Can I help make my children’s school safer?

When crime, drugs and violence spill over from the streets into the schools, providing a safe learning environment becomes increasingly difficult. More students carry weapons. Gunfights replace fistfights. Many students must travel through drugdealer or gang turf. Violence becomes an acceptable way to settle conflicts. When this happens, children cannot learn and teachers cannot teach.

Creating a safe place where children can learn and grow depends on a partnership among students, parents, teachers, as well as other community institutions.

To help prevent school violence:

o Find out how crime threatens schools in your community.
o Take action to protect children.
o Promote nonviolent ways to manage conflict.

How do these ideas translate into action? Here are some practical suggestions for young people, parents, school staff & others in the community.

o Settle arguments with words, not fists or weapons.
o Report crimes or suspicious activities to the police, school authorities, or parents.
o Take safe routes to and from school and know good places to seek help.
o Don’t use alcohol or other drugs and stay away from places and people associated with them.
o Get involved in your school’s antiviolence activities—have poster contests against violence, hold anti-drug rallies, volunteer to counsel peers. If there are no programs, help start one.