School Violence: What Have we Learned?
5/3/2006
A School Violence can occur anywhere, every school must have a comprehensive safety plan in place as well as a crisis response plan which can be implemented instantly if needed. The recent one year anniversary of the school shootings in Red Lake on March 21, 2006 provided all educators with an excellent opportunity to consider whether they made their school safer in the last year and to determine where yet more improvements can still be made.
In October of 2005, the United States District Attorney of Minnesota co-sponsored a conference on school safety in partnership with the U.S. Secret Service, Minneapolis Field Office; the national Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools; the Minnesota Department of Public Safety; and the Minnesota Department of Education. The conference was held to determine why school violence occurs and what can be done to stop acts of school violence.
Following the conference, the District Attorney’s office published a booklet, School Safety: Lessons Learned. This publication is a compilation of articles, resource materials, and advice from many of the speakers featured at this school safety conference as well as materials from other national and local experts in the field of school safety. Topics range from how to assess the threat of school violence and school safety, to improving school climate and preventing school violence.
The booklet is available as a PDF: http://education.state.mn.us/mde/mdecontrib/groups/safehealthy/documents/report/008931.pdf
This article was authored by Ehrich Koch. Click here to find out more about Mr. Koch's practice. For more information about this subject and for assistance addressing any issues raised by this article or by the booklet, School Safety: Lessons Learned, contact Koch at ehrich@lommen.com, 612-336-9306 or 800-752-4297. You should consult legal counsel before making any attempt to apply the law or any information offered above to your own specific situation. Factual differences may result in substantial differences in the application of employment laws and each state has its own laws.