Ridding Schools of Violence

There are things you can do to ease tensions

A little planning and foresight can go a long way toward alleviating violence in our schools, a national expert told Wisconsin educators at an August conference.

“We need to pay attention to the little stuff — the daily occurrences in the school,” said Peter Blauvelt, president of the National Alliance for Safe Schools.

“If you take care of the little issues — fighting, name-calling, bullying — the odds of it escalating are much smaller.”

Blauvelt spoke at a conference titled “Violence in Our Schools” at the Oshkosh Hilton August 12-13. The conference was sponsored by a variety of education organizations including the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators, the Department of Public Instruction and WEAC.

Blauvelt said that, despite several highly publicized incidents of school violence in the last year, “kids are safer in schools than they are any place else.”

“I’m here to tell you you are doing a great job,” he said, adding that we can do better.

Blauvelt suggested schools approach the violence issue by breaking it down into manageable units such as building safety and classroom behavior.

“Then it isn’t such a major issue,” he said.

The key, he said, is to “take back the control.”

You can begin that process by creating what he refers to as a “Safe Team” made up of a small number of administrators, teachers, support staff, students, parents, and possibly a local law enforcement officer.

Then, survey the students and staff to identify the issues that are causing anxiety in the school, with each class identifying three concerns.

The Safe Team then sorts through the responses and selects an issue, such as civility, and asks each class to work on addressing that issue for a selected period, such as a month.

“It’s important to let the kids get involved in identifying the problems and solutions,” Blauvelt said. “The Safe Team gives them an avenue to solve the problems.”

State Superintendent John Benson put the problem in a different perspective, reciting specific stories of Wisconsin school children — in both urban and rural areas — who were victims of school violence.

“Don’t tell me that we shouldn’t be afraid,” he said.

“I don’t want to hear about violence being a big city problem. I want to hear that you and I and all of us are going to do something about this nightmare. You and I are on the front lines of this war against violence.”

Benson said the 1997 Wisconsin Youth Risk Behavior Survey revealed disturbing facts about violence in Wisconsin schools:

• 42% of boys and 25% of girls said they were involved in a physical fight in the past year.
• 25% of boys said they carried a weapon at least once in the past year.
• 8% of all students said they were threatened or injured with a weapon in the past year.

Benson said expulsion is one option for dealing with violent students but we must provide alternative educational opportunities for these students.

“We can’t throw them out the front door and say that’s it, you’re through, because they’re still our children. They’re children who still have dreams. We cannot and will not leave any child along the side of the road.”

Posted September 1, 1998