure that personnel involved with victimsand bullies have the information they need toeffectively work with them.d. Protect the accused from false allegations.Notify the parents and/or guardians of both thevictims and the perpetrators whenever a report ofbullying is filed. Establish a policy regarding the circumstancesunder which parents and/or guardians ofbullies and their victims should be called in for an onsite conference.Continually monitor the number of reported incidentsof bullying, and for each incident document whataction was taken to disrupt the behavior.Regularly conduct a survey as sessing theprevalence, location, and kind of bullying activitiesthat are occurring. Include students, parents and/or guardians, teachers, and staff. Also addressbullying activities that occur on the way to andfrom school. Work with community policingefforts to help make stu dents’ journeys to andfrom school safe and free from acts of intimidation.For surveys requiring stu dent input, followadministration guidelines regarding the possibleneed for parental approval.Consider holding focus groups to discuss the natureof the problem of bullying and ways to solve it.Identify community resources that can be used tointervene immedi ately as well as those that canbe used to develop additional interven tion andprevention programs. Ensure that adequate socialservice and mental health resources are bothavailable and being used.Take actions to identify bullies and victims and topromote intervention at the classroom level and atother student contact points in schools. Developa program that provides victims with immediatesupport services and referrals and teaches avoidanceInternational Association of Chiefs of Police

1012.tech niques and coping skills. Refer of fenders toavailable support serv ices.Advise teachers and staff to record events as well asthe interventions and strategies that are implementedto address different instances of bullying.Programs to Reduce Isolation and Alienation and toPromote RespectSchool administrators and teachers should identify andimplement pro grams that increase self-re spect andrespect for others. In general, these programs should dothe following:1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.15.Establish standards for how people should treateach other.Ensure that classroom standards are consistent withschool and district policies.Ensure that classroom standards are reviewed inclass and that a copy of them is sent to the parentsand/or guardians.Coordinate a cooperative effort to create anddisseminate statements of values that all affiliates ofthe school will be expected to follow. All membersshould be able to state their school’s values. Forexamples of school values statements, see the textbox on page 15.Establish better lines of communi cation withstudents who may feel alienated or isolated or havelow self-esteem.Increase the number and diversity of positiveextracurricular activities available to students.Help students become more suc cessful in achievingdesirable short- and long-term goals and increasethe likelihood that their progress is recognized andrewarded.Teach students how to resist others’ efforts tointimidate or isolate them.Initiate a community service re quirement for middleand high school graduation.Model and reinforce values such as learning, respect,character, and co operation.Encourage students to work to gether through theuse of coopera tive learning techniques such as teamprojects.Encourage the contemplation of core values(respect, responsibility, trust, sharing, and so on)through the use of age- and curriculum-appropriatewriting assignments and class discussions.Encourage students to become ac tively involved inthe school commu nity.Recognize and reward students who exhibit positiveand responsible be havior.Offer troubled and withdrawn stu dents, includingvictims, help outside of class with schoolwork andpersonal problems.16.Develop a climate that encourages opencommunication between stu dents and adults. Itshould maxi mize the options by which students cantransmit their concerns about violence to schoolpersonnel, foster an environment of trust, and besensitive to their fears of retaliation.Drug and Alcohol EducationThe use of drugs and alcohol is often associated withviolence and other forms of delinquent behavior.1. Educate students about the dangers and illegality ofdrug and alcohol use.2. Identify and implement age-appro priate programsthat include discus sions about how students canresist negative peer pressure. Use role playing andother types of activities to supplement discussions.3. Educate parents and/or guardians and en listtheir support in addressing the dangers of drugand alcohol abuse. Parents and/or guardians andteachers need to realize that their own behaviors inthese areas influence children.4. Avoid programs that are based pre dominantly onfear arousal, moral appeal, or the simple distributionof information.5. Establish a contract requiring students whoparticipate in extra curricular activities to agree not touse alcohol or drugs.6. Identify community resources to which parentsand/or guardians and students with alcohol- orsubstance-abuse problems can be referred forinformation or intervention.Anti-gang ProgramsGang membership is destructive to a healthy schoolenvironment. Members of gangs are more likely thanother students to carry weapons and engage in acts ofviolence.1. Establish partnerships with law en forcement toexchange in formation and educate teachersand staff about the presence of gangs and theiractivities.2. Establish and fund gang resistance and violenceprevention teams to implement community,family, and youth education programs and toprovide alternative activities in which children canparticipate. Teams should include educators, lawenforcement, probation officers, community leaders,students, school resource officers, gang specialists,mental health pro fessionals, and parents and/orguardians.3. Become aware of gang-related clothing,paraphernalia, and behav ior. Establish a school dresscode that would exclude outward manifestations ofgang membership.Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

114.Inform parents and/or guardians if their children aresuspected of involve ment in gangs and give themrelevant information, counseling, and access toavailable pertinent resources.Suicide PreventionSuicide is a far more common form of violenceinvolving students than school homicide. In some cases,perpetrators of school shootings felt their actions wouldlead to their being killed by police, which also could beconsidered a form of suicide. It is hoped that effectivesuicide prevention will decrease the occurrence of bothsuicide and violence by students who believe their actswill result in their being killed by others.1. Develop a plan that specifies how to identifystudents at risk, how to handle threats, and whatactions to take in the event of a suicide.2. Ensure that students have, and are aware of, easyways to get help, such as access to suicide hotlines,counselors, and written and visual materials.3. Educate students, parents and/or guardi ans,teachers, and other school per sonnel on how to4.identify and get help for troubled students beforethey become victims of suicide. In clude how to getimmediate help to prevent or respond to suicideattempts.Develop a detailed crisis plan to address theaftermath of a suicide to avoid any copycat suicides.Training and Technical Assis tance for Teachersand StaffBecause teachers and staff establish the first line ofschool safety, they should be supported in creating safeclassroom atmospheres. Schools should provide trainingand technical assistance to teachers and staff in thefollowing areas:1. Conflict resolution and management.2. Hostility and anger management.3. Victim sensitivity and support.4. Crisis and critical incident management.5. Bullying and harassment recogni tion, prevention,and intervention.6. Who should, how to, and where to refer students andfamilies to social service agencies.7. Classroom management.Identifying Warning Signs of Potential ViolenceLearn to identify characteristics of persons whoexhibit warning signs of potential violence. Schoolstend to single out students who are bullied or whoexhibit mental health problems as potential violentperpetrators. The key is focusing on the behaviors theindividual is engaging in, not personal characteristics.Those who display these signs should be referred toappropriate agencies or individuals such as counselors,parents, law enforcement, and social, medical, andmental health services. When deciding whether andwhere to make referrals, one should consider applicableregula tions concerning parental consent, confidentiality,and mandatory reporting requirements.These signs simply mean that a child appears to betroubled, and violence might be one of the possibleoutcomes of this distress. Identifying signs neitherstigmatizes children or assumes that they will be violentjust because they are at risk for such behavior. Otherwarning signs may also exist. Consequently, this listshould not be considered all-inclusive, and certainitems and combina tions may be far more indicative ofa potential problem than others. The signs include thefollowing:• Has engaged in violent behavior in the past• Has tantrums and uncontrollable angry outburstsabnormal for someone that age• Continues exhibiting antisocial behaviors that beganat an early age• Forms or maintains friendships with others who haverepeatedly engaged in problem behaviors• Often engages in name calling, cursing, or abusivelanguage• Has brought a weapon or has threatened to bring aweapon to school• Consistently makes violent threats when angry• Has a substance abuse problem• Is frequently truant or has been suspended fromschool on multiple occasions• Seems preoccupied with weapons or violence,especially weapons associated more with killinghumans than with target practice or hunting• Has few or no close friends despite having lived inthe area for some time• Has a sudden decrease in academic performance orinterest in school activities• Is abusive to animals• Has too little parental supervision, given thestudent’s age and level of maturity• Has been a victim of abuse or been neglected byparents and/or guardians• Has repeatedly witnessed domestic abuse or otherforms of violence• Has experienced trauma or loss in the home or thecommunityInternational Association of Chiefs of Police

12Identifying Warning Signs of Potential Violence(continued)• Pays no attention to the feelings or rights of others• Intimidates others• Has been a victim of intimidation by others• Dwells on perceived slights, rejection, ormistreatment by others; blames others for problemsand appears vengeful• Seems to be preoccupied with TV shows, movies,video games, reading material, or music that expressviolence• Reflects excessive anger in writing projects• Is involved in a gang or antisocial group• Seems depressed or withdrawn or has exhibitedsevere mood or behavioral swings, which appeargreater in magnitude, duration, or frequency thanthose typically experienced by students that age• Expresses sadistic, violent, prejudicial, or intolerantattitudes• Has threatened or attempted suicide or acts ofself-mutilation• Written or verbal evidence that indicates a fixation ona perceived injustice, a revenge fantasy, an obsessionwith revenge, a desire to be notorious, a preoccupationwith previous school shooters or shootings, suicidalor homicidal ideation, feelings of insignificance,dehumanization, and insensitivity to violenceWhen characteristics in the last category are identifiedalong with any of the behaviors in the other categories,the threat and violence team needs to be notifiedimmediately.When an individual exhibits any of the warning signsthe district should consider referring the student to anindividual violence risk assessment specialist. Simplyreferring the individual to a mental health professionalis seldom sufficient; few mental health professionals aretrained in violence risk assessments.8.9.10.11.12.How to identify and defuse potentially violentsituations.How teachers’ and other staff mem bers’ ownbehavior may diffuse or escalate conflict.How to identify troubled students. Examples ofwarning signs are provided in the text box on page11.How to communicate and work with parents and/orguardians to inter vene in the behavior of troubledstu dents.How to most effectively work with classes that haveethnic and eco nomic diversity.Evaluation1. Routinely monitor and evaluate the steps taken toimprove school safety.2. Conduct surveys of the school com munityto determine perceptions of safety, areas forimprovement, and the effectiveness of school safetyprograms.3. Maintain statistics on discipline cases,suspensions, expulsions, students found withweapons, and incidents of verbal or physicalharassment.4. Organize a committee of students, teachers, staff,emergency response personnel, law enforcement,and parents and/or guardians to periodicallyreview and analyze the collected information andto suggest new or modified violence preventionstrate gies.The Role of StudentsThe majority of students recognize they share in theresponsibility to prevent school violence. Not only dothey suffer the consequences when it occurs but theyalso provide an essential perspective on how to promoteschool safety. Therefore, students should be includedin all efforts to create safer schools. The following aresteps students can take to help reduce violence in theirschools.1.2.3.4.5.6.Know and follow their school’s vio lence preventionpolicies.Work with teachers and adminis trators to create asafe way to re port threats.Learn about who they can go to with informationand concerns about violence and harassment.Listen to friends who share upset ting thoughts ordisplay troubling, harmful, or dangerous behavior,and encourage them to seek help from a parent orguardian, teacher, school counselor, or other trustedadult.Confide in a parent or guardian, teacher, or othertrusted adult if they persis tently feel so down, sad, orempty that they don’t want to go out and do things,are not able to sleep, have difficulty concen trating,feel helpless or an gry, or feel like they are losingcontrol over their thoughts or emotions.Immediately report suspicious behavior andthreats of violence or suicide to a school official oranother responsible adult. Stu dents who do notGuide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

137.8.9.10.11.12.feel comfortable speaking directly to school officialsor adults should use another means, such asanonymous hotlines or notes.Help organize and participate in after-schoolactivities with re sponsible members of the community.Encourage peers to do the same.Participate in ongoing activities that promoteschool safety. Ac tively participate in programssuch as conflict resolution, prob lem solving teams,mentoring pro grams, peer courts, commu nityservice, and peer mediation.Act as positive role models for peers and youngerstudents. Ac cept responsibility for their actionsand consider the impact their actions have onothers.Refrain from belittling, harassing, and bullying otherstudents. Be tolerant of other students and theirdifferences.Learn techniques to avoid and cope with negativepeer pressure.Speak out and refuse to join in when membersof groups or cliques with whom they are in volvedengage in negative behav iors toward others, such asacts of harassment or vandalism.The Role of Parents and/or GuardiansParents and/or guardians are an essential part of schoolviolence prevention. Demonstrating an interest in theirchildren’s lives is one of the most important steps parentsand/or guardians can take to help prevent youth violence.Open communication between children and their parentsor guardians is critical.Parents and/or guardians should be invited to help designand implement safety plans. Information and trainingsessions should be provided on school safety policies andprograms. Parents and/or guardians should be informedof other steps they can take to contribute to a safe schoolenvironment.Topics to Discuss with Children1. The school’s discipline policy. Parents and/orguardians should know the policy, communicate theirsupport for it, discuss the reasons behind it, andexpect their children to comply.2. Their school’s safety and security procedures.Parents and/or guardians should know theprocedures, make certain their children know them,and communicate why they expect their children tofollow them.3. Their own positive household rules, family values andtraditions, behav ior expectations, and the reasonsbehind them.4. Violence in television shows, video games, movies,and books. Talk about the impact of violence in themedia and its real-life consequences.5. How to solve problems peacefully.6. The value of individual differences.7. Their children’s concerns about friends and otherpeople who may be exhibiting threatening orviolent behavior. Parents and/or guardians shouldshare this information with the friends’ parents orguardians, a trusted adult at the school, or otherappropriate authorities in a way that protects thecon fidentiality of their own children as needed andpossible.8. Personal safety issues and appropri ate responses tothem.9. Their children’s day-to-day activi ties,accomplishments, concerns, and problems.Actions Parents and/or Guardians Can Take withChildren1.2.Model appropriate behaviors. Dem onstrate healthyways to express an ger and relieve stress. Do notshow anger in verbally or physically abu sive ways.Watch their children carefully for any troublingbehaviors. Parents and/or guardians should learn thewarning signs for at-risk children and how to get helpWays Parents and/or Guardians Can SuperviseChildren’s Use of the Internet• Consider placing computers in locations whereparents and/or guardians can observe what theirchildren are seeing.• Establish family rules for Internet use and informchildren that their use of it will be monitored.• Use filtering or blocking software to re strict theirchildren’s access to inappro priate sites and material.• Search their home computer files to see what sitestheir children have visited.• Look for signs that their children may be involvedwith online criminal activity or be interacting withpotentially dangerous people.• If training is needed, attend classes.• If training classes are not available, ask schooladministrators, law enforcement, or the local parentteacherassociation to consider offering them.Resources are available through the National Centerfor Missing and Exploited Children’s NetSmartzProgram at www.netsmartz.org.International Association of Chiefs of Police

143.4.5.6.from school or community professionals. Fora list of warning signs, refer to the text box onpage 11.Take an active role in their chil dren’s education.Visit and volun teer at their school, monitor theirschoolwork, and get to know their teachers.If asked, participate in school safety planningsessions.Initiate or participate in violence prevention groupsin their commu nity, such as Communities that Careand Mothers Against Violence in America.Get to know their children’s friends and families.Establish a network to exchange information withother parents.7.8.9.10.11.Monitor and supervise their chil dren’s readingmaterial, television, video games, and music forinappro priately violent content.Monitor and supervise their chil dren’s use of theInternet. For more information, see the text box onpage 13.Check a child’s bedroom and other rooms for signsof violence ideation.Talk to employers about having specialconsiderations for parents and/or guardians whowant to participate in school activities.If needed, attend anger management, parentingskill, or conflict resolution classes offered by theschool or other organizations.After-School ProgramsAn Office of Juvenile Justice and DelinquencyPrevention (OJJDP) report to Congress issued in July1999 reported that juvenile violence frequently occurs inthe context of unsupervised groups of adolescents. Thereport also noted that youth who are in a supervisedsetting after every school day tend to be less delinquentthan those with fewer after-school hours supervisedby adults. Among the possible reasons for their lowerdelinquency rate are the following:• It is more difficult to avoid being caught andpunished for engaging in bad behaviors while underclose adult supervision.• Participants have additional exposure to positiveadult and student role models.• After participating in their programs, they havereduced time and energy to get in trouble.• During program hours participants are more likely toassociate with and develop friendships with childrenwho are less likely to promote or accept negativebehaviors.• Program participation may increase self-esteemor perceptions of having a positive future, whichwould give them less to gain, and more to lose, fromengaging in negative behaviors.Despite these potential benefits, after-school programsdo not always result in localized decreases in juvenileviolence rates. Among the possible reasons are thefollowing:• Not everyone participates. Children who needsupervision the most may be the least likely toparticipate. If this is the case, after-school programscould widen the gap between those less likely andthose more likely to engage in negative behaviors.• Some of the participants’ delinquent friends andacquaintances who do not participate may pressurethose who do to engage in negative behaviors inorder to demonstrate and reinforce the participants’social bonds to them.To increase the effectiveness of these programs inpreventing youth violence, consider the following:• Offering as many positive after-school options aspossible, so they attract the broadest range of students.• Eliminating roadblocks to student participation bytaking steps like offering the programs free, providingscholarships, scheduling activities at times andlocations convenient for parents and/or guardiansand students, and providing transportation.• Helping to increase the consistency and longevity ofeach positive after-school activity. Working parents and/or guardians need to be able to depend on consistentdrop-off and pick-up times and locations. The successof programs is also often dependent on after-schoolactivities’ obtaining a good reputation among studentsand on the same students signing up for those activitiesyear after year. Continuity also provides participantswith an opportunity to improve their proficiency inthose activities over a longer period of time.• Ensuring each after-school activity supports academicadvancement. This can be accomplished by makingsure participants have sufficient time to study; providingstudent or program staff tutors; and encouragingparticipants to study, not drop out of school, anddo as well as possible in their classes. After-schoolactivities may be one of the few positive school-relatedexperiences that some students have each day andmay be their primary reason for not dropping out.These programs need to be designed to complementacademic achievement, not compete with it.• Ensuring each after-school activity contributes toparticipants’ social and moral development. This canbe accomplished by stressing concepts such as goodsportsmanship, being a team player, helping others,sharing, and cooperation.Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

15Sample Values StatementsStatements of values should be broad in reach but shortin length. If properly used in both award and disciplinarysettings they can take on real meaning as a cornerstoneof student, teacher, and staff commitment to the schooland the larger community. Knowledge of school valuescan be reinforced by listing them on posters throughoutthe school, on ID holders, on stickers, and on otherpromotional items.The following is the statement of values for Green RunElementary School in Virginia Beach, Virginia. We believe:• All children can learn if given the opportunity to do so.• Children will consistently strive to meet highexpectations.• The school should provide a safe and positiveenvironment in which each student can achieve success.• Students learn best when they have the support andencouragement of parents, community, teachers, andpeers.• Each student should share a common body ofknowledge which enables them to act in an ethicalmanner (responsible, functional, independentmember of society).• The school should strive to meet the individualstudent’s learning style.• The school should be able to adapt to the changingcommunity.The statement of values below is from West DecaturElementary School in Decatur, Alabama. At WestDecatur, we believe:• Every individual deserves to be treated with dignityand respect.• Every individual is entitled to a quality education in asafe, nurturing, and orderly environment.• Every individual needs to believe in the worth ofthemselves and others.• Every individual needs to accept consequences forchosen behavior.12.13.14.15.16.17.Establish and consistently enforce household rulesand reward positive behavior.Provide quality child care for their children.Promote a healthy and safe lifestyle by prohibitingthe illegal or irrespon sible use of alcohol, tobacco, orother drugs in their home.If needed, seek out support groups to improveparenting skills or to manage anger and frustration.Provide a quality after-school envi ronment for theirchildren. See the text box on after-school programson page 14.Monitor and supervise their chil dren’s whereabouts(where they are, how they can be reached, and howto reach their children’s friends’ parents). Encourageand facilitate their association with friends who seemto reinforce good behavior. Make their home a placewhere children and their well-behaved friends arewelcome, comfortable, adequately supervised,and safe.Firearms and Ammunition1.2.3.4.Keep firearms and ammunition locked up and inseparate locations. Secure the keys in a location unknownto children. Many children who bring firearmsto school obtain them from their own households.Monitor children’s environments for indications ofweapons and destruc tive devices.Teach children about the dangers of firearms.Be aware of and concerned about easily accessiblefirearms or ammu nition at the homes of friends, relatives,and neighbors.The Role of the CommunityFor any safe schools program to be effective, it isnecessary to obtain the active participation of thecommunity in planning and implementation. School officialsshould make an effort to recruit individual membersof the community, local businesses, community serviceorganizations, attorneys, clergy, mental health and childwelfare personnel, local officials, family agency staff, andrecreational organizations. The following are additionalspecific suggestions for members of the community.Individual Community Member Actions1.2.3.4.Volunteer for mentoring programs such as BigBrothers Big Sisters of America.Take the initiative to help create, run, or volunteer foran after-school recreation program.If qualified, consider volunteering to provide care fortroubled youth and their families.Provide community-based services that care forchildren in need and their families.Businesses and Community Organization Actions1. Adopt and support a local school.2. Hire high school students as part-time employees.Actively seek out student volunteers and interns.3. Allow employees who are students enough timeoff to study. Provide extra time off during finalexams.4. Be considerate of employees who want to attendtheir children’s school activities.International Association of Chiefs of Police

165.6.7.8.9.Give basic job skills training to students.Develop a scholarship program.Offer support to schools by providing neededservices, facilities, equipment, and so on.Work with school administrators to create positivecommunity service learning experiences for youngpeople.Work with school administrators to provide careerinformation.The Role of Law EnforcementLaw enforcement should work with schools to formulatedistrict-wide and school-specific violence preventionprograms and crisis response plans.Police Training1.2.3.4.Address the conditions that con tribute to schoolviolence.Include in-service training that ad dresses factorsinfluencing school violence, conflict resolution,school violence scenarios, and response guidelines.Train officers how to handle inter actions with schooladministrators, teachers, and students.Train selected officers how to con duct schoolsecurity assessments.Police Activities1. Patrol school grounds and develop a school resourceofficer (SRO) pro gram. SROs can deter violence andother forms of misconduct by being a visible presenceat the school and by helping the school develop andimplement violence prevention programs.2. Develop and maintain working partnerships witharea schools.3. Work with schools, parents and/or guardians, andtruants to lower truancy. Bring students foundoutside of school during school hours either backto school or to a truancy center. Visit the homesof these children to help determine whether theirparents or guardians have been neglectful orabusive.4. Consult with school administra tors, teachers, andparents and/or guardians about school security.5. In concert with school and po lice department legalcounsel, pro vide guidance to school personnel on6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.15.16.how to spot concealed weapons and what stepsthey should and should not take when they suspectstudents are carrying them.Provide schools, students, and par ents and/orguardians with information about police departmentresources.Provide schools with guidelines and examples ofwhen to call the police.Assist school officials with the screening of employeesand volunteers, including checking criminal historyfiles and sex of fender registries.Serve on school threat and discipli nary actionassessment teams, along with teachers, administrators,and counselors.Try to maintain a constructive re lationship withstudents, parents, and school employees. This allowslaw enforcement officials to be seen as problemsolvers and positive role models, rather than justen forcers. A constructive relationship can help fosterrespect for author ity. Ways to establish such a relationshipinclude the following:a. Bicycle registration drivesb. Sponsored recreational activi tiesc. Explorer or cadet programsd. Parent, student, and teacher in-service trainingprogramsInitiate and participate in pro grams for juvenileoffenders using interventions that are appropriatefor their risk factors and violations.When appropriate, make follow-up visits to thehomes of juvenile of fenders. Consider also theappro priateness of conducting consent or warrantsearches in cases involving students who madethreats or brought weapons to school.Develop task forces aimed at en forcing laws amongminors.Develop a plan for cracking down on illegal gunsales and work to educate parents and/or guardianson firearm safety, including the proper storage ofweapons in the home.Enforce existing truancy laws.Use other federal, state, and local criminal justiceagencies and law enforcement departments asre sources to help determine the best possible safeschool strategies for the community.Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

1910.Counsel potential victims about the various civiland criminal op tions available to them, suchas obtaining a restraining order. The potentialreactions of the offender should be consideredin whether or not to seek a restraining order.Additional security precautions should be taken ifthe offender is likely to respond negatively to theintervention chosen, especially during the periodimmediately following the initial application of thatintervention.11.12.Learn what procedures should be taken to screenmail and packages left on school sites after a threathas been made. Contact the U.S. Postal Service,the local police, or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,Firearms, and Explosives for guidance.Establish policies for releasing any threat-relatedinformation to either the school community orthe media, giving consideration to the potentialconsequences of choosing whether or not todisseminate information pertaining to serious threats.International Association of Chiefs of Police

20Sec t i o n 4Crisis Pl a n n i n g an dPre p a r a t i o nResponses for different types of crises should be planned inadvance and reviewed, up dated, and practiced periodically.The chaos and panic created by these situations cannot beeffectively handled without a plan of action.Teachers and staff play critical roles in implementingplanned responses both before and after emergencyresponse personnel arrive. Therefore, their participationin, and understanding of, the planning is essential.The Role of School Administrators, Teachers,and StaffPlanning1.2.Establish a crisis planning team that includesrepresentation from faculty and staff, as well assafety, security, and emergency response providerswho are knowledgeable about crisis planning orwould help intervene in a school safety crisis. Theprimary duty of these teams is to develop andperiodically refine crisis management plans.Establish school crisis management teams at districtand site levels using the nationally recognizedIncident Command System (ICS). The ICS providesa comprehensive organizational structure, role assignment,and decision-making pro cess to preparefor and respond to all types of crises. Schools shouldget in touch with emergency management agencies(such as fire departments) for information about ICS.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.Have a working knowledge of all available andneeded resources for handling and respondingto a crisis situation. During planning, use schoolpersonnel to determine re sources available in thebuilding and in the district. Use emergency responsepersonnel from the community to help determineavailability of resources in the community.Include off site school activities such as stadiumevents, field trips, and so on, in crisis planning.Assign all faculty and staff to clearly defined rolesunder the ICS system. Critical assignments must bestaffed three deep to ensure coverage at all times.Identify and make ar rangements now with themental health professionals who would provide thecritical incident stress debriefing immediately aftera crisis. Be sure that mental health professionals aretrained in crisis response and trauma issues so thatthey do not unintentionally cause more emotionalharm. See the text box on page 26.Identify and train on-site building maintenance staff(primary and backup) and off site personnel who willtake responsibility for dealing with fire alarms, sprinklersystems, gas, and so on. These personnel shouldimmediately be available at the command post.Identify personnel who will have master keys, codes,and access to secured areas at the site.Classrooms should have locks that can be lockedfrom the inside in the case of a crisis that requiresstudents to lock down rather than evacuate. In anactive shooting scenario, locked doors can savelives.Establish and publicize the chain of command sothat if the appointed crisis director as specified inthe ICS is unavailable, the next designated crisismanagement team member will take charge.Critical Incident Stress DebriefingAfter a serious act of violence in the schools, employees,counselors, students, police and other emergencyresponders, witnesses, and the families of each oftensuffer from stress-related ailments such as insomnia,depression, anger, headaches, and ulcers. Theseconditions translate into higher rates of absenteeism andturnover, as well as lower school and job performance.Much of this suffering and loss can be reduced if theaffected individuals receive debriefings from experiencedcounselors 24 to 72 hours after the traumatic incident.The purpose of such a debriefing is to providestudents, school employees, and others affectedby the event with the opportunity to express theirthoughts and feelings about what happened and howit was handled. It also gives the debriefing team achance to educate employees about the symptomsof posttraumatic stress disorder and to identifyindividuals who might need further counseling.Depending on their developmental level, children havedifferent coping skills for dealing with traumatic eventsand memories of them. Counseling interventions foryounger children often require involvement and useof nonverbal material and very directive ways to elicitand reflect feelings. Frequently, facts and fantasy areintermingled, and young children have a difficult timeacknowledging a crisis. With adolescents, however, adiscussion format can be used as a possible means toactivate and enhance their problem-solving and crisiscopingskills.Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

2111.12.13.14.15.16.17.18.19.20.Establish and practice how to pro tect students withphysical, cognitive, or devel opmental disabilities.Prepare a dismissal plan in the event students needto be sent home early. Establish procedures for notifyingparents and/or guardians and me dia. Makearrangements for trans portation of special needsstudents.Establish and practice lockdown and evacuationprocedures, includ ing where students should goduring different types of crises. Consider variousadverse weather conditions and ways to transportevacuees. Deter mine specific locations of safe havenswhere students could gather a safe distanceaway from the school in the event of an evacuation.Publicize locations to students, par ents, schoolteachers and staff, crisis team members, and emergencyresponse personnel.Develop an emergency traffic plan capable ofprotecting emergency response routes andaccommodating the likely traffic and parking needsof parents and/or guardians and media.Designate places, depending on the nature of thecrisis, for person nel to perform their roles. Places includethe following:a. A designated media contact loca tionb. A designated place for par ents and/or guardiansto congregatec. A designated place for clergyd. A designated place for mental healthprofessionalse. Staging areas for transportationEstablish a calling tree or phone tree that allowsthe crisis man agement team to be notified immediately.Post calling tree lists in strategic locations,such as the offices of superin tendents, principals,assistant principals, nurses, counselors, custodians,crisis team representa tives, and school departmentsof fices as well as at the local police de partment, theschool district office, and other designated off-sitelocations.Make alternative response plans known to keypersonnel who would communicate the nature ofthe cri sis and the appropriate level of re sponse.Information about some as pects of response plansmay need to be restricted as a security measure.Create crisis and evacuation kits and place them atstrategic loca tions inside and outside schools. Fora list of items to include in crisis kits and types ofplaces to locate them, refer to the text box on page22.Consider using digital technology and computerdatabases to store photographs and demographicin formation that would enable easy and accurateidentification of stu dents, teachers, and staff. Alwayshave hard copy versions in the event computers areinaccessible.21. Provide copies of all emergency and evacuationplans to local law en forcement, fire, and otheremergency response agencies.22. Provide law enforcement, fire, and other emergencyresponse personnel with blueprints, layouts and floorplans of school buildings and grounds, includinginformation about main leads for water, gas, electricity,cable, telephone, HVAC, alarm and sprinkler systems,and locations of hazardous materials, elevators, andentrances. These should be reviewed annually andin clude both officials’ and students’ names for eachlocation on the property. Schedule walkthroughs byemergency responders, including city public workspersonnel. Con sider color coding interiors of buildingsand numbering doors to assist responders.®23. Consider creating a system of Knox-Boxes outsideschool buildings. Knox-Boxes ® are storage devicesthat provide staff and emergency re sponse personnelwith access to keys at any time of the day or night.Planning for Donations and Memorials1.2.3.4.5.Establish a school policy for memo rializingstudents and other school personnel. For typesof considerations, see “Memorials, Funerals, andAnniversaries” in section 6.Designate responsibility for coordi nating receiptand distribution of donations in the event of acrisis. Ensure proper accountability and receiptof funds and materials, and so on. Des ignatetypes of donations (such as clothes and money).Consider using the United Way or another chari tableorganization already in place.Identify how media and community members will beinformed of where donations should be sent.Establish priorities and policies for distributingmonetary donations.Prepare in advance a link for dona tions on theschool’s Web site.Training1.2.3.Test crisis management plans with faculty and staff, andif appropriate with selected students, at the beginningof each school year and during in-service daysthroughout the year. Law enforcement and emergencyservice agencies in the community should be included.Coordinate and regularly hold sce nario-basedtraining sessions that bring together lawenforcement, other emergency response person nel,teachers, and other school staff.Train teachers and staff on the types of informationthat emergency re sponse personnel will needwhen they re spond to different types of crises, suchas when the event occurred, where it happened,how many are involved, and whether lockdown orevacuation has occurred.International Association of Chiefs of Police

22Crisis and Evacuation KitsThe following items should be gathered together andlocated at strategic locations inside and outside of schools.Common locations include principals’ offices, local fireand police departments, police car trunks, and speciallydesignated places in schools. Information in the crisis kitsshould be updated periodically as appropriate.• Name tags• Notebooks• Pens and markers• Handheld radios• Batteries• First aid supplies• Tape• Blankets• Megaphone• Tools• Separate placards with directional words suchas PARENTS, COUNSELORS, MEDIA, CLERGY,VOLUNTEERS, KEEP OUT• Caution tape• Copies of student records, especially health andidentification• Attendance rosters• Bus rosters and routes• Emergency response telephone numbers• Student, teacher, and staff home phone numbers andemergency contacts• Telephone directory for school system• List of teachers with cell phones and their cell phonenumbers• Current yearbook, class photos, student IDs, or ifavailable, CD-ROM photo databases.• Schedules of students, teachers, and staff available• School sites’ layouts, building floor plans, and aerialmaps• An easily readable copy of the crisis response planA laptop computer, printer, and access to a copier arerequired for immediate use.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.Train teachers, staff, and students on personalsurvival strategies for different scenarios and onwhat physical reactions are possible in a traumaticsituation. Consider using local emergency re sponsepersonnel or district-wide crisis teams to providetraining.To the extent possible, provide cross-training tomembers of the crisis management team and toother school personnel.Review the crisis response plan with teachers,principals, staff, volun teers, campus supervisors, andschool resource officers.Review the crisis response plan with students.Provide training to teachers and school staff on theirassigned roles and their backup roles during cri sissituations.Supplement verbal training with a written pamphletto remind stu dents and full-time, part-time, intern,and substitute teachers of their specified roles.Provide ongoing training to staff; volunteers; fulltime,part-time, intern, and substi tute teachers;and other persons who are regularly on campusre garding how to respond to different types of crisisscenarios.Develop written summaries of crisis responseinstructions to be dissemi nated to new substitutesalong with their specific classroom materials.Provide information to parents and/or guardianson their roles during cri sis situations. Also tellthem where they should go to meet with the13.14.15.16.17.18.19.designated spokespersons, where to retrieve theirchildren and get information about the status ofthe crisis, and what they can do to help during andafter the crisis. Decide on an appropriate balance of crisis responseinformation and cri sis response drills for studentsthat leave them feeling safe without causing unduefear.Provide training in media relations for appointedmedia spokespersons during the planning phase.Invite media representatives to those trainingsessions to strengthen rela tionships and enhanceunder standing of their respective needs.Provide information to local media representativeson how to receive and communicate informationabout crises to the community.Teach students, teachers, and staff to recognize thephysiological cues experienced in crisis situations.Re hearse constructive skills and be haviors instead ofrelying on impul sive actions during crisis situations.Provide emergency first-aid training to teachers,staff, and students.Provide staff, teachers, and students with instructionson personal safety awareness and survival skills,on how to report and respond to per sons makingthreats or displaying weapons, and about locatingand not giving up safe positions.Incorporate crisis preparation training andrequirements into teacher education programs atcolleges and universities.Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

23The Role of Law Enforcement and EmergencyResponse Personnel1.2.3.Conduct meetings with representa tives fromthe school community and from all local lawenforcement, fire, and other emergency responseagencies to obtain, develop, and coordinate schoolsite safety plans.Maintain information in vehicles of first respondersabout school sites’ layouts, building floor plans, andaerial maps. Update as needed.Create systems by which students, teachers,and staff hearing commands (“Open the door,”for instance) may be better able to identifythat they came from official law enforcement4.5.or school personnel, instead of from offenders.Consider the possibility that the offenders couldbe students, faculty, or staff when designing andcommunicating details about those systems toschool personnel.Work toward integrating disparate law enforcementand emergency response communication technologiesto enable more effective com municationbetween agencies during crises.Develop and provide training on the IncidentCommand System, which coordinates supervisionand direction of different school authorities, lawenforcement per sonnel, and emergency respondersfrom a central command post.International Association of Chiefs of Police

24Sec t i o n 5Dur i n g a Ma j o r CrisisSections 5 and 6 provide suggestions for responsesduring and after school crises in which one or moreindividuals have been victimized by violence.The Role of School Administrators, Teachers,and StaffImmediate Response1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.At the onset of a situation, the follow ing things needto happen as close to gether as possible. Respondingper sonnel will have to use individual judgment as towhat they can and should do first, keeping in mindthat their primary role is taking care of children at risk.Get students out of harm’s way. When possible, getin touch with the appro priate school authority orperson on the crisis management team to determinewhether evacuation or lockdown is the appropriatere sponse. Teachers should make de cisions aboutlockdown or evacuation on their own only in lifethreatening situations, as specified in the schoolcrisis management plan.Use doors that lock from the inside only in caseswhere lockdown is the safest option. In an activeshooter situation, only evacuate if the location of theshooter is known and an exit is easily accessible tostudents, such as a window that can be opened orbroken.Assess whether anyone is injured and the severity ofinjuries. Take appropriate measures.Call 9-1-1 or have someone call 9-1-1 in immediatelife-threatening situations. Then alert schoolauthorities or the crisis manage ment team.If available, activate silent alarms to notify lawenforcement.In the event a teacher cannot call or leave theclassroom, send stu dents for help only if absolutelynecessary and if it does not put them in more dangerthan they would be in by evacuating or re mainingwith their class.Have designated personnel (the centraladministration or the crisis director) decide aboutthe appro priate level of involvement of the crisismanagement team.Have appointed staff begin the calling tree beforephone lines get overloaded. If lines are immediatelyoverloaded, then get in touch with the designatedalternative phone service provider.Remain with students until told by appropriatepersonnel what actions to take. Teachers and staffwho are not with children should serve in designatedroles and take assigned action.Active ResistanceActive resistance is fighting back with any objects ofopportunity, such as chairs, desk, and books. Activeresistance is a last resort and should only be usedif potential victims are trapped in a room with anactive shooter, there are already victims, and all otherpersonal survival recommendations are no longer anoption. There have been cases where active resistancehas been successfully used, such as a shooting inSpringfield, Oregon.Implementing the Crisis Manage ment PlanDepending on the nature of the emer gency, either lawenforcement or the fire department will be in charge ofthe incident.1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.Secure all areas for student and staff safety until thepolice arrive.Be aware that the site may be a potential crimescene. Avoid un necessarily tampering with or disturbingevidence. To the extent possible, leave allobjects exactly as they are to protect evi dence forlaw enforcement investi gations. Discourage othersfrom disturbing potential evidence.Tell emergency re sponders where the school staffcommand post is located.Direct arriving families to the designated placewhere they can receive information.Do not dismiss students to un known care.In the case of a lockdown, have a sign-out sheet tomonitor which students have been picked up bytheir parents or guardians. In the case of evacuation,have a place where parents and/or guardians go tosign out their children.Never speculate. Be sure to understand thecircumstances surrounding the situation before sayinganything about it and before taking action. Follow allrules about repeating or giving out information.As appropriate, keep students informed about whatis happening. Ensure that the same informationis communicated to all students. If at all possible,update students in individual classrooms, not in alarge group setting.As soon as possible, take a head count to determinewhich students, staff, and teachers are accounted forand which ones are not.To the extent possible, shield students from disturbingscenes. But do not disturb crime scene evidence.The Role of StudentsStudents should understand and follow all plansapplicable to the given crisis situation. Students shouldnot panic. They should be taught the fol lowing:Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

251.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.In the absence of adult direction, decide where it issafest to be and remain there.If a violent situation occurs, notify the first availableadult.Share all relevant information with law enforcement,teachers, and school staff.During and after the crisis, to the extent that it issafe, keep with you what is on your person, do notpick anything up, and do not go back for anythinguntil after re ceiving permission.Help teachers and staff quickly assess who is accountedfor and who is not.If able, help in jured persons.Calm and reassure fellow stu dents.Follow school, law enforcement, or other emergencyresponse per sonnel directions about where to go orremain.Do not speculate or perpetuate rumors.Do not retaliate or take unnecessary chances.The Role of Law EnforcementLaw enforcement participation is necessary to developand implement well-coordinated and effective responsesto crisis situations.1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.Respond to all reports of criminal activities in theschool. Rapid re sponse teams should be formed tohelp ensure immediate interven tion in all emergencysituations.Exercise appropriate rules of en gagement whenimmediate inter vention is needed, keeping inmind the safety of victims, bystanders, and firstresponders.Establish and adhere to direction from the IncidentCommand Sys tem.Establish appropriate security and responseperimeters. Provide traffic control assistance toenable emergency services to get through to theschool.Develop lines of communication with affectedschools’ administra tions and district emergencyopera tion centers or command posts.Protect relevant evidence from con tamination.Follow approved col lection procedures to facilitateef fective prosecution of perpetrators.Help parents and/or guardians find their children.Be prepared to assist with many unforeseeableduties.International Association of Chiefs of Police

26Sec t i o n 6Aft e r a CrisisThe actions taken after severe acts of violence can have amajor effect on the well-being of students and the communityat large. It is difficult to respond in a timely and appropriateway without having an established, detailed plan.The Role of School AdministratorsSupport Systems1.2.3.4.5.Implement plans for providing qualified counselors,especially for providing critical incident stressdebriefing (see the text box on page 32). Students,faculty, and staff may require both short-term andlong-term counseling.When providing information and counseling, takeinto account multi lingual needs.Use only mental health professionals trainedor experienced in crisis response and traumainterventions.Maintain both an information line and special call-inline for victims and their families whenever largegroups of students are affected.Keep in close contact with injured victims andsurviving family members.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.Determine the need for additional health servicesand resources (such as nursing staff) to attend toincreased physical needs of students.Provide parents, staff, and students with informationon their rights with the media, as most people arenot aware of what they can and cannot do whenapproached by the media. See the text box on page20.Hold meetings to provide staff with informationrelated to the crisis, eliminate rumors, advise themof next steps, and advise them on what to tell theirstudents.Arrange now to contract with an outside agencythat would take care of the physical cleanup aftera violent incident. Do not leave the cleanup toschool district employees. Be sure that all evidenceof violence is removed before allowing teachers,students, and staff back in.Develop written statements for teachers to read inclass. Send simi lar statements to parents.Help students, faculty, and staff address their ownreactions. Whenever possible, help teachers andstaff address their reactions first, before they interactwith their students.Hold a special meeting with victims and their siblings.Ensure that each school in the district supportssiblings of victims by providing them withCritical Incident Psychological InterventionAfter a serious act of violence in the schools,employees, counselors, students, police and otheremergency responders, witnesses, and the familiesof each often suffer from stress-related ailments suchas insomnia, depression, anger, headaches, andulcers. These conditions translate into higher rates ofabsenteeism and turnover as well as lower school andjob performance.In order to prevent a significant trauma reaction,psychological interventions are recommended. Someof the successful interventions have consisted of thefollowing:• The provision of psychological first aid• Defusings• DebriefingsPsychological first aid is best provided as soon aspossible and is beneficial for both responders andvictims. It focuses on assisting with basic needs.Defusings are short-term interventions for responderswho are finished with their shift but may need tobe reactivated. The defusing involves assisting theresponder with the reactions they may experience oncethey leave the scene. It also involves providing themwith specific coping skills.The most common intervention for responders consistsof the psychological debriefing. The purpose of sucha debriefing is to provide students, school employees,and others affected by the event with the opportunityto express their thoughts and feelings about whathappened and how it was handled. It also gives thedebriefing team a chance to educate employees aboutthe symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and toidentify individuals who might need further counseling.Depending on their developmental level, children havedifferent coping skills for dealing with traumatic eventsand memories of them. Counseling interventions foryounger children often require involvement and useof nonverbal material or very directive ways to elicitand reflect feelings. Frequently, facts and fantasy areintermingled, and young children have a difficult timeacknowledging a crisis. With adolescents, however, adiscussion format can be used as a way to activate andenhance their problem-solving and crisis-coping skills.Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

2714.15.16.17.18.19.20.21.22.23.24.additional reassurances of safety and academicsupport as appropriate.Provide places and times for members of peergroups to meet and counsel each other.Designate space for safe rooms where at any timestudents, teachers, and staff can receive comfort andcounseling and talk about events during the crisis.Provide information to parents and/or guardians whowant to know how to help their children cope withfeelings about the crisis.Hold special workshops where students who feelangry about the crisis can express their feelings.Keep parents and/or guardians informed of thesupport services being made available to theirchildren.Provide a place after the crisis where parents and/orguardians can meet with counselors and other adultsto discuss ways to help their children transition backinto school.Provide a list of suggested readings to teachers,parents, and students.Only after persons who have been directly affectedby the crisis have received needed attention,evaluate whether community forums should beinitiated for people to air their concerns about thetragedy or other issues pertaining to school safety.Fund additional time for teachers to work withstudents who need addi tional academic supportbecause of such problems as grief, stress, difficultyconcentrating, and anxiety.Hire a volunteer coordinator to en sure themeaningful participation of parents and/or guardiansand community members in a way that does not useadditional administrative time.Provide for the orientation of fami lies who enrolltheir children in schools where violent events haveoccurred. Include younger students who graduateinto these schools and students who transfer fromother schools.Managing the School Environment after Violence1. Maintain close cooperation with in vestigatingauthorities to facilitate completing investigations andmini mizing complications.2. Deal with problems of deceased stu dents’ desks andlockers. Have a counselor or other qualified adultprovide therapy while sitting at an empty assigneddesk, bus seat, or locker. In the case of an emptydesk, one strategy is to move the desk, over time, tothe back of the row and all other desks forward; theneven tually remove the desk.3. When appropriate, remove deceased students’ namesfrom forms, post ers, rosters, absence reporting logs,and anywhere else they occur in re porting systems.4. In collaboration with families of vic tims and theschool community, evaluate how affected areas inthe school site where school violence took placeshould be handled when students return to school.Memorials, Funerals, and Incident Anniversaries1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.Allow excused absences and time off for all students,teachers, and staff who wish to attend funerals andmemorials.Allow for and cooperate with families who areplanning memorials and activities to honor victims.Arrange to have a quiet area for staff and studentswho do not wish to attend memorials and activities.If possible, avoid conducting funer als at the school.Assess the appropriateness of cre ating memorialsto victims on school premises, particularly inthe case of religious memorials. If establishingmemorials on site would not be appropriate,identify alternative sites, and consider livingmemorials such as trees.Include students, families of victims, and communitymembers in plan ning for memorials.Establish a policy for how school ad ministrationshould handle student or community members’independ ently establishing memorials.Assess whether families want rec ognition of victimsat graduation ceremonies, at assemblies, in yearbooks,and on anniversaries of the crisis. Particularlyat graduations, chairs for those students could beleft empty and their names read.Invite family members of victims to all ceremoniesand memorials.Plan ahead for the attention the school will receiveon the one-year anniversary of the incident.Plan ahead for the emotional needs of the schoolcommunity on anniver saries.Consider the special needs of fami lies of offenders.Ensure someone is at the home of the deceasedvictims and perpetra tors during funerals and memorialservices to prevent theft, vandalism, and so on.Closure of Mourning Period and Moving Forward1.2.3.4.Consult with counselors, teachers, students, and staffon when would be the most appropriate time to signalclosure of the mourning period.Conduct a public ceremony to sym bolize closure ofthe mourning pe riod, and control media access to it.Hold a parents’ night to bring clo sure to the crisis.Get school in session and moving forward as soon aspossible.Lessons Learned1.2.Conduct meetings with school site and districtpersonnel to review les sons learned from theexperience.Reevaluate the adequacy of crisis and safetyplanning based on les sons learned, and makemodifica tions as necessary.International Association of Chiefs of Police

283.Write thank-you notes to out-of -building district andcommunity re source people who provided (or arestill providing) support during the crisis.The Role of Teachers and Staff1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.15.Cooperate with law enforcement to maximizeinvestigative effectiveness.Help victims and other students re enter the schoolenvironment. Classmates of victims may need help inknowing how to act.Provide accurate information to stu dents and dispelrumors.Provide activities to reduce stress and trauma, suchas artwork, mu sic, and writing.Alter curricula and postpone testing as needed.Ensure that librarians have books avail able that dealwith managing grief and other reactions to crisissitua tions.Train teachers to be aware of warning signs of griefand depres sion.Train teachers to implement tech niques to handlethe range of students’ emotions related to crisissituations.Have class discussions about the incident and howto cope with the aftermath.Be careful of the use of TV broad casts in theclassroom. Live news casts can be traumatizing.Lower classroom and school flags to half-staff.Discuss funeral procedures when appropriate.Volunteer to help victims and their families.Organize and participate in memorials and otheractivities.Seek counseling for help in dealing with personalfeelings about the in cident.The Role of School Counselors, Psychologists, andSocial Workers1.2.3.4.5.6.7.Stay in close contact with the coun seling director ofthe crisis man agement team.Be available by canceling other activities.Obtain the schedule of any seriously injured ordeceased students and visit their classes. Also visitclasses attended by their close friends.Organize and provide individual and groupcounseling as needed to students, teachers, andstaff.Contact parents and/or guardians of af fectedstudents with suggestions for counseling supportand referrals.Locate counseling assistance throughout thecommunity, including counselors from other nearbyschools.Establish a self-referral procedure. Make referralforms available.8.9.10.Provide and recommend counseling for the crisisteam and emergency re sponse personnel.Keep records of affected students and providefollow-up services.Accept other responsibilities as designated by thecrisis manage ment team director.The Role of Parents and/or Guardians1.2.3.4.Learn to recognize and help children with theirreactions. Common reac tions include unrealisticfears of the future, insomnia, physical illness, andbecoming easily distracted.Encourage children to receive coun seling orto speak to a trusted adult about their feelingssurrounding the incident.Consider attending school as needed with childrenwho are very fearful of returning to their classes.Obtain counseling as needed in or der to be able toremain physically and emotionally healthy and beavailable for one’s children.The Role of the Community1.2.3.Volunteer time and resources to vic tims.Provide services to meet the needs of victims.Provide a central location where other members ofthe community can go to receive information aboutthe types of assistance needed and available.The Role of Law Enforcement1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.After a crisis, conduct a thorough investigation,including a debriefing of all persons present at thetime of the incident.Encourage the development and use of regionalcritical incident stress debriefing teams for involvedemer gency personnel. (See the text box on page 20for more information).Coordinate with affected schools and other agenciesto help victims’ families find survivors.Encourage schools to support their employees andstudents in the prosecution of people who commitacts of violent crime.Encourage law enforcement and schools tocoordinate their news re leases.Provide schools with a central point of contact in thepolice department who will answer questions andad dress concerns.Encourage students and school em ployees toparticipate in aftermath debriefings.Facilitate meetings in which teach ers, staff, students,and parents and/or guardians can express theirthoughts on how police handled the incident.Undertake and coordinate critique of the department’sresponse after a serious incident of school violence.Identify areas in need of improve ment.Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

29Sec t i o n 7Leg a l Co n s i d e r a t i o n sThe liability, rights, and responsibilities of school personnelin maintaining a safe school environment are affected bya variety of local, state, and federal statutes, regu lations,constitutional requirements, and judicial decisions. Schoolpolicies also may play a key role in establishing liability andaffecting the responsibilities of school per sonnel. Schoolsseeking to avoid liability for acts related to school violence,including the steps taken to prevent it, should becomefamiliar with the legal requirements. The following pagesoffer a foundation to begin a legal audit of schools’ policiesand practices for reducing school violence.The following list of legal considerations is notcomprehensive. Before acting on any of these issues,consult with legal counsel.Liability of Schools When Students Are HarmedFailure to Adhere to Law or PolicyIn some instances, liability may be premised on failure toadhere to current local, state, and federal school safetylaws and regulations on school district safety policy.School officials should do the following:1.2.3.4.5.Ensure compliance with all current applicable local,state, and federal statutes addressing safety andharassment issues.Ensure that school districts’ safety and harassmentpolicies are fully implemented.Ensure compliance with the school’s safety andharassment policy.Evaluate any existing school campus access policy todetermine its adequacy and ensure that it is beingfollowed.Train school employees on these issues.Failure to Use Reasonable Care in Selecting PersonnelIn some instances, liability may be premised on failingto use reasonable care in screening, hiring, training,supervising, and retaining personnel who are regularlyon site and who commit acts of violence. School officialsshould do the following:1.2.Implement appropriate screening and hiringstandards to minimize the likelihood of hiringpersonnel with propensities toward violence,consistent with applicable law.Ensure proper training of teachers and school staff inthe recognition of warning signs for violent behavior,on steps to take to minimize violence, and onappropriate responses if violence occurs.Negligent Responses to ThreatsIn some instances, liability may be premised on negligentresponses to threats and acts of violence falling within theschool’s jurisdiction and sphere of duty. School officialsshould do the following:1.2.3.4.5.Provide reasonable supervision for students,especially in specific areas where prior threats orinstances of violence have occurred.Take swift and consistent action when addressingpersonnel or stu dents who threaten or engage inviolent actions.Exercise due caution when placing potentially orknown violent indi viduals in school populations,consistent with applicable law.Determine when they have a duty to warn students,faculty, or other per sonnel about a potentialdanger, in cluding providing any (and only) legallyauthorized and appropriate information about theviolent propensities of individuals to the appropriatepersonnel.Determine the applicable mandatory reportingrequirements concerning a threat or legal action.Liability of Schools for Wrongful Accusations andDischargeSchool personnel must respond to threats of violence in away that protects suspected individuals from defamationof character and other tortuous liability if suspicions aboutthem are mistaken. Liability can be minimized by conductingprompt investigations of all allegations and by notifying onlythose individuals with a need to know about them. Suchactions, however, must be balanced by the need to protectstudents and staff whenever there are threats of seriousviolence. School officials should do the following:1.2.Conduct thorough investigations of complaintsbefore removing sus pected individuals fromthe school, if there is sufficient time. Removal ofemployees or students must be con sistent withapplicable laws. It may be appropriate to removeindividuals from school without expulsion ortermination pending their investigations. If studentsor employees are wrongfully terminated or expelled,school officials may be subjected to wrongfultermination or expulsion suits.Respect the privacy rights and con fidentiality rightsof all individuals during investigations.Liability of Schools for Violating Students’ RightsReasonable Searches and SeizuresDevelop and apply policies for con ducting searches andseizures of stu dent property consistent with the FourthAmendment to the Constitution and applicable state andlocal statutes.International Association of Chiefs of Police

301.2.3.Seek the advice of an attorney be fore implementingany policy on the search or seizure of students’property.While a warrant may not be re quired, school officialsmust justify any search or seizure based on thefollowing:a. Reasonable suspicion that the law or a schoolrule has been violated.b. Information, facts, or circum stances that wouldlead a rea sonable person to conclude thatevidence of a crime or rule vio lation would befound in the search.c. The relationship between the ex tensiveness ofthe search and the evidence being sought.d. The relationship between the se verity of thethreat and the de gree of intrusiveness in conductingthe search.e. The presence of any special legal considerations,such as whether the student did not have area sonable expectation of privacy; the objectsseized fell within the plain view of an official whohad a right to be at that location; the personwho seized the object was not affiliated with,or directed to do so by, the government; or thestudent voluntarily consented to the search.Take into consideration the legal li ability related to anytype of non-consensual search of students or students’property, including but not limited to the following:• Locker searches• Vehicle searches• Use of metal detectors• Use of drug- or weapon-sniffing dogs• Drug testing• Body searches• Use of cameras• Police-assisted searches• Searches of abandoned articles• Book bag, purse, and backpack searches• Searches of outer clothing• Strip searchesStudent Suspension and Expulsion for Violent Actionsand ThreatsStudents are entitled to due process before beingsuspended or expelled. Usually, more due process rightsare required for expulsion than suspension.1.2.Ensure that the process established by schools andthe standards used for suspending or expellingstudents are consistent with applicable local, state,and federal laws and applied consistently.Ensure that the nature and adequacy of publiceducation alternatives for those either suspended orexpelled from their usual public school pro grams areconsistent with applicable laws.3.4.5.Before suspending or expelling a student, schoolofficials should pro vide the student due processrights as required by state and federal law. Theserights include the following:a. Provision of a written and spe cific statement ofthe charges that justify suspension or ex pulsion.b. Opportunity for a full hearing after adequatenotification.c. Use of impartial adjudicators.d. Opportunity for students and his or her parentsor guardians to examine evidence against thestudent.e. Opportunity for students and his or her parentsor guardians to present evidence favorable tothe stu dent.f. Opportunity to be represented by counsel.g. Opportunity to confront and ex amine witnesses.Ensure that expulsion hearings are fully and formallyrecorded.Ensure that adjudicators’ decisions in hearings arebased on a full and fair review of the evidence.Use of Dress Codes and UniformsAs required by law, accommodate stu dents whosereligious beliefs would be compromised by theircompliance with school dress code provisions.Rights to Privacy in Matters of Record Keeping andInformation Sharing between AgenciesThe Family Educational Rights and Pri vacy Act (FERPA)protects the confidentiality of all student recordsinformation. Ensure compliance also with applicable lawspertaining to divulging information about peer court orformal juvenile court proceedings with the school andcommunity or service providers. Issues may include thefollowing:• Whether or not peer or juvenile court hearings shouldbe open to the pub lic• Release or publication of juveniles’ names• Release or publication of juveniles’ pictures• Confidentiality of peer or juvenile court records• Admissibility of student records• Prohibition of sealing or expunging records• Parental access to children’s records• Parental consent for release of in formation in children’srecordsIn many school-shooting cases, FERPA has been citedas a reason that the school did not disclose informationregarding a student of concern. Government reportson school shootings have also cited widespreadmisunderstanding of FERPA as impeding opencommunication between school staff, school officials,and outside professionals. School staff and officialsGuide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

31FERPA FAQWhat is FERPA? The Family Educational Rights andPrivacy Act (FERPA) is the federal law that dictates whatinformation school officials are allowed to discloseregarding individual students. Schools are expected tobalance the privacy of individual students with the safetyof fellow students and staff. FERPA requires writtenconsent before disclosing information about a student,except in certain situations.What information is protected by FERPA? Schoolrecords and personally identifiable information are allprotected under FERPA.What information is not protected by FERPA?Information obtained through a school official’s personalknowledge or observation, and not from the student’seducational records, is not protected by FERPA and canbe disclosed to appropriate authorities or professionalswithout consent.When is it OK to disclose information about a studentwithout parental consent? FERPA allows disclosureof information without consent to outside individualsin cases of emergencies or to protect the health andsafety of other individuals. In addition, FERPA doesnot prohibit school staff or officials from disclosinginformation that is obtained through personalknowledge or observation (see above). For example,if a teacher overhears a student making a threat, theteacher can disclose that information to appropriateauthorities. It is recommended that any disclosureregarding concerns about a student should be madeto appropriate professionals who are trained toevaluate and handle such concerns.Where can I find more information about FERPA?Brochures summarizing FERPA can be ordered at nocharge from the Department of Education’s PublicationsCenter by calling 877-433-7827. A copy of the brochurecan also be found at the Department of Education’sWeb site, www.ed.gov. For quick, informal responsesto questions about FERPA, school officials can e-mailthe Family Policy Compliance Office at ferpa@ed.gov.Additional information and guidance may be found atwww.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/index.html.need to be trained on the details of FERPA so that theappropriate balance between protecting an individualstudent’s privacy and sharing necessary information incritical situations is maintained. FERPA expressly permitsappropriate disclosures in times of actual or potentialemergency and in various less drastic circumstancesin which an individual seeks to communicate sincereconcerns for a student’s well-being. When a student is atrisk to be harmed, FERPA allows disclosure to appropriateparties if the knowledge of the information is necessaryto protect the health and safety of other individuals.This would include consulting with a threat assessmentprofessional. See the text box above for more informationregarding FERPA.After the shootings at Virginia Tech, the Department ofEducation made brochures available summarizing whenit is justified to share information when teachers or staffmembers become concerned about a student’s behaviors.Liability of Parents and/or GuardiansParents are the first line of action when addressing astudent of concern. In several school shooting cases,parents have been civilly sued by families of victims andin some cases even faced criminal charges for violatinggun safety laws. It is in the parents’ best interest tocommunicate with the school if they become concernedabout their child’s behavior.1. In some instances, parents and/or guardi ans maybe held criminally or civilly liable for negligentstorage of a fire arm or for negligently providingtheir children with a firearm. Sixteen states havechild access prevention (CAP) laws requiring gunowners to keep their guns locked out of reach ofchildren.2. In some instances, parents and/or guardi ans may beheld criminally or civilly liable for failure to do thefollowing:a. Adequately supervise their children.b. Take corrective action with prob lematic behaviordisplayed by their children.c. Notify others about a foreseeable threat to thesafety of others that their own children pose.The list of legal considerations addressed in this section isnot comprehensive. Before acting on any of these issues,consult with legal counsel.International Association of Chiefs of Police

32Sec t i o n 8Wor k i n g wi t h th e Me d i aAll forms of communication media (print, television,radio, computer, and film) can play an important rolein helping to prevent violence in the schools. They canalso help limit the harm that results when violence doesoccur.Unfortunately, the media can also contribute to theproblem. Exposure to excessive violence can have thefollowing effects:• It can increase the chances that at least some of thoseexposed to the media will try to mimic the violentacts. Copycat suicides, shootings, and bomb threatssometimes follow extensive media coverage ordepictions of those events.• It can desensitize viewers to the horrors of violenceand may increase their likelihood of committingit. Many of the same types of shooting simulationexercises used by law enforcement and the militaryto train people for situations where they may have tokill are being sold to children as video games. Someof the electronic media games available to childrenaward extra points to players for en gaging in simulatedantisocial acts.• It can exaggerate the magnitude of the real threat.This could result in people fearing for their own ortheir children’s safety in situations where little danger isactually present.Rights and Obligations of the MediaJournalists have the right and the obligation to gatherand report school-violence information that is of interestor importance to the public. Creators and producers ofall forms of media have the right to make and sell theirproducts as long as they do not break the law. The exerciseof those rights, however, needs to be balanced against therights of parents and/or guardians and society to protectchildren from unnecessary harm. The recommendationsin this section are intended to help better achieve thatbalance. Additional sets of recommendations are providedin text boxes to address how the media should handleviolence-related crises, bomb threats, and breaking news(see the text boxes on pages 33, 34, and 35).Recommendations for Executives in Television,Radio, Internet, Recording, Electronic Game, andFilm Industries1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.Establish a code of ethics and social responsibilityfor their organization that includes guidelines on thetype of content it will refrain from producing or airing.Encourage their professional and trade associationsto hold seminars pertaining to their industry’s ethicaland social responsibilities.Refrain from producing and airing advertisements,lyrics, films, games, or programs likely to contributeto the commission of youth violence or otherantisocial acts.Address the actual consequences of violence when itis depicted, instead of trivializing or glorifying it.During time slots when children are likely tobe viewing, avoid showing programs that maycontribute to their committing violence or otherantisocial acts.Develop and support television pro grams, recordings,movies, and video games that promote positive socialinteractions and values for children of all ages.Promote, use, display, and enforce rating systemsthat help parents and/or guardians select mediaappropriate for their children.Support efforts to make sure that media ratingsystems address mes sages conveyed and the choiceof words and images pre sented.Your Rights with the MediaThe school community has certain rights when dealingwith the media. While they may not all be granted, theyshould be requested to protect the school and victims.• The right to grieve and recover in private• The right to say no to an interview• The right to request a specific reporter• The right to refuse an interview with a specificreporter even if the interviewee has grantedinterviews to other reporters• The right to avoid a press conference atmosphereand speak only to one reporter at a time• The right to refrain from answering any questionswith which the interviewee is uncomfortable or feelsis inappropriate• The right to ask to review quotations in a story beforepublication• The right to demand retraction when inaccurateinformation is reported• The right to ask that offensive photographs or visualsbe omitted from airing or publicationSource: Adapted from C. Slover and D. Tasci, TraumaRecovery Handbook (Nicoletti-Flater Associates, 1999).Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

339.Support efforts to make V-chip technology asuccessful way for par ents and/or guardians to helpprevent their children from being exposed to inappropriateviolence.10.Initiate antiviolence programs. For example, MTVand the American Psychological Association joinedforces to cre ate “Fight for Your Rights: Take a Standagainst Violence.”Guidelines for Breaking News EventsThe Radio-Television News Directors Associationsuggests the following standards be applied to coveringbreaking news events:• Determine your criteria for running special reports,including news crawls. Stations should make decisionsbased on journalistic merit, what community actionmay be required, and in the interest of public safety.What is the standard for interrupting programming?Does it change from one time period to another?Once you interrupt programming, how can you avoidspeculation and repetition during the early momentswhen details are likely to be few and sketchy?• Determine how your coverage can inform and alertthe public without causing panic or unnecessaryalarm. Be factual and resist speculation. Televisionstations should remember that FCC rules require thatyou caption emergency information. Have you createda system for quickly serving hearing-impaired viewerswith vital information they may not be able to hear?• News managers should carefully consider thatbroadcasting select information could potentiallycause harm. For example, if a SWAT team member isin a specific position during a hostage situation, doyou have procedures to avoid putting him/her at riskwhile broadcasting live?• FCC regulations prohibit information transmittedon emergency frequencies from being broadcastwithout independent confirmation. Is your staff awareof this regulation?• Journalists should avoid presenting the names ofvictims of injury or death until relatives have beenproperly notified. When conducting live interviewswith witnesses during a major event, reporters shouldcaution those being interviewed in advance not tomention specific names of dead or injured.• One of the greatest challenges is providing contextduring the opening moments of a breaking story.Prepare names and contact information for expertsin a number of fields who can be placed on the airquickly to discuss emergencies.• Anchors and reporters should remain calm. Oneof the great lessons from 9/11 coverage is that thepublic trusted the information they received at leastin part because of the reassuring manner in whichthe information was reported during the crisis.• When in doubt, don’t go live with a telephonecall from someone who claims to have urgentinformation in a breaking news event. If you arenot sure about the authenticity of the caller, getthe information, return telephone number, and askquestions that could help verify the telephone caller’sproximity to the breaking news. Find someone in thenewsroom that can further research the validity ofthe telephone call. If you decide to go live with a call,remind the caller not to use names of individuals onthe air and not to implicate anyone as a suspect orvictim during the course of the conversation.Aside from the details of coverage, stations should thinkabout the operational decisions necessary to ensureinformation reaches the audience in a rapid and usefulfashion. These organizational guidelines can help meetthat goal:• Create a breaking news plan in advance. Beprepared by creating contingencies for disasters.Make the plans as thorough as possible andinvolve all departments when creating the plans.Communicate your plans in writing to all those whowould play a role in your coverage.• Does your station have a safety plan for employeescovering events where they might be exposed tohazards such as toxic waste releases? What can you doto minimize potential dangers to your employees whomight be caught in an unsafe situation such as policeactivity or a riot? Discuss with employees working inthe field the need to stay safe and avoid personalinjury and that no story is worth risking one’s life.• Standards for breaking news coverage should applyto all types of distribution including but not limitedto radio, television, online, personal communicationsdevices, and cell phone data.• Citizens can provide valuable assistance by providinghelpful information to news organizations. But newsmanagers must be cautious when accepting information,video and pictures and verify the information is correctand images are authentic. There are people who try tofool news organizations with bad information or fakepictures. Remember the damage that can be caused tothe entire community and to your professional reputationif you present material that turns out later to be false.Source: Radio-Television News Directors Association,www.rtnda.org/pages/media_items/guidelines-forbreaking-news-events400.php.International Association of Chiefs of Police

34Planning for Media Coverage of School ViolenceExecutives in the print, electronic, and broadcast news andinformation media should take the following steps now:1.2.Establish at each newsroom and station codes ofconduct for report ing and broadcasting incidents likeschool violence.Encourage their professional and trade associationsto hold sessions on the media’s ethical responsibilitiesin this area.3.4.Provide in-depth coverage of the steps schoolcommunities can take to reduce hazards of schoolviolence. Make copies of the articles and pro gramsavailable free of charge to schools and nonprofitorganiza tions.Provide local coverage, public serv iceannouncements, and features that provide pointsof contact for youth counselors, substance abusetreatment, suicide prevention, and other social ormental health pro grams, and encourage friendsGuidelines for Covering Hostage-Taking Crises,Prison Uprisings, Terrorist Actions• Always assume that the hostage taker, gunman, orterrorist has access to the reporting.• Avoid describing with words or showing with stillphotography and video any information that coulddivulge the tactics or positions of SWAT team members.• Fight the urge to become a player in any standoff,hostage situation, or terrorist incident. Journalists shouldbecome personally involved only as a last resort and withthe explicit approval of top news management and theconsultation of trained hostage negotiators on the scene.• Be forthright with viewers, listeners, or readers aboutwhy certain information is being withheld if securityreasons are involved.• Seriously weigh the benefits to the public of sharinginformation and the potential harm that informationmight cause. This is especially important in livereporting of an ongoing situation.• Strongly resist the temptation to telephone agunman or hostage taker. Journalists generallyare not trained in negotiation techniques, andone wrong question or inappropriate word couldjeopardize someone’s life. Furthermore, just callingin could tie up phone lines or otherwise complicatecommunication efforts of the negotiators.• Notify authorities immediately if a hostage taker orterrorist calls the newsroom. Have a plan ready forhow to respond.• Challenge any gut reaction to go live from the sceneof a hostage crisis unless there are strong journalisticreasons for a live, on-the-scene report. Things can gowrong very quickly in a live report, endangering livesor damaging negotiations. Furthermore, ask if thevalue of a live, on-the-scene report is really justifiablecompared with the harm that could occur.• Give no information, factual or speculative, about ahostage taker’s mental condition, state of mind, orreasons for actions while a standoff is in progress. Thevalue of such information to the audience is limited, andthe possibility of such characterizations exacerbating analready dangerous situation is quite real.• Give no analyses or comments on a hostage taker’s orterrorist’s demands. As bizarre or ridiculous (or evenlegitimate) as such demands may be, it is importantthat negotiators take all demands seriously.• Keep news helicopters out of the area where thestandoff is happening, as their noise can createcommunication problems for negotiators and theirpresence could scare a gunman to deadly action. • Do not report information obtained from policescanners. If law enforcement personnel and negotiatorsare compromised in their communications, theirattempts to resolve a crisis are greatly complicated.• Be cautious in any reporting on the medical conditionof hostages until after a crisis is concluded. Becautious when interviewing hostages or releasedhostages while a crisis continues.• Exercise care when interviewing family members orfriends of those involved in standoff situations. Makesure the interview legitimately advances the story forthe public and is not simply conducted for the shockvalue of the emotions conveyed or as a conduit for theinterviewee to transmit messages to specific individuals.• Go beyond the basic story of the hostage taking orstandoff to report on the larger issues behind thestory, be it the how and why of what happened, thepreparation and execution of the SWAT team, or theissues related to the incident.In covering a pending raid or law enforcement action,journalists are advised to do the following:• Be careful not to compromise the secrecy of officials’planning and execution. If staking out a locationwhere a raid will occur or if accompanying officers,reporters and photographers should demonstrategreat caution in how they act, where they go, andwhat clues they might inadvertently give that mightcompromise the execution of the raid. They shouldcheck and double-check planning efforts.Source: B. Steele, Poynter Institute for Media Studies,1999, www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=4640.Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

355.6.and family to refer to those programs anyone whoappears troubled.Encourage investigative reporting that identifiespeople or situations contributing to the risk of schoolviolence. Examples of possible sto ries include thefollowing:• School administrators and local government officialswho fail to take adequate protection meas ures.• Legislators who have taken posi tions related toschool violence against the public interest.• Individuals or businesses in their community whoknowingly sell weapons illegally either to chil drenor to adults purchasing weapons for children.Provide law enforcement or school officials withtimely information ac quired from media contacts7.8.that might prevent an incident of schoolviolence.Report on, and influence, public support for takingneeded corrective actions.Establish win-win partnerships with police for coveringcrises like school violence. In Boston, television stationshave voluntarily agreed to share footage suppliedby media pool on-ground and helicopter cam eras incertain hostage situations. This way competing cameracrews do not add to the confusion. The stations alsoagreed not to air live coverage while incidents wereoccur ring that could aid offenders, en danger deployedpolice personnel, or harm people trapped on theprem ises. In return, police provide better locations formedia pool cameras and more frequent updates.Guidelines for Journalists and ReportersCovering Bomb Threat Stories• Ask: what is my journalistic duty in reporting this story?What do our viewers need to know? What is the threatto life or property? What are the consequences of theevent itself? How significant is the evacuation and theinterruption to normal life in your community? Whatis the impact this event has on law enforcement oremergency crews ability to respond to other calls?What else is this story about? What is the story behindthe story? (In some cases, racial slurs and threats havebeen sprayed on school walls.)• What are the possible consequences of my actionsand decisions? Reporting a false threat could lead tocopycat threats. Reporting arrests might discouragesuch threats by showing the consequences forthreatening others. Other consequences mightinclude raising the public’s level of insecurity evenwhen it is not warranted. Repeated broadcasting ofbomb hoaxes can have the effect of crying wolf withthe public becoming less responsive when actualdanger arises. But the reporting on the volumeand range of threats could inform our viewers andlisteners about the pressures our police and schoolsofficials are under. It could be important for thepublic to understand why officials react as they do.• How could you justify your decisions about whereand how you play stories about bomb threatsin your newscasts? How do you explain yourdecisions to your staff and to your viewers? Howmuch discussion have you had in your newsroomabout your coverage? What experts or personsoutside your newsroom could you contact for theirperspectives about how you should treat this story?• Be careful about the tone of your coverage. Avoid wordslike chaos, terror, and mayhem; they are subjectivewords. Play it straight. Tone down your teases, leads,and graphics. The tone of what you report should notcontradict the careful reporting of facts you include inyour stories. Think carefully before going live in coveringthese stories. You have less editorial control in livesituations. The emphasis on live may warp the attentionthese stories deserve. A lead story carries differentweight from a story that is deeper in the newscast. Howcan you justify the positioning of your coverage?• Cover the process more than the events. Whatthought are you giving to the bigger issues involvedin this story? How easy is it for schools, the phonecompany or law enforcement to track down athreatening caller? How seriously are violatorstreated? Have you ever followed one of these casesthrough the legal system to find out what happens?How many bomb threats did police handle lastyear? How many resulted in prosecution? How manyof those prosecuted went to jail or were actuallypunished? What was the extent of the punishment?Do your schools have caller ID systems in place? Dothey or should they record incoming phone calls?• Minimize harm. We sometimes cause harm in theprocess of performing our journalistic duty, but itshould only be harm we can justify. Special careshould be given when covering juveniles. You shouldcarefully consider whether placing a prank phone callwarrants naming a juvenile. What harm do we causeby sending a news photographer to a school that hasbeen threatened by a caller?• Thoughtful stations hold these conversations aboutcoverage before they are faced with a crisis. Frontenddecision-making that includes many voices inthe conversation results in fuller and more thoughtfulcoverage.Source: Radio-Television News Directors Association,www.rtnda.org/pages/media_items/guidelines-forcovering-bomb-threats149.php?id=149.International Association of Chiefs of Police

36During and after School Violence CrisesDuring and after incidents of school violence, individualsworking in the print, electronic, and broadcast news andinformation media should take the following steps:1.2.3.4.5.Present coverage of school violence that is factualand balanced, includ ing information about itsprevalence compared with other crimes and whetherit is on the rise or the decline.Address the larger context of school violence, suchas how students, schools, and communities havebeen affected.Tell the public what steps are being taken to helppeople handle the crisis.Consider the possible motivations of people whoengage in violence in the schools and refrain fromrewarding those actions. For example, frequentdisplays of offender names and pic tures may conveyto potential copy cat offenders that this is one way toquickly and easily achieve fame. De picting offendersas victims who were out to right a wrong mightfalsely convey that school shootings are an effectiveway for students to redress grievances.Communicate helpful information to victims andconcerned citizens. Ex amples include the following:• Helping law enforcement acquire informationfrom the public needed to identify or locate offenders.6.7.8.9.10.• Telling parents and/or guardians where victiminformation can be obtained.• Letting the public know how they can help (bydonating blood, money, services, and so on).• Informing victims about the im portance andlocations of grief counseling and other posteventservices.• Informing students, parents and/or guardians,teachers and staff about any alterations to schoolschedules.Use designated public informa tion officers as thesole source of of ficial information about crisis incidents,instead of seeking it from other personnel atcrisis locations.Be careful not to distract law en forcement or otheremergency re sponse personnel or impede them ortheir equipment. This includes use of the airspaceabove the location.Respect the privacy rights of victims and the peopleconnected to them.Offer to supply helicopters and other equipment orservices that might aid police or other emergencyproviders.Promptly provide law enforcement with informationacquired from media contacts that might lead to thearrest of an offender before ei ther that person orsomeone else is also harmed.Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

37Sec t i o n 9Res o u r c e sBureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJABJA is a component of the Office of Justice Programs,U.S. Department of Justice, which also includes theBureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute ofJustice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and DelinquencyPrevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime. BJAhas three primary components: Policy, Programs, andPlanning. The Policy Office provides national leadership incriminal justice policy, training, and technical assistance tofurther the administration of justice. The Programs Officecoordinates and administers all state and local grantprograms and acts as BJA’s direct line of communicationto states, territories, and tribal governments by providingassistance and coordinating resources. The PlanningOffice coordinates the planning, communications, andbudget formulation and execution; provides overall BJAwidecoordination; and supports streamlining efforts.Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice(CECP)cecp.air.org/It is the mission of the CECP to support and promotea reoriented national preparedness to foster thedevelopment and the adjustment of children with or atrisk of developing serious emotional disturbance. Toachieve that goal, the center is dedicated to a policyof collaboration at federal, state, and local levels thatcontributes to and facilitates the production, exchange,and use of knowledge about effective practices.Resources• Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon Generalreviews research on where, when, and how much youthviolence occurs, what causes it, and which of today’spreventive strategies are effective.• Best Practices of Youth Violence Prevention: ASourcebook for Community Action examines theeffectiveness of specific violence prevention practicesin four key areas: parents and families; home visiting;social and conflict resolution skills; and mentoring. Thispublication was developed by the American Institutesfor Research’s Prospect Institute.Center for Mental Health Services: SchoolViolence Prevention (CMHS)mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/schoolviolence/CMHS is the federal agency in the U.S. Substance Abuseand Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) thatleads national efforts to improve prevention andmental health treatment services for all Americans.CMHS programs and activities include the Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative, www.sshs.samhsa.gov,a collaborative grant program designed to preventviolence and substance abuse among youth, schools, andcommunities. Through grants made to local educationauthorities, the SS/HS Initiative provides schools andcommunities across the United States with the benefitof enhanced school- and community-based services tostrengthen healthy child development, thus reducingviolent behavior and substance use. The initiative issupported by three federal agencies—the Department ofHealth and Human Services (through SAMHSA’s Centerfor Mental Health Services), the Department of Education,and the Department of Justice.Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence:Violence in American Schools (CSPV)www.colorado.edu/cspv/safeschools/index.htmlCSPV, a research program of the Institute of BehavioralScience (IBS) at the University of Colorado at Boulder,was founded in 1992 to provide informed assistance togroups committed to understanding and preventingviolence, particularly adolescent violence. To establishmore complete and valuable information to affectviolence-related policies, programs, and practices, CSPVworks from a multidisciplinary platform on the subject ofviolence and facilitates the building of bridges betweenthe research community and the practitioners and policymakers.One such program is the Safe Communities-Safe Schools(SCSS) effort, which offers school safety research andprevention expertise by providing informational resourcesand technical assistance in violence prevention planningand evidenced-based programming. This model providesa comprehensive framework for improving school safetyby creating a planning team to help understand theschool’s climate and safety strengths and needs. Theresults of the assessments allow schools to identifyappropriate strategies and evidenced-based programs toaddress their needs.Educational Resources Information Clearinghouse(ERIC): School Safetywww.eric.ed.govERIC is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences(IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. ERIC offersan online digital library of education research andinformation. The center provides ready access toeducation literature to support the use of educationalresearch and information to improve practice in learning,International Association of Chiefs of Police

38teaching, educational decision making, and research.ERIC provides unlimited access to more than 1.2 millionbibliographic records of journal articles and othereducation-related materials, with hundreds of newrecords added twice weekly.Resources• Creating Safe and Drug-Free Schools: An Action Guidebegins with action steps for schools, parents, students,and community and business groups. Next it providesinformation briefs on specific issues affecting schoolsafety. Other sections contain research and evaluationfindings, a list of resources, and additional readings.This information is all designed to help school andcommunity leaders, parents, and students develop astrategy to ensure safe schools in their communities.• Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to SafeSchools offers research-based practices designed tohelp school communities identify these warning signsearly and develop prevention, intervention, and crisisresponse plans. The guide was based on the workof an independent panel of experts in the fields ofeducation, law enforcement, and mental health.• Practical Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide forSchools and Communities is designed to assist schoolsand communities in either situation. Although everyschool’s needs and circumstances are different, thesechecklists provide general guidance that can be adaptedas appropriate to each district’s or school’s circumstances.• Preventing Youth Hate Crime: A Manual for Schoolsand Communities is intended to help more schoolsand communities confront and eliminate harassing,intimidating, violent, and other hate-motivatedbehavior among young people. It is intended topromote discussion, planning, immediate action, andlong-term responses to hate crime.International Association of Chiefs of Police(IACP)www.theiacp.orgThe IACP is the world’s oldest and largest nonprofitmembership organization of police executives, with over22,000 members in over 100 different countries. IACP’sleadership consists of the operating chief executives ofinternational, federal, state, and local agencies of all sizes.The IACP has assembled a set of materials that addressschool violence and youth crime prevention. Theseresources are present on the IACP Web site so that policeleaders can become familiar with all of them and usethem in an effective manner.Resources• Digital Imaging for Safe Schools: A Public SafetyResponse to Critical Incidents – In response to recentschool shootings, the IACP, in partnership with theNational Institute of Justice (NIJ), has created a guideto the use of 360-degree digital cameras to createCDs that contain digital images of the interior of anyschool, allowing responding officers to determinebest access to hostages and shooters for SWATresponse.• Partnerships for Safe School Training – This training,delivered in partnership with the Department ofJustice, Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency andPrevention (OJJDP), focuses on improving schoolsafety: course topics include principles of school safety,model school safety programs, and critical incidentmanagement.• Developing an Anti-Bullying Program: IncreasingSafety, Reducing Violence – This Promising PracticesExecutive Brief is the first in a series produced incollaboration with Department of Justice, Officeof Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention(OJJDP). These periodic briefs deliver informationto law enforcement and justice officials andaddress some of the gaps in contemporary juvenilejustice policy and practices. Each brief highlightsa promising program that addresses an importantjuvenile justice issue.• Youth Violence in America: Summit Report – Thesefinal recommendations from the IACP summit onyouth violence lay out a set of strategies to help lawenforcement respond to gang violence and schoolviolence and deal effectively with both youthfuloffenders and youthful victims.National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG)www.naag.orgNAAG was founded in 1907 to help attorneys generalfulfill the responsibilities of their office and to assist inthe delivery of high-quality legal services to the statesand territorial jurisdictions. The association fostersinterstate cooperation on legal and law enforcementissues, conducts policy research and analysis of issues,conducts training, and facilitates communicationbetween the states’ chief legal officers and all levels ofgovernment.Resources• Task Force on School and Campus Safety: Report andRecommendations – In 1999, NAAG created a TaskForce on Youth Violence and School Safety. This2007 report updates the 1999 National Associationof Attorneys General report with recommendationsregarding the prevention of, and response to,violence in schools and on college campuses andit includes specific recommendations to educators,administrators, law enforcement, mental healthproviders, and public policy makers.Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

39National Association of School Psychologists(NASP)www.nasponline.orgNASP is the premier source of knowledge, professionaldevelopment, and resources, empowering schoolpsychologists to ensure that all children and youth attainoptimal learning and mental health. NASP representsschool psychology and supports school psychologists toenhance the learning and mental health of all childrenand youth. NASP offers a myriad of school safety andcrisis resources and has made these materials availablefree of charge to the public to promote the ability ofchildren and youth to cope with traumatic or unsettlingevents.National Association of School Resource Officers(NASRO)www.nasro.com/home.aspNASRO is a not-for-profit organization for over9,000 school-based law enforcement officers, schooladministrators, and school security and safetyprofessionals working as partners to protect students,school faculty and staff, and the schools. The schoolresource officer program is a collaborative effort bycertified law enforcement officers, educators, students,parents, and the community to offer law-relatededucational programs in the schools to reduce crime,drug abuse, and violence and provide a safe schoolenvironment.National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC)www.ncpc.orgThe National Crime Prevention Council’s (NCPC)mission is to enable people to create safer and morecaring communities by addressing the causes of crimeand violence and reducing the opportunities for crimeto occur. NCPC produces tools that communitiescan use to learn crime prevention strategies, engagecommunity members, and coordinate with localagencies. Be Safe and Sound in School (B3S) is aninitiative of the National Crime Prevention Councilconducted in collaboration with the Bureau of JusticeAssistance, U.S. Department of Justice. The programseeks to raise awareness of school safety and securityissues and provide the tools and resources needed toeffectively address them.Resources• School Safety and Security Toolkit: A Guide for Parents,Schools, and Communities – This toolkit provides theguidelines and tools needed to form a comprehensivecampaign to identify and address school safety andsecurity issues.• Caregivers’ Guide to School Safety and Security –This pamphlet calls parents to act to improve schoolsafety and security, outlines four specific ways theycan get involved, and provides the tools needed toget started.• Tip Sheets: Stopping School Violence – These tipsheets gives ideas on how parents, students, teachers,law enforcement, principals, and community memberscan stop school violence.• School Safety and Security Newsletter – This resourcefor professionals and parents concerned about schoolsafety and security includes best practices, newresearch findings, and topical articles. You can sign upfor a subscription on the NCPC Web site.National Criminal Justice Reference Service(NCJRS)www.ncjrs.govNCJRS is a federally funded resource offering justiceand substance abuse information to support research,policy, and program development worldwide. NCJRSoffers a range of services and resources, balancing theinformation needs of the field with the technologicalmeans to receive and access support.Resources• Appropriate and Effective Use of SecurityTechnologies in U.S. Schools – This guide helps schooladministrators and their colleagues in law enforcementanalyze a school’s vulnerability to violence, theft,and vandalism, and research possible technologiesto effectively address these problems. This NationalInstitute of Justice (NIJ) Research Report is basedon a seven-year study of more than 100 schools andoffers practical guidance on several aspects of security,including security concepts and operational issues,video surveillance, weapons detection devices, entrycontrols, and duress alarms.• Indicators of School Crime and Safety (2009) – ThisBureau of Justice Statistics report presents data oncrime and safety at school from the perspectivesof students, teachers, principals, and the generalpopulation. In addition, it examines crime occurringin school as well as on the way to and from school.It also provides the most current detailed statisticalinformation on the nature of crime in schools, schoolenvironments, and responses to violence and crime atschool.National School Safety Center (NSSC)www.schoolsafety.usThe National School Safety Center (NSSC) serves asan advocate for safe, secure, and peaceful schoolsworldwide and as a catalyst for the prevention of schoolInternational Association of Chiefs of Police

40crime and violence. NSSC provides school communitiesand their school safety partners with quality information,resources, consultation, and training services. A varietyof school safety-related resources can be found theNSSC Web site.National Youth Gang Centerwww.iir.com/nygc/The proliferation of gang problems in large and smallcities, suburbs, and even rural areas over the last twodecades led to the development of a comprehensive,coordinated response to America’s gang problem by theOffice of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention,www.ojjdp.ncjrs.gov. The OJJDP response involves fivemajor components, one of which is the implementationand operation of the National Youth Gang Center(NYGC). The center conducts assessments of the scopeand characteristics of youth gang activity in the UnitedStates, develops resources and makes them available tothe field, and provides training and technical assistancein support of community-based prevention, intervention,and suppression efforts.Office of Community Oriented Policing Services,U.S. Department of Justice (COPS)www.cops.usdoj.govAs a component of the Justice Department, the missionof the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services(COPS) is to advance the practice of community policingas an effective strategy to improve public safety. TheCOPS Office awards grants to tribal, state, and locallaw enforcement agencies to hire and train communitypolicing professionals, acquire and deploy cuttingedgecrime-fighting technologies, and develop andtest innovative policing strategies. Its online ResourceInformation Center offers publications, DVDs, CDs, andtraining materials on a wide range of law enforcementconcerns and community policing topics.Resources• Bomb Threats in Schools (2006) – This guide addressesthe problem of bomb threats in schools, publicor private, kindergarten through 12th grade. Theguide reviews the factors that increase the risk ofbomb threats in schools and then identifies a seriesof questions that might assist law enforcement inanalyzing their local problem. Finally, the guide reviewsresponses to the problem and what is known aboutthese from evaluative research and police practice.• Bullying in Schools (2006) – This guide providespolice with information about the causes and extentof bullying in schools and recommendations fordeveloping effective approaches and practices thatcontribute to student safety.• School Safety CD-ROM, Version 2.0 (2009) – ThisCD-ROM contains more than 60 COPS Office andother U.S. Department of Justice agency links anddocuments related to school violence and violenceprevention, school safety technology, gangs, and youthdisorder. It is a resource for local policy makers, schooladministrators, parents, and students.• A Guide to Developing, Maintaining, and SucceedingWith Your School Resource Officer Program (2005) –Many school resource officer (SRO) programs haveexperienced difficulty recruiting, screening, retaining,training, and supervising SROs. The information inthe report is intended to enable SRO programs—and jurisdictions that are thinking of starting SROprograms—to benefit from the experiences ofselected programs by adopting or adapting some oftheir approaches to establishing and maintaining asuccessful program.Office of Juvenile Justice and DelinquencyPrevention, U.S. Department of Justice (OJJDP)www.ojjdp.ncjrs.govThe Office of Juvenile Justice and DelinquencyPrevention (OJJDP) is a component of the Office ofJustice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, andaccomplishes its mission by supporting states, localcommunities, and tribal jurisdictions in their efforts todevelop and implement effective programs for juveniles.The office strives to strengthen the juvenile justicesystem’s efforts to protect public safety, hold offendersaccountable, and provide services that address theneeds of youth and their families. Under the leadershipof its administrator and through its components, OJJDPsponsors research, program, and training initiatives;develops priorities and goals and sets policies to guidefederal juvenile justice issues; disseminates informationabout juvenile justice issues; and awards funds to statesto support local programming.Resources• Four-One-One Bullying (2004) – This review of researchon bullying presents statistics on the prevalence andfrequency of bullying at various grade levels, the shorttermand long-term adverse effects of being bulliedand being a bully, and differences in bullying and itseffects related to gender and age. The first sectionof this report distinguishes between normal conflictand bullying, provides examples of bullying, profilesbullies and their victims, and indicates where mostbullying occurs. A separate section focuses on researchrelated to the link between being bullied and suicide.In offering practical guidance based on research, thisreport advises that the role of teachers and schooladministrators is critical.Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence

41• Truancy Reduction: Keeping Students in School (2001)– The report describes the correlations of family,school, economic, and student factors with truancy;notes truancy’s role as a predictor of delinquency,including juvenile daytime crime; and examines thesocial and financial impacts of truancy. It also discussestwo projects funded by the Office of Juvenile Justiceand Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).• School Safety & Youth Violence: A Legal Primer (2001) –This guidebook seeks to outline the major legal issuesfaced by schools, including school liability for violence,search and seizure, threats of violence, zero tolerancepolicies, and use of student records. The primer is notintended to substitute for legal advice.• Refining the Construct of School Safety: AnExploration of Correlates and Construct Validity ofSchool Safety Measures (2005) – This study evaluatedthe internal consistency of and relationships amongfour measures of school climate and safety: theOregon School Safety Survey (OSSS), the EffectiveBehavior Support Survey 1.5 (EBS), the School-WideEvaluation Tool (SET), and the Oregon School Climateand Safety Survey (OSCSS).U.S. Secret Service National ThreatAssessment Center (NTAC)www.secretservice.gov/ntac.shtmlThe mission of the National Threat Assessment Center(NTAC) is to provide guidance on threat assessment tothe Secret Service and its law enforcement and publicsafety partners. Through the Presidential Protection Actof 2000, Congress formally authorized NTAC to provideassistance to federal, state, and local law enforcementand others with protective responsibilities in the followingfunctional areas:• Research on threat assessment and various types oftargeted violence• Training on threat assessment and targeted violenceto law enforcement officials and others with protectiveand public safety responsibilities• Information-sharing among agencies with protective orpublic safety responsibilities• Programs to promote the standardization of federal,state, and local threat assessment and investigationsinvolving threatsIn 2002, the Secret Service completed the Safe SchoolInitiative (SSI), a study of school shootings and otherschool-based attacks. Conducted in collaboration withthe U.S. Department of Education, the study examinedschool shootings in the United States from 1974 to2000, analyzing a total of 37 incidents involving 41student attackers. The study involved extensive reviewof police records, school records, court documents, andother source materials and interviews with 10 schoolshooters. The focus of the study was on developinginformation about the school shooters’ behaviors andcommunications before the attack. The goal was toidentify information about school shootings that may beidentifiable or noticeable before such shootings occur, tohelp inform efforts to prevent school-based attacks.Resources• The Final Report and Findings of the Safe SchoolInitiative: Implications for the Prevention of SchoolAttacks in the United States (2002).• Threat Assessment in Schools: A Guide to ManagingThreatening Situations and Creating Safe SchoolClimates (2002).• A Safe School and Threat Assessment Experience:Scenarios Exploring the Findings of the Safe SchoolInitiative CD-ROM (2006).• Prior Knowledge of Potential School-Based Violence:Information Students Learn May Prevent a TargetedAttack (2008).International Association of Chiefs of Police

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS OF POLICE515 N. Washington StreetAlexandria, VA 223141-800-THE-IACPwww.theiacp.org