Presents the latest information on how schools can keep their students safe. Safety oriented actions discussed cover incident reporting and tracking, tactical site surveys, school safety and emergency operations planning, staff development efforts, and facility design. Explains the need to review and test specific prevention concepts and emergency…

Presents the story of one New York City high school teacher who was assaulted by a student and who had to struggle to return to teaching, describing how many witnesses to such events do not get involved and explaining that many teachers never return after such an experience. The paper also examines the teacher's reaction to the September 11, 2001…

The Pasadena (California) Independent School District developed a four-pronged approach for responding to campus emergencies and improving communication channels: establishing a chain of command, developing an onsite crisis team, converting the superintendent's office to a crisis command center, and assembling a district crisis-management team.…

Explores how schools and universities can make sure that construction sites do not pose a hazard to students or a temptation to thieves and vandals. Highlights safety recommendations for mounting construction projects while schools are in session. (GR)

Jodi Esher, an art teacher at teach at a very large kindergarten through second grade school, finished a continuing ed course entitled Preparing a School Community to Cope with Crisis, and came away completely inspired to make a difference in her school. The object of her new project would be to design, then ultimately create, a mural to become a…

The Columbine High School shootings were still fresh in the minds of educators across the nation in May 1999, when school district officials in the small, quiet town of Port Huron, Michigan, unearthed a similarly violent student plot targeted for one of their middle schools. Four students from Holland Woods Middle School had allegedly written out…

While education is an American constitutional value, the opportunity to pursue an education--particularly to pursue a quality education--is meaningless unless the student is able to pursue his/her educational rights in an environment that is both safe and secure. If students are subjected to sexual and racial harassment, to physical violence, to…

An environment of safety in the school seldom comes down to any one particular component or plan; it is a combination of strategies and ideas that makes a school safe and secure for everyone. In this article, the authors provide practical information to educators who are already working to capacity in terms of time allocation and monetary…

Communities that enjoy a safe school work hard to inform themselves about what it might look and feel like, how a safe school sounds. They work hard to identify the elements of policy, school community involvement, professional development, curriculum, instruction, school and classroom management, and support and referral that comprise the…

International data suggests that the most successful violence prevention programs are adapted to fit a specific school site and involve all of the constituents in a school setting. In contrast to many of the popular skills-based programs that are commonly implemented in schools across the United States, the authors explore the utility of combining…

School planning isn't easy. Compromises can inadvertently undermine critical health and safety features. Errors can go undetected until too late, becoming apparent only after the cement is dry. As a school design consultant, the author is often pointing out dysfunctional elements in otherwise fine school buildings. He would much rather catch them…

This article reports, that in a growing number of districts, school leaders are ranking the threat of sex offenders-some of them the parents of enrolled students--as one of their chief student-safety concerns. That threat, they say, is a primary reason for investing thousands of dollars in a Web-based tracking system that tells school officials if…

An important element of the context in which children are educated is the safety in their schools. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships among student perceptions of community safety, school environment, substance use, and school safety with a total of 3,092 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. Data were used from the…

Effective management of disruptive behaviors in schools is a national concern. While substantial resources are often allocated toward individual students who exhibit challenging behavior, less emphasis is placed on preventative interventions in common areas such as hallways, cafeterias and playgrounds. The purpose of this study was to determine…

Uncovering issues of school safety, both perceived and real, requires research that probes students' perspectives. This paper tells the story of a comparative research project initiated in an English education methods course. The study was conducted in two high schools and utilized mapping and surveying to determine students' perceptions of school…