Mental Health and Wellness

SECTION
II – VIOLENCE AND SCHOOLS: SEPARATING MYTH FROM FACT
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For
school personnel, ordinary, day-to-day stresses can be compounded
by exaggerated fears of violence in schools, fueled by misperceptions
of schools as dangerous places for children.

Compared
to violence in other settings, school violence is actually relatively
rare. In the combined 1992 and 1993 calendar years, 7,357 young
people ages five through nineteen were murdered in communities across
our nation. Of those, 63 – or less than one percent (1%) — were
murdered at school. [13]

Statistics
on School Violence

Two
recent governmental reports indicate that schools are, in fact,
among the safest places for our nation’s children and youth. The
third Annual Report on School Safety (2000) [14]
and the Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2000 [15]
report show that overall, violence and crime in our nation’s schools
have declined in recent years. Highlights from the Annual Report
on School Safety provide data on the safety of students in our
schools:

• For students
  12-18 years old, overall school crime (including theft, rape,
  sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault)
  decreased by nearly one-third (1/3), from 144 crimes per 1,000
  students in 1992 to 101 crimes per 1,000 students in 1998.
• Compared
  to a high of 49 deaths reported in 1995-96, 34 violent deaths
  were reported in 1998-99.
• Fewer students
  are carrying weapons or engaging in physical fights. In 1998-99,
  3,523 students were expelled for bringing a firearm to school,
  down from 5,724 students expelled in 1996-97.
• The percentage
  of students reporting the presence of gangs at school dropped
  from 29 percent in 1995 to 17 percent in 1999.
• Students
  are less likely to be victims of violent crimes while at school
  than when they are away from school. However, many students
  still feel unsafe at school—especially students belonging
  to racial and ethnic minority groups. A larger percentage of
  black and Hispanic students than whites fear attacks.
• For some
  types of violence, however, rates have neither decreased nor
  increased. The percentage of 9-12^th grade students
  threatened or injured with a weapon on school property remained
  constant – at about 7-8% — for each year between 1993 and 1997.
  Rates for 9-12^th graders who reported involvement
  in physical fights during that same period also remained unchanged
  at about 15% each year.

While the school
rampages that occurred in communities such as Littleton, Colorado,
Springfield, Oregon, and Paducah, Kentucky were truly horrific,
such high-profile school killings are extremely uncommon.

Many suggest
that news coverage by the media creates the impression that school
violence is pervasive and that this creates unnecessary fear and
stress among school personnel. In the days, weeks, and even months
that followed the tragedy at Columbine High School in Littleton,
Colorado in April 1999, national news coverage of the tragedy stimulated
a concern about copycat activities. Local reporters interviewed
school officials in their area concerning possible copycat attacks.
As such, news coverage itself generated an additional source of
stress for school personnel across the nation. [See NEA Crisis Communications
Guide and Toolkit, Vol. IV – Hands-On Assistance — Tools for Educators
– Tool
23: For the Media: Avoiding Copycat Threats]

Violence
Against Teachers: Are Schools Safe Places to Work?

Although the
statistics show that schools are safe, teachers and other school
personnel do have genuine reason for some degree of concern. According
to the U.S. Department of Justice, while student-on-student violence
has decreased in recent years, threats of violence directed at teachers
have increased. To put the incidence of violence against teachers
into context, the following chart illustrates the relative risks
faced by teachers compared to other categories of workers:

[click the graph
for a larger view. Use your browser’s “back” button to
return to this page]

NIOSH has identified
factors associated with an increased risk of workplace assault.
Of those that pertain to working in schools, risk factors for assault
include:

• working in
  community-based settings;
• having contact
  with the public;
• working alone
  or in small numbers – i.e., in a classroom, a teacher may be the
  only adult present throughout most of the day; and,
• working in
  high-crime areas (depending on where a school is located).

Over a five-year
period, between 1994 and 1998, violent crimes (i.e., rape or sexual
assault, robbery, aggravated and simple assault) against teachers
occurred at a rate of 83 per 1,000 teachers per year. The highest
rate occurred among middle/junior high school teachers, followed
by senior high and elementary school teachers, respectively. The
actual crime rates reported were:

• 60 violent
  crimes per 1,000 middle/junior high school teachers
• 38 violent
  crimes per 1,000 senior high school teachers
• 18 violent
  crimes per 1,000 elementary school teachers.

Statistics
on Violence Directed at Teachers

• During the
  1993-94 school year, 12% of all elementary and secondary school
  teachers were threatened with injury by a student and 4% were
  physically attacked.

• More than
  twice as often, male teachers were victims of violent crime as
  were female teachers, with 53 violent crimes per 1,000 for male
  teachers and 25 violent crimes per 1,000 for female teachers.

• The prevalence
  of teacher victimization by students did not vary according to
  teachers’ racial or ethnic backgrounds.

• Teachers
  in urban schools were more likely to be victims of violent crimes
  than were teachers in rural and suburban schools, with 40 violent
  crimes per 1,000 for teachers in urban schools and 24 violent
  crimes per 1,000 for teachers in either rural or suburban schools.

• Secondary
  school teachers were more likely to have been threatened by a
  student from their school, whereas elementary school teachers
  were more likely to have been attacked by a student.

Developmental
differences (i.e., physical, mental, emotional and social developmental
differences) between elementary and secondary school-age children
and youth probably account for differences in reports between elementary
and secondary school teachers.

School
Practices/Policies Related to Safety

Given the statistics
and our concerns of about school safety, what is being done to make
schools safe for students and staff? Across the country, schools
report taking the following measures:

• 94% had zero
  tolerance policies for firearms and 91% had zero tolerance policies
  for weapons other than firearms
• 96% required
  visitors to sign in before entering the building
• 80% prohibited
  students from leaving the campus (e.g., for lunch)
• 53% controlled
  access to the school building and 24% controlled access to school
  grounds
• 4% performed
  random metal detector checks and 1% performed daily metal detector
  checks
• 78% had no
  police or law enforcement representatives assigned to their school;
  12% had police or other law enforcement at school on an as needed
  basis; 6% had police or other law enforcement assigned for 30
  hours or more per week; 3% had police or other law enforcement
  at school 1 to 9 hours per week; and, 1% had police or other law
  enforcement at school 10 to 29 hours per week.

Introduction Letter from Bob Chase Full Table of Contents Section I – Stress 101: A Primer on Stress for School Employees Section II – Violence and Schools: Separating Myth from Fact Section III – Reducing Violence-Related Stress in Schools Section IV – Recommended Resources References Project Advisory Group