Listening to Students—When They Make Sense; and Not
Listening to Students—When They’re Ready to Kill
Dear Colleagues,
Introduction
I honestly was not
planning a Part III to this Series—a Series that was prompted by the tragedy,
five weeks ago, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida
where 17 souls lost their lives and at least 20 additional students and staff
were injured.
But this Part III
has become necessary. . . at least, for three reasons.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Reason #1: Listening
to Students When They Make Sense
Today (Saturday,
March 24), hundreds of thousands of students (with parents, educators, and other
community supporters) are rallying—in Washington, DC and across the country—in
the “March For Our Lives.”
Here, they are
publicly proclaiming that they can no longer trust—with their lives—the adults
responsible for their safety and well-being in school or at school events.
But they are also gathering
to hold our political leaders accountable for not reasonably and responsibly
controlling individuals’ access to weapons of war and mass destruction. Indeed, as discussed in Part I of this
Series, since 1990, these weapons have already killed over 180 students and
staff in America’s schools in over 190 separate incidents.
And included in
this number are two more student deaths (one, the shooter) in a southern
Maryland high school just this past week.
But there are other
victims.
Critically, an
analysis of U.S. Census and Education Department data shows that more than
800,000 students now go to school in a public-school district where a school
shooting has taken place.
And the collateral
damage here includes the trauma of losing friends and acquaintances forever,
the fear that it could happen again, and the anxiety of needing to focus on
escape routes rather than square roots.
_ _ _ _ _
But the more
critical Question is: “Are We Listening to Our Students’ Voices?”
Reason #2: Using
Violence Against Students who are Trying to Stop Violence
A week ago, on March
14, and as a prelude to today’s March For Our Lives, tens of thousands
of students across the country walked respectfully out of their classrooms—many
to organized events—to gather for 17 minutes to:
* Honor the fallen
Parkland, FL students and staff;
* Express their
frustration with adults and political leaders who have done little to curb gun
violence, improve school safety, and address the mental health needs of both
students and adults; and
* Talk about the
actions needed to prevent it from ever happening again.
_ _ _ _ _
Many of these events
were supported by educators, parents, and community leaders who seized this as
a teachable moment in history and political science.
Many of these
events were organized as acts of civic engagement, rather than civil
disobedience.
And, many of these
events fostered opportunities for students and staff to talk together, to learn
from one another, and to elevate the students’ voices to a greater good.
_ _ _ _ _
But in Greenbrier,
Arkansas, when three students walked out of their high school for 17 minutes to
participate in the National Walkout Day and show solidarity for their Parkland
peers, they were disciplined.
The discipline, in
fact, involved having the students choose between two days of in-school
suspension or corporal punishment—two “swats.”
As top students, and not wanting to miss classes for two days, the
students chose the “swats.”
In a March 16
article and exclusive interview with 17-year-old Wylie Greer from Greenbrier
High School [CLICK
HERE], Rose Minutaglio wrote:
Greer says gun control has always been an important
issue that concerns him. "So many people have died and will continue to
die because politicians refuse to act,” he says. Seeing the aftermath of the [Parkland]
shooting and the reactions of the high school students emboldened him to stand
up. Greer was especially inspired to walk out of school after hearing Parkland
survivor Emma González speak publicly about gun control.
“I walked because I have seen the debate around gun
control die and get shut down so many times," he says. "People said
it would be different after Sandy Hook, and it wasn't. They said it would be
different after Pulse, and it wasn't. They say it is going to be different this
time, after Parkland, and I want it to be. If walking out brings the debate
back to people’s minds, if it keeps the victims of Parkland from dying a second
death in our minds, then I am willing to accept any consequences."
Greer says he was initially “scared and nervous” about
the pain, but eventually felt resolved. “I understood what had to happen, and
was prepared for that,” he says. The three students were each
"swatted" twice with a paddle by their dean. Greer was paddled during
his sixth period class, and describes it as a "temporary sting" on
his thighs that was not "dealt with malice or cruelty." But while the
ordeal wasn’t painful, he says, the idea that "violence should be used to
intimidate children and young adults into silence disgusts me,” Greer says. “It
is barbaric and cruel.”
_ _ _ _ _
But—at face
value, the “swats” are not the issue.
And the Greenbrier punishments were not unique in that hundreds of other
students across the country were punished for walking out of class on March 14
(for example, in Downers Grove, Illinois, 1,000 students received one hour of detention for
their walk-out).
The issue is
that the “educators” (including the Superintendent) in this District chose to
value their “discipline code” over the students’ "honor code"--their desire to communicate and
participate in a national issue and discussion.
A related issue
is that the school acted to suppress their students’ voices and opinions with
an act of violence.
And, a corollary
issue is that the newest Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
focuses on improving school climate, student involvement, and supportive
learning environments as ways to improve school safety, student engagement, and
academic proficiency.
The interpretation
of these students’ walk-out as a “disciplinary offense,” and the use of
corporal punishment clearly contradicts the intent and spirit of ESEA.
What were these “educators”
thinking???
[CLICK
HERE for an Earlier Blog on Corporal Punishment]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
A Brief Expanded
Discussion on School Climate
Positive school climate
is correlated with high levels of school safety and student connected-ness, lower
rates of school bullying and discrimination, lower rates of school absences and
student delinquency, higher rates of students’ satisfaction with school and
life, and higher rates of academic success—especially in English language arts
and math.
I have written
about the importance of school climate many times over the five-plus years of
writing this Blog.
[CLICK
HERE for a Summary: School Climate and Safety, and School Discipline and
Classroom Management: A Summer Review
of Previous Blogs]
But, today, I want
to briefly outline what schools target when they facilitate positive school
climates. This is important because,
while school climate is evaluated by the students, positive school
climate occur when schools explicitly and continuously involve their
students.
And when students
are not involved in the school climate process (or, they are negatively entangled
in it as in Greenbrier, Arkansas)—students may become disengaged, they may not
feel safe and protected, and they may not trust the adults who try to reassure
them that their interests are important.
Briefly, based on a
comprehensive review of the research, the following characteristics occur in
schools with positive school climates:
* The students are
learning the social, emotional, and behavioral skills—from preschool through
high school—that relate to interpersonal, social problem-solving, conflict
prevention and resolution, and emotional control and coping interactions.
* The student-staff
and student-student relationships are anchored by the respect for diversity and
individual differences; strengthened by social, emotional, and physical
supports; and empowered by collaborative and inclusive interactions.
* Instructional
environments are differentiated and geared to student learning and progress; are
academically safe and encourage experimentation, risk-taking, and personal growth;
and focus on creating independent learners and behavioral self-managers.
* The school—physically,
procedurally, and relative to its mission, vision, values, norms, and
expectations—is organized to be and, in reality, is physically and emotionally
safe and secure for students, staff, and others.
_ _ _ _ _
Building and
sustaining these characteristics requires “drilling” them down to specific
actions and activities with clear and measurable outcomes. But it also takes a collaborative “village”
of students, staff, and others working together. And, it takes communication, commitment,
trust, and consensus.
It also takes
common sense and, for educators, the ability to sometimes let students
(especially at the secondary levels) take the lead and determine their own
path.
Every school in the
country had time to engage their student bodies before the March 14 walk-outs.
. . . remember the Parkland tragedy occurred on February 14 !!!
How many schools put
their school climates and student relationships at risk when they missed the
March 14 opportunity for discussion and debate by responding to their student
walk-outs with inflexibility and discipline?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Reason #3: Not
Listening to Students when They are Ready to Kill
The last reason for
writing this Part III Blog message is that we are not doing a good job at
listening to our students who are in need, who are contemplating suicide, or who
are planning violence— including the deaths of others as they approach and enter
our schools.
But the “job”
includes:
* Identifying these
students and telling the right people
* Conducting valid
threat analyses in less than 24 hours from the time of referral
* Having comprehensively
skilled health, mental health, law enforcement, and other related agencies and
professionals in and available to our schools who can provide immediate
attention to impending situations
* Creating positive
and safe school environments that include adults who listening to students, and
who teach and reinforce the prosocial student-to-student interactions that
prevent the “triggers of violence”
* Involving parents
and others in the community as committed and active participants in establishing
proactive patterns of listening to our children and youth
_ _ _ _ _
But the job also
includes understanding how mental health interfaces with violent, dangerous,
and self-damaging behavior.
From recent
position statements and press releases from the National Association of
School Psychologists:
As the nation looks to understand and respond
effectively to this tragedy, it is imperative that we stay focused on facts and
what we know works to prevent violence and keep our children and youth safe.
Particularly important to understand is that the majority of people with mental
illness are not violent. There have been frequent reports in the news that the
perpetrator had a troubled past, was in treatment for mental health concerns,
and that this may have been related to his homicidal behavior. To conclude that
the presence of an issue like depression predisposes someone to commit this
type of violence perpetuates an incorrect stereotype and maintains a stigma
that often creates a reluctance to seek treatment.
Homicidal behaviors are the result of a complex
combination and interaction of risk factors that may be environmental,
biological, or both. In most cases, the presence of a diagnosable mental
illness alone does not predispose someone to extreme or calculated violence.
Implying so risks undermining the important efforts to reduce stigma around
mental health problems and disabilities, and may discourage individuals and
families from seeking appropriate treatment. With appropriate treatment, especially
early intervention, people who experience adverse childhood experiences or
struggle with mental health issues can lead rich, full, and productive lives.
Violence, as seen this week, is related to an interaction of risk factors.
[To address these
risk factors, we need to] increase access to
comprehensive mental and behavioral health services and supports in schools.
Only a fraction of students in need of mental health services actually receive
them, and among those that do, the majority access these services in school.
Schools are an ideal place both to promote mental wellness and to identify and
support students struggling with mental health issues. School-employed mental
health professionals, like school psychologists, can help guide school-wide
prevention and intervention mental and behavioral health services, provide
direct services to students in need of support, help teachers and other school
staff understand the warning signs that individuals may be at risk of causing
harm to themselves or others, and provide appropriate threat assessments and
supports to identified students.
_ _ _ _ _
Critically,
Congress has heard this part of our students’ pleas.
Included in the federal
budget, just passed and signed this past Friday, are the following funds related
directly or indirectly to school safety.
According to the
Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives (March 21), the
budget includes:
Department of
Justice
$75M (million) for
School Safety Grants
$10M for the VALOR
Initiative (police officer safety and wellness programs)
$10M for the Police
Act grants (active shooter training for police)
$94M for Youth Mentoring
Grants (peer-to-peer mentoring for at-risk youth)
_ _ _ _ _
Department of
Education
$90M for school
safety national activities that improve students’ safety and well-being during
and after the school day (includes the Project SERV Program that provides counseling
and referrals for mental health services for schools affected by violent or traumatic
crisis0
$1.1B for Student
Support and Academic Enrichment Grants that support safe and healthy students,
including school mental health services, bullying and harassment prevention,
mentoring and school counseling, and training for school personnel
$20M for Violent
Crime and Gun Reduction/Project Safe Neighborhoods (gang enforcement efforts)
$4M for Gang and
Youth Violence education and prevention
_ _ _ _ _
Department of
Health and Human Services
$26M for Healthy
Transitions to provide grants to states to improve access to mental disorder treatment
and support services for young people facing mental health conditions
$75M to help expand
the behavioral health workforce, including in rural and medically under-served
areas, and increase access to child and adolescent services
_ _ _ _ _
We all know that an
unreal number of warnings and warning signs were missed last month in Parkland,
FL. This must not occur again.
How can we not
understand the anguish, frustration, and fear of the March For Our Lives
students when we failed those at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School so
dramatically?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Summary
In Part I of this
three-Blog series, School Shootings: History Keeps Repeating Itself. . . What
We Already Know, and What Schools, Staff, and Students Need to Do. . .
. . . I emphasized that, while we need to remember the
fallen and mourn our losses, the ultimate school violence goal is to prevent
the next act of violence, the next (God forbid) school shooting.
To help attain this
goal, I re-reviewed the June 2004 U.S. Secret Service and Department of
Education document, The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School
Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the
United States.
Analyzing 37
targeted school shootings from 1974 to 2000, this Report discussed the many
different motives underlying these atrocities—concluding that most of the
investigated shooters had no diagnosed mental health issues.
The Report
concluded that there is no single profile of characteristics that can predict a
school shooter, to which I added two missing components:
* First, the
factors related to school shootings are complex, and the ways to prevent them
are layered and comprehensive.
* Second, more
focus is needed on school safety, school discipline, classroom management, and
student self-management, and the root causes from each past shooting needs to
be applied to prevent any future potential events.
_ _ _ _ _
In Part II, School
Shootings, Comprehensive Prevention, Mandatory (Mental Health) Reporting, and
Standardized Threat Assessments. . . What Schools, Staff, and Students Need to
Do, and The Help that They Need to Do It . . .
. . . I analyzed existing—largely state—gun control and
related laws that are approximating the laws being advocated at the federal
level. I did this to demonstrate that we
can successfully impact our nation’s laws, because we have already
impacted many laws at the state level.
In fact, the Boston
Globe estimates that approximately 27,000 of the 38,658 people who died in gun-related
deaths in 2016 could saved if every state had the same gun laws as Massachusetts.
This article [CLICK
HERE] provided (a) state-by-state statistics on gun-related deaths in 2016,
(b) how many lives would have been saved by Massachusetts-like gun laws, (c) how
many of seven “common-sense” guns laws each state has enacted, and (d) how to
contact each state’s Governor and State Senate and House leader.
_ _ _ _ _
But I made two
additional recommendations in the Part II Blog:
* To establish
laws, similar to existing child abuse laws nationwide, requiring professionals
and others to report individuals (including students) suspected of potential
school violence.
* To develop and require
a standardized threat assessment for any individual reported as immediately
above.
_ _ _ _ _
Now, in this Blog, I
have tried to encourage us to listen to our students’ voices. . . both to help
them to feel safer, and to help them be safer.
But there is one
more voice that I feel must be heard. . . at least, right now. It is the voice that usually cries out in our
inner-city schools. . . but is not often heard.
It is the same voice as those from the Parklands, or the Sandy Hooks, or
the Columbines, or the Jonesboros. . . but it rarely get the same attention.
I am not trying to
cater to people’s emotions today, but to your rationality.
I am not trying to
make political statements, but help us face practical realities.
And, I am not trying
to live in the past, but I want to help our students live. . . so that they will
have a path to establish their futures.
We must listen to
our students. . . because they are making sense.
We must listen to
our students. . . who are not making sense. . . especially if they are
ready to kill.
_ _ _ _ _
I hope that this
information has been useful to you. I
know that we all dedicated to protecting our students, making our schools safe,
and addressing the social, emotional, and behavioral needs of those students
who are struggling in our midst.
There are
school-based solutions, and experienced professionals who can help schools and
districts go to the next level of success relative to strengthening school
climate and school safety.
Let me know how I
can assist you in this charge. I am
always available by e-mail or conference call.
Best,
Howie
