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5 Ways to
Prevent
K-12
School Violence
By Matthew Lynch, Ed.D.
October 11, 2014
School violence, when it occurs, has a high impact on schools and
communities where the incident takes place. Rare but deadly incidents of
violence, such as the Columbine High School Massacre of 1999 or the more recent
school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut, bring the harsh
realities of school violence to light.
The Centers for Disease
Control report that about 828,000 students each year are victims of non-fatal
victimization while on school property, which is about 32 victims per 1,000
students. In schools where violence statistics are even higher, it can be
difficult to focus on academics - and keep students, teachers and administrators
safe.
Here are five of the most
important ways to turn the tide on school violence:
1. Develop Crisis
Prevention Plans. Schools should have a crisis plan in place as a means
for ensuring the safety of students.
Some plans may require students to wear uniforms and
implement security measures, including metal detectors and visitor sign-in.
More stringent plans require law enforcement officials, such as police, to be
present at the school.
2. Develop
School-Wide Violence Prevention Policies. Schools, particularly
principals, can ensure that teachers, staff and parents within the school have
common goals and that everyone is committed to reaching those goals.
3. Educate
Teachers on Violence Prevention. Methods include promotion of
classrooms that teach and promote respect and kindness, and in which put downs,
teasing and sarcasm are not tolerated.
4. Educate
Students on Violence Prevention. Teach students peer-mediation skills
so that they can handle problems before they escalate.
5. Implement
Alternative Schools for Serious Offenders. Segregation of students who
have a history of violence by putting them in alternative schools is one
approach.
There are no easy answers
when it comes to violence in schools. While this list focuses on the education
system alone, community efforts must also help to combat this distressing
issue.
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In Philadelphia, Teacher Laid Out During
Encounter With Student at Bartram High School
Assault on Bartram Teacher
Is Third in a Month
By Kelly
Bayliss
October
7, 2014
school
that left him motionless on the ground.
The
attack started when a female student sat on a male student's lap, said
68-year-old substitute English teacher Pewu Johnson.
"He
told me 'get the f*(^ out of my face,'" Johnson said. The student then threw
Johnson to the ground causing him hit his head, school district officials said.
Video of the attack shows the teacher motionless in the hallway of the school
while students looked on.
"The
boy dropped me down with so much force," said Johnson. "I was out." The victim
was rushed to the hospital where he was examined and treated for a concussion.
His alleged attacker was suspended from school.
"The
assault that occurred yesterday is the result of an individual making a
dramatically poor choice. The School District does not tolerate this type of
behavior and is working with Bartram High School and Philadelphia Police to make
sure that the student is discipline and also charged," said Philadelphia School
District spokesperson Fernando Gallard .
This
is the third attack on a teacher at the school in less than a
month.
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Take A Young Black Man To
Worship
Sunday, November 23,
2014
In Your City, at Your Place of
Worship
This past election cycle, many White elected officials
were invited into Black churches across America. Now we are asking those same
Black churches to invite young Black men to come worship with them. Please call
773.285.9600 to register your place of worship and to get a registration kit for
"Take A Young Black Man To Worship!"
Click Here to See Greg Wilkerson
Invite Young Black Men Into His Church and Challenge Other Churches To Do the
Same!
Click Here to See and
Hea r - Jesus Is The Life of the Party!
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The Black Star Project Needs 100 Men and Women in
Chicago and Suburbs to Go into Area Schools to Motivate, Inspire and Guide Youth
Towards Success.
If you have 2 hour a month, or 2 hours every six
months, or 2 hours a year, we need you to help us change and save the lives of
children in Chicago and suburbs.
Schools in the Chicago area and students in the
Chicago are begging for mentors and roll models for their students. Will you
answer their prayers?
Please call 773.285.9600 to become a mentor for
students in Chicago area schools.
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Black Storytellers
Convene in Chicago
Wednesday,
November 12, 2014
Logan Center for
the Arts
915 East 60th
Street
Chicago, Illinois
Call
773.702.ARTS for more
information.
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"New Orleans represents almost any medium or large city
in America where Black people are being systematically removed. Here's the
blueprint!" - Phillip
Jackson
CRESCENT
CITY CASTE SYSTEM
New
Orleans is a relatively small American city that sometimes seems not to be part
of the United States at all. Until Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was glamorized
by images of black jazz and white dissipation. After Katrina, as if a curtain
had been ripped away, it was revealed as a particularly extreme example of the
continuing subjugation of the descendents of enslaved Africans.
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New Orleans remains two cities - with
Black New Orleans continuing to decay.
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October 24, 2014
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| Michael Holzman
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Today,
New Orleans is two cities. One is white and prosperous; the other, black and
poor. Caste is presented in a most literal manner in New Orleans: White
neighborhoods are on higher ground than the predominately Black neighborhoods of
the city.
This
became a crucial difference after the hurricane, when the ill-constructed levees
broke, as the authorities knew that they would, and the lowest-lying parts of
the city were flooded 20 feet deep, many of their inhabitants drowned, others
driven out of the city.
Post-Katrina,
the black population declined by 119,000 people, more than the current white
population of the city, half of whom did not live there before Katrina. For
blacks in the city's poorest communities, life expectancy is 54.5 years - or
nearly a generation shorter than that of their White fellow citizens.
Income
disparities in New Orleans are also quite extreme. White per capita income in
the city is $43,022 and quite concentrated at the top: a quarter of New Orleans
White families have incomes over $150,000 a year. This picture of prosperity
contrasts with the poverty of African American New Orleans. Black per capita
income is $15,243; only two of black families earn more than $150,000 a
year.
Just
four percent of the eighth-graders served by both Orleans Parish and Recovery
reached "Advanced" level on reading portion of the 2014 Louisiana Educational
Assessment Program, while another 15 percent showed "Mastery". This means that
the remaining 81 percent of eighth-graders were reading below grade level.
The
nationally funded and privately profitable "recovery" of New Orleans has
decimated the city's black community, clearing broad areas of the city of black
people. Four out of every five (mostly-black) children are still unable to read
at grade level nearly a decade after Katrina.
Most
of those who do manage to graduate are so ill-prepared for college that just a
few hundred of them - nearly all women - graduate within six years. The men who
drop out end up being available for jails and prisons, in some cases, run as
for-profit enterprises.
General
Sherman, when asked how to treat an enemy, advised that "they should be left
with nothing but eyes with which to weep." Do we wish it said that post-Katrina
New Orleans is how the United States of America treats its own citizens at their
most vulnerable?
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Dear Friend of Black
Children,
There are many reasons
to become a member of The Black Star Project, but today I only want to tell you
about one of them.
Let me introduce you to
Jason, one of our Saturday University students. Jason is 6 years old and is
learning to read. He was having a little trouble, so his father enrolled him in
our new Reading Academy. Here he is, in the lower right-hand corner, hard at
work with a couple of his classmates and his instructor, Mr. Baron
Rush.
I'm writing to you today because
Jason needs your help. I know you don't know Jason very well, but let me ask
you:
- Do you believe
it's important that he learns to be an excellent reader?
- Do you think
it's important for him to be able to find opportunities for
employment and growth when he grows up?
- Do you believe
he needs and deserves positive role models?
- Do you think
his community should be involved in his education and help him
succeed?
If you answered yes to
these questions, you know that Jason is in the right program with The Black Star
Project. But we can't do this work without your
support.
Please become a
member of The Black Star Project and make a difference in the lives of
children like Jason. Give today and you can help us help even more children.
Without caring people like you on our side, The Black Star Project would not
exist.
You can help these young
people!
- Please become a member
today for only $50 a
year!
- Support a student like
Jason for only $10 a
month!
- Help a student like
Jason learn to read for only $100 this
holiday season!
To help our students even
more, spread the word!
Forward this
email to
your friends and family!
Like us on
Facebook and share our
posts!
Tell your colleagues about
our work!
Encourage everyone
to donate!
They can help
too!
Please invest in a child
today! Just click the DONATE NOW button to make a difference!
You may also donate by sending a check payable
to:
The Black Star
Project
3509 South King
Drive, Suite 2B
Chicago, IL
60653
Please call our office
at 773-285-9600 if you have any questions.
The Black Star
Project is a 501(c)3 organization and your contribution is tax deductible
to the extent allowable by law. We appreciate you!
Thank you for your support!
Sincerely,
Phillip
Jackson
Executive
Director
The Black Star
Project
P.S. A gift of $100 will
help provide books and supplies for our new Reading Academy and Math Boot Camp
for Black males! Our children need your
support!
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