Our Mission

This is my groups blog on Violence in Schools. As you all may already know we have seen some horrific examples in the past of violence in schools. This blog will example in more detail what they may be, how they are being dealt with and what our schools and educators need to do to make school safe.We will look into different ways to prevent violence occurring in schools. This will include looking for signs of a potential suspect, different school safety plans, individual classroom plans, and the idea of teachers possibly training to protect themselves and the students. As future educators this subject is very important to our group. A school should be the safest place for a child and we want to make that possible!


Stephanie's Thoughts: As a future educator and someone who works with children year round, I find this topic to be very important. As a child you should feel safe and protected when you are at school. We have all learned about acts of violence in schools of all levels: Elementary, Secondary, and the Collegiate level. To ensure that students are safe when they are at school, plans must be put in place. I think for this to be successful each town/city should have a plan in place for all of its schools and individual schools can alter the plans to make it as safe as possible for their school. These safety plans must include ways to evacuate students from the school or shelter them away from harm if they cannot leave the school (lock downs). Personally, I think two measures could be made to increase safety in schools. First, I think metal detectors should be present at all school entrances and exits. Second, I think teachers should have training about what to do if their is a gun man in the school. This training can be in both what to do in the situation with your students and it could be in how to take a gun man down. One idea I am not sure how I feel about with this topic is if teachers should be armed in their classrooms. Is that taking the security measures too far?

Emily's Thoughts: I am a preschool teacher currently and this topic is very important to me. The world we live in can  be very scary. School should not be one of them. Schools should be a place were both the teacher and student feels safe.  When you think about violence and schools the first thing that comes to mind for me is a plan. Where are you and your students going to go? and if so, What is the plan? At the preschool I currently work at we have a specific saying "One, Two, Three all eyes on me" and students reply with "One, Two, Three were ready" having a plan that both you and your students feel comfortable about is very important and practicing these skills too. The one thing I think is the most important is to get the children out safely. I know that when I am in my classroom teaching the preschools or just reading a story if it came down to it that is the first thing I would do. This topic is certainly a very scary one but it could happen. I would be lying if I said it never does. We all know what has happen recently in the news. With that being said, we need to work on a universal plan in our school security. I defiantly think we need metal detectors at all schools entrances and exits. I also thing that teacher need to take some self defense classes as a part of their professional development. I think learning these skills will have teachers more confident and prepared for these very serious life or death situations. This is all a lot to take on but I find this topic very important. 

Pam's Thoughts: As a future teacher I think that it is so important that we work to make our schools as safe as possible.  It seems that every new school shooting that comes along they are trying to one-up the last school shooting.  The media is partly to blame because they make these shooters infamous.  If a disturbed child like Adam Lanza, the shooter in the Newtown Connecticut,  had the option between dying with no publicity or die and have people remember who you are, they are going to want to be remembered.  What can we do to prevent this from happening again?  Step up school security and make plans for situations like a gunman in the school.  As costly as it may be I think that there should be a police officer at every school.  It would help parents, students, teachers and the community feel safer knowing that someone is there to watch out for them.  Beyond just having a police officer I think that there should be metal detectors at the entrances of the building. I also think that teachers should be trained to disarm a shooter and have the option to carry a gun in school.  If more schools begin to require this type of training and teaching teachers about gun safety then schools would become less of an "easy" target.  If a potential gunman knows that teachers carry guns I think that it would decrease the number of school shootings.
The most important thing is the students.  Students should do practice drills and know what the plan is in school violence situations.  I never want my future students to fear coming to school because of school violence. This is why I am so interested in this topic, I want my classroom to be a safe environment. I think that right in the beginning of the school year it should be a discussion to have with your students.  You want them to know you are there and will keep them safe.  I think that this is a very important topic and there are many views on whether or not teachers should be carrying guns in school but I think that it will be a positive change to have them in schools.

Homicides in School Graph

Homicides In Schools

From 1993 to 2010, the number of homicides committed at primary and secondary schools by students has steadily shrunk.