Schools Review Security After Recent Violence

Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Center, said school shootings motivate school officials to take a closer look at their own methods for handling violence.

"After Columbine, (officials) certainly enhanced security plans and school safety plans," he said. "The question is how you create safe schools without turning them into fortresses."

Stephens said improvements to safety plans included minimizing the number of entrances and exits and developing protocol to deal with threats made by students.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools officials said they think the methods employed by local schools are effective in preventing crime. Steve Scroggs, assistant superintendent for support services for the district, said the system has heightened security in schools during the past year. He said metal detectors were put in place at sporting events after shots were reported but not verified at a Chapel Hill High School football game earlier this year.

He added that one of the system's main goals in dealing with potential problems has been to develop a uniform plan for all schools to follow in case of emergency.

"(We) needed to be consistent in our response pattern," Scroggs said. "Gain consistency on a very scattered plan about safe schools -- (that's) one of the lessons learned."

But Jane Grady, assistant director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of School Violence at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said it is impossible to prevent violence with plans designed only to keep weapons out of schools.

Instead, Grady stressed that combating violence in schools should be a community issue.

"We'd be fooling ourselves to say everything can be prevented," she said. "We need to improve the environment. Keeping weapons out of schools is not the problem."

Grady added that she thinks preventing school violence should be a common goal in the community. "We see this as a larger community issue," she said.

David Thaden, principal of East Chapel Hill High School, said the high school has been trying to increase communication between students and adults to help prevent violence. He cited the school's Advocacy program -- in which a group of 10 to 12 students are paired with an adult -- as a successful prevention attempt. "This year (in Advocacy) we stressed how important it is to talk to people if you have a concern," he said.

Thaden also said the program emphasizes encouraging students to talk about threatening comments made by friends.

He added that the school has been fortunate not to have many problems with violence. "When you put 1,300 kids in the same place, this, that and the other will happen, but we have been remarkably free of physical problems," he said. "On campus we've been pretty lucky."

But both system officials said no special plans were in place to deal with the aftermath of the California shooting.

Thaden said that though faculty made an effort to mingle with students during lunch and class changes, no structured plans were made.

"We put out a notice to all counselors, administrators, teachers, telling them (to watch for kids) showing signs of needing to talk," he said. "But there was nothing structured."

Stephens added that it is important for adults to listen to students and take seriously any threats they hear.

"No question. All threats need to be taken seriously," he said. "(Violence is a) continuing reminder that despite our best efforts, (schools) are still vulnerable. The best metal detectors around tend to be students because they are on the front line."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.