School Violence

https://www.nsca.org/congress-approves-new-school-safety-funding-what-it-means-for-the-systems-integration-industry/

    In 1999 I was a sixth-grade student in a small town on Long Island, New York, and I remember my mother hugging me tightly after April 20, 1999. The tragedy of the mass school shooting at Columbine High school sparked the conversation of how and why such a tragedy could have occurred in the first place and the safety of our schools. 

    As a middle/ high school student in the early 2000s, there was an awareness of school violence and the fear our parents felt as security increased as we attended school each day. I had not seen Bowling for Columbine, written and directed by Michael Moore two years after, though I have memories of hearing people talk about it when it was first released. The documentary brought up topics many people still did not feel comfortable discussing. Watching Bowling for Columbine as an adult, mother, and future educator brings many thoughts and emotions about how the reaction to the school violence led to many people trying to place the blame on entertainment and media and put into place a "zero tolerance policy" in schools (Moore, 2002). The documentary showed the role media plays from multiple angles, highlighting tragedy and circulating fear as Michael Moore talks with former Columbine students and their viewpoints on the behavior of the school and how the two boys acted in classes (Moore, 2002). Much of the Bowling for Columbine documentary (Moore, 2002) questions the correlation between school shootings and violence directly in alliance with access to guns in America. The shooting of 1st-grade student Kayla struck the hardest cord with me ( Moore, 2002). Kayla was six years old, and the young boy who brought the gun to school was also six years old ( Moore, 2002); my son is going to be six in May, and to think of the parents of both students is heartbreaking. As a future educator in an Elementary school, I am currently completing my student teaching placement in a 1st-grade classroom. Putting myself in the teacher's perspective and listening her 911 call ( Moore, 2002) revealed how educators want and strive to protect all of our students. 

https://www.tc.columbia.edu/continuing-professional-studies/programs/all-offerings/school-violence-prevention--intervention/

    As years continue to pass since the shooting at Columbine, schools around the country have tried multiple strategies in hopes of preventing school violence. I have been a part of several lockdown and lock-out drills in elementary and high schools as a school aide and, more recently, as a student teacher. To my son and many students, these drills are just as standard as having a fire drill. Lockdown drills, where students hide in corners of the classroom, out of sight of any window, is part of the standard in the district I am in. And while the students hide out of sight, quietly sitting with their peers, the question I often reflect on is how this became the norm. Additionally, the CDC expresses a powerful survey in 2019 which shared: 

• About 1 in 5 high school students reported bullying on school property last year.
• 8% of high school students had been in a physical fight on school property one or more times during the 12 months before the survey.
• More than 7% of high school students had been threatened or injured with a weapon (for example, a gun, knife, or club) on school property one or more times during the 12 months before the survey.
• Almost 9% of high school students had not gone to school at least one day during the 30 days before the survey because they felt they would be unsafe on or on their way to or from school.

https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/FT_18.04.18_TeensGuns_Strongsupportamongteens.png?w=420

    The results from the CDC 2019 survey(Centers for Disease control and prevention, 2019) express the reality of the fears many students in America still go through. The fear of school violence does not end with just the students; 63% of parents are at least worried that a mass school shooting could occur in their child's school (Graf, 2018). It is clear year after year that the fear of school violence is real, but has strategies thus far prevented school violence from occurring? When asked, 86% of teens shared say that preventing people with mental illnesses from purchasing guns and improving mental health screening and treatment would be effective, including majorities who say each of these proposals would be very effective (Graf, 2018). As a future educator, I believe in conversing with students about social-emotional thoughts and feelings. Providing students in elementary schools continuing through high schools which techniques and strategies to help navigate their emotions—providing safe spaces for talking when a student is feeling upset, angry, or alone in hopes that problems solving skills can aid before any violence. 

https://www.k12insight.com/news/student-communication-key-preventing-school-violence/

    The Columbine High School tragedy is a heartbreaking reminder that our society needs to implement change. A school at any age should be an environment where students feel safe, respected, and heard by faculty and their peers. A few years after the Columbine shooting, the artist Gorillaz released a song called " Kids with Guns"(Gorillaz, 2010). The video complies with images of red and black drawn guns with repeating lyrics that have powerful meanings " Taking over, but they won't be long, they're mesmerized, skeletons"(Gorillaz, 2010). 

Music can allow people to feel; the lyrics and music video by Gorillaz(2010) invoke thought and feelings to bring up complex topics and a reminder that we as a society still have a long way to go. 

Gorillaz. (2010, January 14). Gorillaz - Kids With Guns [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/VCkFSe3voRc

Graf, N. (2018, April). A majority of U.S. teens fear a shooting could happen at their school, and most parents share their concern. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/18/a-majority-of-u-s-teens-fear-a-shooting-could-happen-at-their-school-and-most-parents-share-their-concern/

Moore, M. (Producer & Director) (2002). Bowling for Columbine [Film]. United States: Dog Eat Dog Productions/ YouTube https://watchdocumentaries.com/bowling-for-columbine/ Links to an external site.OR

https://youtu.be/wScIMiWT_dw

Preventing school violence. (2019). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/schoolviolence/fastfact.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fviolenceprevention%2Fyouthviolence%2Fschoolviolence%2Findex.html