School Violence

In nearly every school’s mission statement, it is stated the school will provide a safe environment for all children; yet, every day on the news, there are stories in which a teenager commits suicide or a teenager has inflicted pain on another student. Most of these stories stem from one common denominator: the student had been a victim of violence in schools. In recent years, it seems these types of news stories have been on the rise and brought to many people’s attention. When a student enters a school building, it should be a safe haven where the students feel protected and out of harms way; however, that is not always the case. All over the country, many students fear entering school buildings because they know it is a place where they may be teased, bullied, and physically or mentally abused. Educators must be aware of these issues and educate themselves on how to keep students safe both in and out of school. The American Federation of Teachers (2010) suggest in order for school violence to decrease there must be a district wide commitment to safe, orderly schools, including a real effort by district officials to stand behavior school employees with the support they need – and a commitment by administrators to forge a cooperative effort with school employees aimed at educating students, parents and member of the community about the need for tough but fair discipline policies (Behavior-Management Techniques for Safe Schools pg. 2).
Moreover, schools need involvement from all stakeholders in the school district to ensure proper plans are put in place to deal with violence appropriately when situations arise.
Physical violence is defined as an “aggressive behavior where the actor or perpetrator uses his or her own body or an object (including a weapon) to inflict (relatively serious) injury to discomfort to another individual” (Angkaw p. 4). One common misconception is people believe school violence will not happen at their schools; however, the reality of it