In this article, I discuss a Canadian public school controversy and Supreme Court of Canada decision involving competing stakeholder rights to freedom of religion, safety and equality. Policy considerations that allowed one group of stakeholders to express their constitutional rights raised concerns among other stakeholders. A policy vacuum and a…

In today's schools bullies have the power to be more tenacious, more vicious, and meaner than ever. We are all beginning to understand that victims of bullying are at a greater risk for depression, suicide, and hurting others through violent acts. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate common threads of effective Bully-Free…

This report summarizes results of Austin Independent School District's 2006-2007 student climate survey, given to students in grades 3 through 11.

Background: The School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) 2006 examined 8 components of school health programs: health education, physical education and activity, health services, mental health and social services, nutrition services, healthy and safe school environment, faculty and staff health promotion, and family and community…

Background: As society continues to focus on the importance of academic achievement, the physical environment of schools should be addressed as 1 of the critical factors that influence academic outcomes. The School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) 2006 provides, for the first time, a comprehensive look at the extent to which schools have…

The nineteen-member Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Advisory Committee was established in 2006 to consult with the United States Department of Education. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings charged the Committee with providing this report in response to questions regarding the Department's Safe and Drug-Free Schools and…

The California Research Bureau (CRB), in participation with the California Council on Youth Relations (CCYR), and with support from The California Wellness Foundation, has been conducting a major research and policy initiative to bring attention to the issues facing homeless youth in California. These include lack of shelter and educational…

The role of the superintendent has changed dramatically, from community leader to school manager to education leader to scapegoat, and it is anyone's guess where the job is headed. What is clear, however, is that today's educational climate calls for a new way of doing business. With the formal powers of their position stripped away by bargaining…

School safety is a human concern, one that every school and community must take seriously and strive continually to achieve. It is also a legal concern; schools can be held liable if they do not make good-faith efforts to provide a safe and secure school environment. How schools are built and maintained is an integral part of school safety and…

This newsletter focuses on the results of Safe Schools Program activities funded by the North Carolina Center for Prevention of School Violence and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction from January 1994 to June 1995. These activities included conflict resolution and peer mediation, coping with anger, crisis response teams, a…

By devolving authority to local schools, the 1988 Chicago School Reform Act sought to weaken central power in the school system and to promote greater site-based control. This report presents the voices of Chicago Illinois public school students regarding their school experiences--how they describe their teachers and peers, their classes, and…

The seeming increase of violence in American society and its schools has become a pressing issue. Some researchers argue that the American education system mirrors the dynamics of society. The articles in this book address the following issues: the extent of violence in American schools; the forms that violence takes; its root causes; the effects…

For community colleges, crime on campus is a complex and pressing issue since most maintain open campuses with no physical security features, such as entry control points or fencing. Workplace crimes can take the form of robbery or other violent crimes, domestic and misdirected affection cases, employer-directed situations, terrorism, and hate…

Research on school violence has slowly gained momentum in Canada, underscoring the concern some educators are expressing about the frequency of behaviors that seriously disrupt student learning. This paper presents findings of a study that compared students' and administrators' perceptions of the nature, extent, awareness, and management of…

The three essays of this collection explore the prevention of violence in urban schools. The first, "Preventing Violence in Schools," by Mary Hatwood Futrell and Lee Etta Powell, focuses on how to prevent violence in schools and offers recommendations on what schools and communities can do. The factors contributing to school violence are…