Resources help educators, students, parents deal with school crisis

The tragic death of Weston School Principal John Klang and the school shooting deaths of students in Colorado and Pennsylvania have focused attention on the risks that school employees face while doing their jobs.

Klang died on Friday, September 29, while he and others disarmed a student who entered the Weston School building with a shotgun and pistol. A 15-year-old Weston freshman has been arrested for Klang’s death. A memorial service was held for Klang on October 4 in Cazenovia.

For school employees in Weston and throughout the state, WEAC, the National Education Association, the WEA Trust and others have resources available for dealing with the emotional difficulty related to the highly publicized tragedies.

“At a time when your sorrow and fear may feel bottomless, please don’t hesitate to lean on the support of your union family,” Johnson said. “Your colleagues at your local association, WEAC, and the NEA have resources available to help you and your students deal with your reactions to these tragic events.”

Association resources include:

• The NEA Crisis Communications Guide and Toolkit provides resources to empower members facing crises and to guide their school communities toward hope, healing, and renewal.
• The WEA Trust offers assistance to school districts through the Critical Incident Response Service (CIRS). Through the CIRS, immediate response takes place within 24 to 72 hours of the critical incident and includes post-trauma response discussions, de-escalation, education, group support, and resources. Group support and education continues after the critical incident, and on-site seminars are also available to provide education and services focusing on stress reduction techniques, trauma response, and coping with grief and loss. One-on-one sessions offer individualized support after a critical incident.
  
  The CIRS can also provide workplace training to identify warning signs of violence, and suggest strategies to address the risk of violence. Violence prevention consultations are available from trained professionals who work with school districts to develop violence prevention programs and crisis management teams.
  
  To access the Critical Incident Response service, school district guidance counselors, human resource directors or district administrators can call 866-828-6052.

In addition to these association resources, the National Crime Prevention Council offers the following prevention advice to school administrators, teachers, students, parents, and law enforcement.

Steps for Students

• Conduct your own school safety audit and share your concerns with school administrators and parents.
• Report suspicious behavior or threats by other students to a teacher or counselor at your school.
• Learn how to manage your own anger effectively. Encourage programs like conflict resolution or teen courts to resolve issues at school.

Steps for Parents

• Get involved in the safety measures at your child’s school. Ask how they control access to visitors, review the emergency plan, and request periodic meetings to review school safety plans to identify holes or problems.
• Discourage name-calling and teasing. These behaviors often escalate into fistfights (or worse). Whether the teaser is violent or not, the victim may see violence as the only way to stop it.
• Look for warning signs of a troubled teen. Also listen to and talk with your children regularly – find out what they’re thinking on all kinds of topics. Create an opportunity for two-way conversation, which may mean forgoing judgments or pronouncements.

Steps for School Officials

• Request free school safety assessments for your school to identify potential problems and upgrades needed to your safety measures.
• Establish “zero tolerance” policies for weapons and violence. Spell out penalties in advance. Encourage reporting of threats of violence or weapons at school as a way to prevent situations.
• Offer periodic training to school staff on safety measures and protocols and ensure compliance with those measures. Communicate and involve interested parents in school safety plans and ask for input to consistently improve potential problem areas.
• Control access to the school by visitors. All visitors should check in at a central location away from classrooms and must wear appropriate badges and have ID at all times.

Steps for Law Enforcement Officers

• Get to know students in non-confrontational, non-emergency situations; help them see you as a resource, counselor, protector, and peacekeeper.
• Use your community policing skills to help the school form partnerships with other community agencies and groups to address problems.
• Help school officials assess their school’s security needs, discuss the broad range of issues a good plan should examine, and help to implement appropriate measures.

For more information on crime prevention issues, visit www.ncpc.org.

Posted October 5, 2006