Bullet-proof boards: Cold Spring Police Chief Phil Jones, left, and
Rocori School District Superintendent Scott Staska pose with bulletproof
white boards in Cold Spring, Minnesota
Newtown anniversary: US schools keep trying wrong fixes to deter school shootings, experts say
By Bill DedmanInvestigative Reporter, NBC News
It
happened after Columbine, after Virginia Tech, and after Newtown, too.
After every massacre in a school, Americans grasp at quick cures. Let's
install metal detectors and give guns to teachers. Let's crack down on
troublemakers, weeding out kids who fit the profile of a gunman. Let's
buy
bulletproof whiteboards for the students to scurry behind, or
train kids to throw erasers or cans of soup at an attacker.
Researchers
who study school shootings say the nation has done the wrong things,
again and again, to prevent these rare but frightening events. And when
more promising measures that address the real causes of school shootings
are tried, the money has ridden a rollercoaster, rising a year after a
major attack, then falling as memories fade. Only one out of five
schools currently gets money for one of the Obama administration's
signature programs to reduce school shootings.
"Many of the school
safety and security measures deployed in response to school shootings
have little research support," concluded a 2010 research article in
Educational Researcher, "
What Can Be Done About School Shootings?: A Review of the Evidence." The researchers called the widely adopted policies of zero-tolerance discipline and student profiling "unsound practices."
The problem, the researchers say, is that the nation hasn't paid attention to actual research about how school shootings unfold.
School
shooters don't "snap" or "go crazy." They have serious grievances, and
they plan their attacks. Many felt bullied, persecuted, or injured by
others. They engaged in behaviors that caused other students and adults
to think they needed help. They showed difficulty coping with
significant losses or personal failures. They told others about their
plan. And they had access to weapons.
Seeking
ways to offer better security after a school shooting in their
district, a Minnesota school system purchases portable bullet-proof
whiteboards for classrooms. KARE's Julie Nelson reports.
These
patterns point to a different set of preventive measures. Instead of
trying to put metal detectors at every door, which do little more than
ensure that the operator of the metal detector gets shot first, schools
need to do the more difficult work of creating schools where bullying is
not allowed, where grievances are dealt with quickly, where students
feel safe speaking up about a student they're concerned about, where
students feeling suicidal have someone to talk with. And at home, guns
need to be under lock and key.
Paying attention to the evidence
A
landmark study
in 2002 by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of
Education, examining the facts of 37 school shootings, identified
patterns contradicting the public perception of a loner who "just
snapped":
- Incidents of targeted violence at school are rarely sudden, impulsive acts.
- Many attackers felt bullied, persecuted, or injured by others prior to the attack.
- Most attackers engaged in some behavior, prior to the incident, that caused concern or indicated a need for help.
- Most
attackers were known to have difficulty coping with significant losses
or personal failures. Many had considered or attempted suicide.
- Most attackers did not threaten their targets directly prior to advancing the attack.
- There
is no accurate or useful "profile" of students who engage in targeted
school violence. Some come from good homes, some from bad. Some have
good grades, some bad.
- Most attackers had access to and had used weapons prior to the attack.
- Prior to most incidents, other people knew about the attacker’s idea or plan, and often other students were involved.
What steps should schools take?
The researchers urged that schools take
the following steps:
Aug. 14: A Boston area company that makes bulletproof backpacks says it has received requests from all over the country. WHDH's
- Assess the school’s emotional climate.
- Emphasize the importance of listening in schools.
- Adopt a strong, but caring stance against the code of silence.
- Prevent, and intervene in, cases of bullying.
- Involve all members of the school community in planning, creating and sustaining a school culture of safety and respect.
- Develop trusting relationships between each student and at least one adult at school.
- Create of mechanisms for developing and sustaining safe school climates.
Read More Here
.....
Teachers given bullet-proof WHITEBOARDS to use in defense during school shootings
By
Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 21:28 EST, 22 April 2013 |
UPDATED: 21:28 EST, 22 April 2013
A
central Minnesota school district that was the site of a school
shooting in 2003 is getting a new device designed to help keep kids
safe: bulletproof whiteboards.
Impressed: Cold Spring Police Chief Phil Jones says it's the best development in school safety he's seen
The
Rocori School District plans to put one of the whiteboards in every
classroom to add another layer of defense if a gunman enters school
grounds.
The
boards are designed by Maryland-based Hardwire LLC and they can hang on
a wall and be used in class, just like any traditional marker board.
But when the lives of students are threatened, a teacher can use also use one of the boards as a shield.
Cold Spring Police Chief Phil Jones says it’s the best development in school safety he’s seen.
Not
a day goes by when Jones doesn't think of Seth Bartell and Aaron
Rollins, who were murdered in the 2003 school shooting, he said.
‘Two bright and brilliant students were killed with this bullet,’ the police chief told Fox9 in Minnesota as he showed the type of bullet that was used.
Each bullet-proof board weighs a few pounds and is a quarter of an inch thick.
Read More and Watch Video Here
.....
