Pkd Chart

How Can We Keep Our Schools Safe?
Yvonne Howarth
Unit 9 Project
CM107-01
Kaplan University
January 15, 2013

Outline
Introduction
A). Many issues and questions are being raised regarding the safety of our children in school.
U.S. Department of Education A) Crisis Planning Guide B) Crisis Preparation Checklist
National Crime Prevention Council A) School safety tips for educators B) School safety training

IV. Drills A) Types of drills B) Teacher crisis training C) Concerns of educators and safety officials D) Famous U.S. School Tragedies

V. Conclusion

How can we keep our schools safe?

One of the most horrific tragedies to fall upon society is a school shooting. When parents’ send their children off to school each day, they would never imagine that their children wouldn’t come home. Unfortunately, it happens, and it’s happening much too often. What is being done about it? Many issues and questions are being raised regarding the safety of children in school. The U.S. Department of Education provides a Complete Guide to Crisis Planning. This guide is a necessary tool for educators because it explains how to take action now to prevent injury, save lives, and minimize property damage in the event of a crisis, by outlining Mitigation and Prevention, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery (Practical Information, 2007). The focus is to help schools to develop a crisis plan designed for their particular school needs. According to the National Crime Prevention Council, “Although many schools are safe, others can be just as susceptible to crime and violence as other environments (School Safety, 2012, para.1). The NCPC is a national organization, founded in 1982 that work to help people, their families, and their communities remain safe from crime. They provide many programs to assist in teaching safety practices. They’re famous mascot, McGruff, the Crime Dog, is recognized by children all over the nation for over 25 years (About Us, 2012, par. 1-3). Drills are an important practice for teachers, faculty, and staff. Fire drills have been in practice for decades, but now it is necessary to have crisis drills should a crisis occur. “Schools practice five main drill procedures: evacuation, reverse evacuation, lockdown, shelter-in-place, and duck-cover-hold. These basic procedures are then used to practice drills specific to individual crisis scenarios, such as a nuclear disaster, severe weather (e.g., tornado), natural disaster (e.g. tsunami), bomb threat, or intruder” (Zhe & Nickerson, 2007, par. 2). There is controversy as to whether the students should participate in these drills because of the possibility of an increase in anxiety in the children. Some say that the participation of the students is necessary because the chances that the student will be able to react and survive a real crisis, are increased (Zhe & Nickerson, 2007). The very first U.S. school massacre of the 20th century took place in Bath, Michigan, on May 18, 1927, at the Bath Consolidated School. Andrew Kehoe killed his wife on the previous morning. The next morning, he blew up his own home and barn, and then proceeded to detonate over 1000 pounds of dynamite at the school. He drove away, then came back to the scene, and detonated his car filled with dynamite and shrapnel, killing himself. He killed a total of 45 people, mostly children, and severely wounding 58 others. Research shows that there were many school massacres in the U.S. other than the well-known instances. For example, an article from the San Francisco Chronicle’s Web site, “Compiled from Chronicle news sources by San Francisco Chronicle research librarian Richard Geiger and National-Foreign Editor Michael Collier” (SFGate, 12/14/2012 par.1), lists many of these tragedies. The following are just a few, and are quoted from the article. Note the ages of the shooters: * “August 1, 1966: Charles Whitman, 25, a college student and former Marine, killed his wife and mother before carrying a rifle to the tower on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin, where, in a 96-minute rampage he fatally shot 14 others before police shot and killed him” (Geiger, 12/14/2012 par. 2). * “May 4, 1970: National Guard troops on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio shot and killed four unarmed students protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. The shootings prompted a nationwide student strike and helped turn public opinion against the Vietnam War” (Geiger, 12/14/2012 par. 3). * “Jan. 29, 1979: Brenda Ann Spencer, 16, fired several rifle shots at a San Diego elementary school from her home across the street, killing the principal and a custodian and wounding eight children. She later said she fired the shots because "I don 't like Mondays," which inspired the Boomtown Rats song by the same name. She was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life. She has been denied parole four times” (Geiger, 12/14/2012 par. 5). * “Jan. 17, 1989: Patrick Edward Purdy, a 24-year-old drifter, walked into a Stockton schoolyard and opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle, killing five children and wounding one teacher and 29 other children. He killed himself. The case drew national attention and led to a ban on assault weapons in California” (Geiger, 12/14/2012 par. 6). * “March 24, 1998: Mitchell Johnson, 10, and Andrew Golden, 8, took seven guns to a school near Jonesboro, Ark., where they pulled a fire alarm and began shooting as everyone exited the school, killing four students and one teacher and injuring nine others. They were released from a juvenile detention center in 2005” (Geiger, 12/14/2012 par. 9). * “April 20, 1999: Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, walked into Columbine High School in Colorado and in a rampage of gunfire and homemade bombs killed 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves. The massacre led to an increased emphasis on security at U.S. schools” (Geiger, 12/14/2012 par. 11). * “March 21, 2005: Jeffrey Weise, 17, went on a shooting spree at Red Lake High School on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota. He killed nine people, including his grandfather, and wounded five others before killing himself” (Geiger, 12/14/2012 par. 13). * “April 16, 2007: Seung-Hui Cho, 23, a student at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Va., shot and killed 32 people in attacks two hours apart in two campus buildings. Cho, who was diagnosed with mental illness, killed himself. The university was found negligent for not alerting the campus after the first round of shootings” (Geiger, 12/14/2012 par. 15).
The most recent tragedy was on December 14, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Adam Lanza, 20, “…armed with two semiautomatic pistols killed 20 children at an elementary school Friday in a rampage that left 27 people dead, 20 were first graders, and one injured in this suburban town before he took his own life, authorities said” (El-Gobashy & Barrett, 12/14/2012).
School massacres are certainly not new, and based on all the information from a multitude of new agencies regarding school tragedies throughout the last century, it is very obvious that many more discussions need to take place between the government, state and local officials, and the people of the nation, to create better laws and to enhance the training of school teachers, other faculty members and staff, and security staff in the practice of safety procedures during any type of school crisis. However, the crisis training that the teachers and faculty at Sandy Hook Elementary School received went a long way. Although, twenty innocent children and six faculty members were tragically lost, the training, levelheadedness, and devotion to the students by the rest of the teachers and staff, saved hundreds of lives.

References
About Us. (2012). National Crime Prevention Council. Retrieved from http://www.ncpc.org/about.
El-Ghobashy, T., Barrett, D. (December 14, 2012). Dozens killed in Conn. School shooting. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323297104578179271453737596.html
Gado, M. (2013). Hell comes to Bath. Crime Library, Criminal Minds and Methods. Retrieved from http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/history/bath/bath_6.html
Geiger, R. (December 14, 2012). Deadliest U.S. school shootings. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Deadliest-U-S-school-shootings-3454376.php
Practical Information on Crisis Planning. (2007). U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/crisisplanning.html
School Safety. (2012). National Crime Prevention Council. Retrieved from http://www.ncpc.org/topics/school-safety.
School Safety Strategies. (2012). National Crime Prevention Council. Retrieved from http://www.ncpc.org/topics/school-safety/strategies.
Zhe, E.J. and Nickerson, A.B. (2007). Effects of an intruder crisis drill on children’s knowledge, anxiety, and perceptions of school safety. School Psychology Review. 36(3).

References: About Us. (2012). National Crime Prevention Council. Retrieved from http://www.ncpc.org/about. El-Ghobashy, T., Barrett, D. (December 14, 2012). Dozens killed in Conn. School shooting. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323297104578179271453737596.html Gado, M. (2013). Hell comes to Bath. Crime Library, Criminal Minds and Methods. Retrieved from http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/history/bath/bath_6.html Geiger, R. (December 14, 2012). Deadliest U.S. school shootings. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Deadliest-U-S-school-shootings-3454376.php Practical Information on Crisis Planning. (2007). U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/crisisplanning.html School Safety. (2012). National Crime Prevention Council. Retrieved from http://www.ncpc.org/topics/school-safety. School Safety Strategies. (2012). National Crime Prevention Council. Retrieved from http://www.ncpc.org/topics/school-safety/strategies. Zhe, E.J. and Nickerson, A.B. (2007). Effects of an intruder crisis drill on children’s knowledge, anxiety, and perceptions of school safety. School Psychology Review. 36(3).