This just in from the Wall Street Journal - My comments are first; the article will follow. It is interesting to note that as funding has declined, school administrators appear to be losing interest in maintaining safety measures, indicating that the buy-in to providing a safe school environment is solely contingent on having a large budget. Despite this prevailing mentality (both in the US and Canada), it is encouraging to see some school administrators making the effort to find creative and inexpensive solutions for their schools.
Here in Canada most departments of education promote some type of safe schools policy; however, the actual enforcement and effectiveness of these policies is questionable. For at least two years I have made an attempt to liaise with some of the school boards that are experiencing a high incidence of violence in their schools without success - even though my program, Anger Solutions(TM) is evidence-based and has been proven to be both inexpensive to run, and incredibly effective. Needless to say, it is a difficult process to introduce a new program into the educational system, but definitely a worthwhile cause. Schools in India have begun the process of introducing anger management programs into their curriculum, as have some schools in the UK. While it is still too early to know the effect of this strategy, I am confident that these schools will see a decrease in playground and classroom violence over time.
In order for our schools on both sides of the border to remain safe, there must be commitment to change from the top levels down to the students. Taking simple steps like securing a building, running drills, and teaching students effective anger resolution skills can, in my opinion, turn things around.
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The Safety Lessons of Columbine, Re-Examined
Ten Years After the High School Shooting, Funding for Campus Security Fades, but Simpler, Low-Cost Measures Gain Favor
By STEPHANIE SIMON
The carnage at Columbine High on April 20, 1999, prompted a swift and aggressive response around the U.S.
Hundreds of millions of dollars flooded into schools after two seniors stalked the halls of Columbine in trench coats, killing 12 students and a teacher before committing suicide in the school library.
The money -- federal, state and local -- bought metal detectors, security cameras and elaborate emergency-response plans. It put 6,300 police officers on campuses and trained students to handle bullying and manage anger.
Ten years later, the money is drying up. The primary pot of federal grants has been cut by a third, a loss of $145 million. The Justice Department has scrapped the cops in schools program, once budgeted at $180 million a year. States are slashing spending, too, or allowing districts to buy textbooks with funds once set aside for security measures.
Money is so tight that the Colorado district that includes Columbine High, which reopened four months after the shootings, has canceled its annual violence-prevention convention. Miami can afford to send just half as many students as it used to through anger-management training. Many educators and security consultants find the cutbacks frightening.
But others wonder whether progress is being measured by the wrong yardstick. Even as they clamor for more money, an alarming number of schools admit to ignoring inexpensive, common-sense safeguards. Federal funding for school crisis planning has been cut by 25% in recent years, a loss of nearly $10 million. But what good is a pricey plan, some officials ask, when close to 40% of administrators admit they aren't adequately training their own staff on emergency procedures?
Some anti-bullying and conflict-resolution workshops are based on solid research. But as those programs fall victim to funding shortfalls, some educators are asking whether they might be able to take up the slack not by spending more money, but by reforming school culture to nurture closer bonds between students and adults.
"A lot of stuff costs money, but I'm getting a little tired of that excuse," said John Weicker, security director for the public schools in Fort Wayne, Ind. "If everyone swept their own doorstep -- took care of what they need to take care of -- we'd get an awful lot done."
The federal government has actually boosted spending on what might be considered the "softer" components of safe schools. Grants for mental health and counseling, for instance, have soared from $20 million the year after Columbine to nearly $58 million today. That doesn't begin to make up for the cuts in other school-safety programs, officials say. But they say they are spending smarter.
"A lot of what we learned coming out of Columbine didn't [require] large sums of money," said William Modzeleski, who runs the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. "School safety is more than cameras, metal detectors and police officers."
Some point out that the money poured into security after Columbine didn't prevent the murders at Santana High School in Santee, Calif., at Red Lake High School in Red Lake, Minn., and at West Nickel Mines Amish School in Lancaster County, Pa., among others.
But some officials say such incidents could be reduced by stoking awareness and ratcheting down the everyday brawls and taunts that disrupt education at some schools. In a recent survey of 445 educators conducted by the American Association of School Administrators, nearly 80% of respondents called school-safety funds "stretched" or "inadequate." Yet many also said they left quick, inexpensive fixes undone. More than 15% reported that their school entrances are neither locked nor monitored. A third confessed to propping open doors, giving intruders easy access. One in five didn't equip recess and field-trip monitors with walkie-talkies to report suspicious sightings or brewing conflicts.
And 29% either had no safety committee or indicated doubts about its effectiveness. Such committees are intended to bring together parents, teachers and local law enforcement at regular intervals.
"Many, many districts still have the Mayberry mentality -- we're nice and quiet" and it won't happen here, said Paul Timm, president of consulting firm RETA Security.
Schools hold regular fire drills because they are mandated by law. They work; no student has died in a school fire for decades. But Mr. Timm says far too few schools hold lock-down drills, or run tabletop simulations of a crisis with police and paramedics.
There's More! Read the whole article at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123965917072814735.html.
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