In one recent national survey of teenagers who had been in relationships, 29% reported experiencing sexual or physical abuse or receiving threats of physical violence from partners. About 10% in grades 9 to 12 consistently say they've been physically hurt on purpose by a dating partner during the past year, according to the ongoing Centers for…

"Relational aggression" refers to harm within relationships caused by covert bullying or manipulative behavior. Examples include isolating a youth from his or her group of friends (social exclusion), threatening to stop talking to a friend (the silent treatment), or spreading gossip and rumors by email. This type of bullying tends to be…

Statistically, school violence is rare and declining, but emotionally it is difficult to reconcile with the fact that anyone would purposefully inflict harm on schools and students. Safety experts advocate a thoughtful approach to the problem, noting that much of the information to base school safety policies upon is already out there. Last…

Students who engage in physical aggression in school present a serious challenge to maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment. Unlike other forms of student aggression, fighting is explicit, is violent, and demands attention. A fight between students in a classroom, hallway, or the lunchroom brings every other activity to a halt and…

On March 15, 2007, Santa Barbara residents were shocked when a baby-faced 15-year-old high school student was stabbed to death in the heart of the city's fashionable State Street shopping district. His assailant, just 14, was a member of a rival street gang and a student at the local junior high. "It was a wakeup call for the entire…

It is absolutely critical that high school games be organized in the safest way possible--both for the students, the staff who are directly involved and for all the spectators who watch these games. School officials have become vigilant with safety measures as a string of violent incidents has occurred in several school athletic events across the…

Significant numbers of students are being pushed out of school as a result of "zero tolerance" school discipline policies. While nobody questions the need to keep schools safe, teachers, students, and parents are questioning the methods being used in pursuit of that goal. Zero tolerance policies were initially aimed at making schools safe. The…

Violence affects one in every five teenagers. Everyday 160,000 students miss school because they fear attack, intimidation, or bullying. While tragedies such as school shootings are rare, many youngsters feel threatened. School officials and administrators take steps to make school safer, yet many teachers remain frustrated. Violence prevention…

In this article, the author discusses the creation of a threat-assessment team to be utilized in order to analyze each threat and the usage of threat-assessment protocols for the purpose of guiding school administrators through a crisis. These are actually developed with the advice from the US Department of Education and the Secret Service. When a…