A Little of This and That

Still Good Information

1.  Landmark Juvenile Cases

2.  School Violence Info

                Read:

      ·         Principals' Perceptions of Discipline Issues in Their Schools

o        Types of Schools With Discipline Problems

o        Relationship Between Safety and Principals' Perceptions of Discipline Issues

o        Comparisons of Principals' Perceptions in 1991 and 1997

          Landmark Juvenile Cases: (The United States Supreme Court )

The Supreme Court has issued several ruling in regards to handling juvenile within the criminal system:

•  The first case, Kent v. U.S. (1966), the Supreme Court ruled juveniles are entitled to representation by attorneys who must have access to their records.

•  The second case, In Re Gault (1967), the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles are given "the right to due process", just as adults. However, the right to a transcript and the right to appeal were not approved by the Supreme Court due to the issue that the constitution does not uphold transcripts or appeals.

•  The third case, In Re Winship (1970), the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles, just as adults, are also subject to the issue "guilt needs to be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt." 

• The fourth case, McKeiver v. Pennsylvania (1971), upheld that juvenile are not entitled by constitution to trial by jury; however, juveniles can be entitled to trial jury by the state.

•  The fifth case, Breed v. Jones (1975), the Supreme Court ruled that juvenile are not immune to the law of "double jeopardy." Juveniles can not be tried twice for a crime committed.

•  The sixth case, Schall v. Martin (1984), ruled that preventive detention is non punitive in its intent and is, therefore, not a "punishment." Consequently, preventive detention today cannot be imposed without prior notice, a detention hearing, and a statement by the judge setting forth reason(s) for detention. 

 The six juvenile cases are founded on the rights given to adults. The right to attorney, due process, guilt proven beyond a reasonable doubt and detainment/detention were given as rights to juveniles as they were established to adult. On the other hand jury and appeals are granted adults on trial. NOT to Juveniles.

 2. The impact of In Re Gault was vital to the process of handling juveniles through the justice system. The Supreme Court case up held that juveniles, like adults, were entitled to "due process" of the criminal system. The four areas that were approved by the Supreme Court were notice of charges, right to counsel, right to confront and to cross-examine witness, protection against self-incrimination.

 3.  The Juvenile Justice System has six "official" categories for children who come into contact with the system. (1) Delinquent Children are those who violated the criminal law. If they were adults, the word "criminal" would have been applied to them. (2) Undisciplined children are said to be beyond parental control. They tend to refuse to obey legitimate authority. (3) Dependent Children are children who typically lack parental or guardians to care for them or they have been abandoned or place for adoption in violation of the law. (4) Neglected Children are defined as those who did not receive proper care from their parents or guardians. (5) Abused children are those who suffered physical abuse at the hand of their custodians - including emotional and sexual abuse. (6) Status Offenders is a special category of children who violated laws written only for children. The six official categories are adequate enough for the system; however, I feel that one more category should be added. The category of children who commit crimes based on a psychological, mental, or even a physical disorder. This particular category could lead way for attempts to reform children who suffer from some form of mental or physical disorder. In addition a category for repeated child-offenders should be incorporated in an attempt to handle and maintain the children who continue to commit crimes.

 The juvenile justice throughout history has changed. In the Earliest Times, the history of the Western world reveals that children who committed crimes in past century could expect no preferential treatment because of their youth. They were adjudicated and punished alongside adults. Juveniles in Early America were put to death if it was proven that the juveniles were disobedient to their parents. The Institutional Era the juvenile took on the role of cheap labor. The House of Refuge was developed to help children form crime and poverty. The Chicago Reform School was designed to be a place for delinquent juvenile with a Christian home atmosphere. The Juvenile Court Era came about for the best interest of the child was the guide to the juvenile courts. The Post-Juvenile Court Era continues to under gird the standard system of America juvenile justice.

STATS 2000:

SELECTED SCHOOL VIOLENCE RESEARCH FINDINGS

· Thirty-seven percent of students reported there was a gang presence at their school. (Youth Gangs in Schools, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2000) http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/183015.pdf

· Forty-four percent of students say they feel “a lot” responsible for keeping their school safe (The Metropolitan Life Survey of the American Teacher 2000, 2000) http://www.metlife.com/Companyinfo/Community/Found/Docs/2000pdf.html

 School Violence - Developing a Prevention and Response Plan

Effective schools create a violence prevention and response plan and form a team that can ensure it is implemented. They use approaches and strategies based on research about what works.

Creating the School Violence Prevention and Response Plan

A sound violence prevention and response plan reflects the common and the unique needs of educators, students, families, and the greater community. The plan outlines how all individuals in the school community--administrators, teachers, parents, students, bus drivers, support staff--will be prepared to spot the behavioral and emotional signs that indicate a child is troubled, and what they will need to do. The plan also details how school and community resources can be used to create safe environments and to manage responses to acute threats and incidents of violence.

An effective written plan includes:

·         Descriptions of the early warning signs of potentially violent behavior and procedures for identifying children who exhibit these signs.

·         Descriptions of effective prevention practices the school community has undertaken to build a foundation that is responsive to all children and enhances the effectiveness of interventions.

·         Descriptions of intervention strategies the school community can use to help troubled children. These include early interventions for students, who are at risk of behavioral problems, and more intensive, individualized interventions and resources for students with severe behavioral problems or mental health needs.

·         A crisis intervention plan that includes immediate responses for imminent warning signs and violent behavior, as well as a contingency plan to be used in the aftermath of a tragedy.

The plan must be consistent with federal, state, and local laws. It also should have the support of families and the local school board.

Recommendations in this guide will prove most meaningful when the entire school community is involved in developing and implementing the plan. In addition, everyone should be provided with relevant training and support on a regular basis. Finally, there should be a clearly delineated mechanism for monitoring and assessing violence prevention efforts.

Forming the Prevention and Response Team

It can be helpful to establish a school-based team to oversee the preparation and implementation of the prevention and response plan. This does not need to be a new team; however, a designated core group should be entrusted with this important responsibility.

The core team should ensure that every member of the greater school community accepts and adopts the violence prevention and response plan. This buy-in is essential if all members of the school community are expected to feel comfortable sharing concerns about children who appear troubled. Too often, caring individuals remain silent because they have no way to express their concerns.

Typically, the core team includes the building administrator, general and special education teachers, parent(s), and a pupil support services representative (a school psychologist, social worker, or counselor), school resource officer, and a safe and drug-free schools program coordinator. If no school psychologist or mental health professional is available to the staff, involve someone from an outside mental health agency. Other individuals may be added to the team depending on the task. For example, when undertaking school-wide prevention planning, the team might be expanded to include students, representatives of community agencies and organizations, the school nurse, school board members, and support staff (secretaries, bus drivers, and custodians). Similarly, crisis response planning can be enhanced with the presence of a central office administrator, security officer, and youth officer or community police team member.

The core team also should coordinate with any school advisory boards already in place. For example, most effective schools have developed an advisory board of parents and community leaders that meets regularly with school administrators. While these advisory groups generally offer advice and support, that role can be expanded to bringing resources related to violence prevention and intervention into the school.

Consider involving a variety of community leaders and parents when building the violence prevention and response team:

·         Parent group leaders, such as PTA officers.

·         Law enforcement personnel.

·         Attorneys, judges, and probation officers.

·         Clergy and other representatives of the faith community.

·         Media representatives.

·         Violence prevention group representatives.

·         Mental health and child welfare personnel.

·         Physicians and nurses.

·         Family agency and family resource center staff.

·         Business leaders.

·         Recreation, cultural, and arts organizations staff.

·         Youth workers and volunteers.

·         Local officials, including school board members and representatives from special commissions.

·         Interest group representatives and grass roots community organization members.

·         College or university faculty.

·         Members of local advisory boards.

·         Other influential community members.

The school board should authorize and support the formation of and the tasks undertaken by the violence prevention and response team.

While we cannot prevent all violence from occurring, we can do much to reduce the likelihood of its occurrence. Through thoughtful planning and the establishment of a school violence prevention and response team, we can avert many crises and be prepared when they do happen.

"Our district initiated a safety task force involving parents, students, teachers, support staff, administrators, and community members to enhance our plan for safety and crisis management. It works." Richard E. Berry, Superintendent, Houston, TX

 "We need to give attention to the segment of the population that includes bus drivers, secretaries, and cafeteria workers. They are a very important yet often overlooked group of people who can provide support to children." Betty Stockton, School Psychologist, Jonesboro, AR

Action Planning Checklist

Prevention-Intervention-Crisis Response

What To Look For--Key Characteristics of Responsive and Safe Schools

Does my school have characteristics that:

__ Are responsive to all children?

What To Look For--Early Warning Signs of Violence

Has my school taken steps to ensure that all staff, students, and families:

__ Understand the principles underlying the identification of early warning signs?
__ Know how to identify and respond to imminent warning signs?
__ Are able to identify early warning signs?

What To Do--Intervention: Getting Help for Troubled Children

Does my school:

__ Understand the principles underlying intervention?
__ Make early intervention available for students at risk of behavioral problems?
__ Provide individualized, intensive interventions for students with severe behavioral problems?
__ Have school-wide preventive strategies in place that support early intervention?

What To Do--Crisis Response

Does my school:

__ Understand the principles underlying crisis response?
__ Have a procedure for intervening during a crisis to ensure safety?
__ Know how to respond in the aftermath of tragedy?

Communicating about School Safety - Table of Contents

• Showing the public that schools are safe

• Creating a district safety committee

• Safety questions to consider

• Invite your community to help make schools safe

• Setting up a Safe Schools Hotline

• Promoting your safety officers

• Handling a crisis: The First 30 Minutes

• Surviving when tragedy strikes

• Tips for working with the news media

• Administrator’s checklist

• Dealing with suicide

• Sample safety letter to parents

• Safety tip sheets for families

 Communicating about School Safety

Survey after survey shows that the American public is concerned about schools being safe places for kids. When questioned, these people know school staff members will protect students in cases of natural catastrophes such as earthquakes or fires. However, they fear that a few potentially violent kids threaten the safety of all students.

This perception is not surprising, when one considers recent national publicity surrounding violent acts on school grounds and the fact that many people have no school-age children (70 percent in most communities) and have not been in school in a long time. Most don’t remember anyone bringing any kind of a weapon to school, much less anyone using a weapon at school. One well-publicized incident of a student or teacher being shot at school can shock them into believing that the potential for violence is present in all schools and that schools are dangerous places.

Unfortunately, we must admit their fears and perceptions are based on reality. Twenty years ago teenagers committing crimes with weapons in typical American communities were a rarity. Today they are in the news every day. Teen arrests accounted for 23 percent of all murder arrests in 1995 even though people aged 13 to 18 were only an estimated 10 percent of the U.S. population aged 13 and older.

Fewer teenagers were arrested for murder in 1995 than a year earlier, but arrests are still far above their 1986 level, and the number of 13- to 18-year-olds arrested for murder declined 14 percent for agencies reporting for 1994 and 1995. (American Demographics, February, 1997.)

The reality for many children is that school is the safest place in their lives.

Showing the public that schools are safe

Here are some ideas for working with your community on this issue and assuring them your schools are safe.

·         First, be sure schools are safe. Adopt and enforce clear, easily-understood policies about weapons at school, fighting, harassment and other behaviors that can threaten student safety. Be sure your policy is specific about the consequences for these behaviors and for bringing weapons to school.

·         Overcome fears of talking about school safety. Like anyone else, school leaders often subscribe to the theory that the best course of action is to simply avoid discussing a controversial issue. They feel that bringing up the topic of safety will only remind people of the potential problems. The proven fact is that, given the already high interest in the subject, school personnel who have the nerve to initiate the conversation about school safety gain respect and credibility. The facts are almost always more positive than the quiet speculation on the subject. More important, a candid approach builds trust, a commodity we badly need when people are entrusting their children to our care.

·         Communicate with parents early and often about your school safety policies. Talk about school safety at school orientation nights, in parent handbooks and in articles for your newsletters. Write a friendly letter to each family that tells them you wish you didn't have to discuss this issue, but the safety of each student is so important, you feel compelled to discuss it with them. Then outline the school district's policy about weapons and other safety issues and ask for their help in enforcing those policies. (See sample on page 33.)

·         Enlist the help of your community. People support institutions which are working with them to find solutions. If schools assume the entire burden and authority for keeping schools safe, the public will expect a perfect record and be critical if those schools don’t measure up. If people fully understand the problems and help develop solutions to those problems, they are much more likely to support the solutions.

·         Invite parents and families to become partners with the school to ensure safety for every student.

·         Form partnerships with other agencies. Law enforcement agencies, civic groups, neighbor- hood businesses and others are just as interested in student safety as you are. Explore with them how you can build partnerships to help keep schools safe.

·         Tell people about your progress. Show them that schools do not mirror our society and that kids are much safer at school than on the streets.

·         Release weapons incidents reports showing the decline in recent years. Most schools have had a marked decline in weapons incidents. Show that decline and make honest comments about the few incidents you now have. We all agree that one incident is one too many. Your honesty about that will gain respect for you and your efforts.

·         Use comparisons to put your statistics into perspective:

The percent of weapons incidents in the community as a whole can be used to show that what is happening in schools is also happening in society. The number of incidents in schools are minuscule compared to society as a whole, even when those incidents are compared with the percent of citizens represented by those who are between 5 and 18 years-of-age.

The percent of suspensions and/or expulsions for violations of the policy will show that you are serious about enforcing your safety policies and about schools being safe. This number may be declining along with the decline in the number of weapons incidents.

·         Revealing the number of incidents caused by outsiders coming onto your school campuses will give you an opportunity to again discuss your safety policies and what you are doing to prevent such incidents in the future.

·         Deflate the myths about weapons and school safety. Although many people assume there are more safety problems in schools whose students have a low socio-economic status, the statistics in many district don't bear this out. Allowing this myth to exist contributes to the stigma already felt by all-too-many students at schools located in low socio-economic neighborhoods. Look at the statistics for your district. If news media, parents or others assume weapons problems are greater at a school with low socio-economic factors, provide them with accurate data. By doing this you help spread the message that the incidence of weapons, alcohol and other types of safety problems are found in all parts of every town. They are universal problems which you are working hard to resolve.

·         Start your school safety campaign by educating staff members and parents. One staff member or parent expressing fears and doubts about the safety of students in a school can start a wildfire of speculation that in turn becomes a full-fledged, highly destructive fire. Make sure staff and parents have correct information and are part of the solution rather than contributing to the problem.

·         Be honest and don’t be afraid to mention the unmentionable. The principal of a highly-acclaimed New York City magnet school gets good results from what he calls "truly listening to customers’ concerns." Every year he invites parents of prospective students to an open house, introduces teachers and, with them, explains curriculum. After fielding questions, he makes a point of announcing that he has yet to hear one question about whether the school is safe. He says that every time he poses this question himself, an almost visible sigh of relief fills the room; what many parents shrink from asking has been asked. He then invites the parents to observe for themselves, visit whenever they like, go anywhere in the school they like and talk with students and teachers.

·         Invite people in anytime, to talk with anyone. The best way to show you have nothing to hide is to hide nothing. Invite people to visit your schools, see for themselves how safe they are and talk with students and staff.

Creating a district safety committee

Ensuring that schools are safe for students and staff is the responsibility of everyone in the community. While school officials can take certain steps to maintain a safe and orderly atmosphere for learning, there are many others in your community who can make positive contributions to your schools.

One way to bring the community together to find new and creative approaches for safe schools is to form a safety committee. This group could include:

·         Parents;

·         Teachers;

·         Counselors;

·         Support staff;

·         Administrators;

·         Police officers;

·         Clergy;

·         Business people;

·         Senior citizens;

·         Students; and

·         Anyone else who has a concern about the safety of children at school.

Goals Since the participants will have many different perspectives on school safety, it will be important to establish specific goals for the committee. Allow the group to brainstorm what issues they want to address, then choose the priorities that everyone shares.

To stay focused, the committee should establish a vision and two or three primary goals that support the vision. For example, a vision statement for the safety committee might be: "Every child deserves a safe and secure school." Examples of goals supporting this vision might be:

·         Students can expect safe behavior by their peers.

·         There is a no-tolerance policy for weapons and drugs at school.

·         New partnerships are established between police and schools.

Research. Before moving ahead with activities, the safety committee should have solid information on which to base decisions. The committee should consider a safety-in-schools survey to gather this information.

You may want to get the advice of a professional survey company on how to conduct the survey in order to ensure that the data is reliable. The committee, however, can decide on the issues that it wants researched. Here are some sample questions that could be asked of students:

1.      Overall, do you feel safe at your school?

2.      Have you ever feared for your safety at school?

3.      Did you stay at home any day during the past school year because you were afraid that another student would harm you?

4.      During the past year, did anyone take money or other items directly from you at school using weapons or any other object to threaten you?

5.      During the past year, did anyone steal any of your personal belongings from your desk, locker or other place at school?

6.      During the past year have you been bullied (verbally or physically) at school?

7.      Have you personally seen drugs being sold at your school?

8.      Where do you feel safest at your school (classrooms, parking lot, cafeteria, halls, restrooms)?

9.      How safe do you feel riding the bus?

Due to the sensitive nature of the questions, a survey such as this will be of great interest to the media as well as to students and parents. Your safety committee, therefore, will play a key role in how the survey is conducted and how the results are released.

The safety committee should also be prepared to make recommendations based on the survey, particularly if there are certain areas of concern.

Activities There are many steps the safety committee can take to improve safety in schools. For example, the committee can help develop new partnerships between schools and police. This could result in an increased police presence at schools — and not just when there’s a problem. Police can build positive relationships with students by walking the hallways or visiting classrooms. You may even want to introduce local police officers at school assemblies.

Another area the safety committee can look into is emergency communications. Some questions the safety committee may want to answer are:

·         Do parking lot attendants or crossing guards have radios for immediate communication with the school?

·         How does the district office communicate with schools during a crisis?

·         Are school personnel trained in how to contact emergency personnel?

As the committee helps the school district find innovative solutions to safety issues, its members can become an important communication link to the community.

Safety questions to consider

Just as schools identify hazards and ways to protect children from natural disasters, there are safety questions about school facilities that employees and parents must address.

School Exterior

·         Are the school grounds fenced?

·         Are gates secured after hours?

·         Have school neighbors been invited to the school and encouraged to report any unusual incidents?

·         Are there signs posted that declare school grounds to be drug-free and gun-free zones?

·         Are there welcome signs that politely ask all visitors to check in at the office?

·         Are shrubs and trees trimmed to allow for a good line of sight?

·         Is all graffiti on the walls covered within 24 hours after it appears?

·         Are all play areas visible to classrooms?

·         Are all areas of school buildings and grounds accessible to security patrols?

·         Is visual surveillance of parking lots from the main office possible?

·         Is visual surveillance of play ground areas and equipment possible?

·         Are students issued parking stickers for assigned parking areas?

·         Is student access to parking areas restricted to arrival and dismissal times?

·         Has a parking area been designated for students who must leave school during regular hours for work or approved appointments?

School Interior

·         Are visitors required to sign in?

·         Are visitors required to wear identification badges?

·         Is proper identification required of any vendors or workmen on campus?

·         Are the hallways properly lighted?

·         Are the bathrooms properly lighted and supervised?

·         Are exits clearly marked?

·         Are window panes broken?

·         Are window hardware pieces in working order?

·         Is there a central alarm system in the school?

·         Are high risk areas (main office, computer room, cafeteria, gymnasium, shops and labs) protected by an alarm system?

·         Is there two-way communication between:

1.      classroom and main office?

2.      duty stations and main office?

3.      portable classrooms and main office?

·         Are there enforced and written rules restricting non-student access to school grounds and buildings?

·         Are students issued identification badges?

·         Are students restricted from loitering in restrooms and hallways?

·         Are students restricted from entering vacant classrooms alone?

·         Are staff members who remain on campus after hours or on weekends required to sign in and out?

·         Are faculty members required to lock classrooms upon leaving?

·         Do the nearest police and fire officials know the name of the principal and designated staff members in case of an emergency?

·         Is all school equipment properly marked?

·         Is there regular maintenance and testing of all security systems at least twice a year?

School Board Policy

·         Does the district have policies and procedures related to building security?

·         Do individual schools have security policies specific to their buildings?

·         Are periodic reviews of building security plans part of district policy?

Invite your community to help make schools safe

School used to be a place where educators, parents and students felt secure, but as has been noted, in many places this is no longer the case. Danger may exist from gang members or others ready with fists or weapons; the occasional predator who waits outside a school building or on well-traveled paths; a stranger who invites a shy youngster to take a ride; etc.

School officials take these threats seriously and are arming themselves with well-devised policies on admittance to school property and expectations for student behavior. Many districts have increased security personnel and invited officers into their halls to help police schools, but staff and the extra help can’t do it alone. You need the support and the awareness of the entire community to succeed.

There are a number of ways, in addition to forming a district safety committee, that you can see that your community is aware of this need:

·         Speak about the need for increased safety awareness to community members at day care centers, libraries, social service clubs and other places where children gather.

·         Encourage neighbors to watch out for all the children in their area, not just their own children.

·         Develop and distribute a brochure that offers a step-by-step guide for setting up safe neighborhoods.

·         Distribute information to families that encourages students to use safe behavior when walking, at home and in school. Sample tip sheets that can be given to families are included in this packet.

·         Encourage a district latch-key program, where children who arrive at school early and leave late have a safe place to stay.

·         Encourage local organizations to sponsor and display safety posters in their businesses that remind parents, students and other residents about the need to observe safety guidelines.

·         Develop a good working relationship with local law enforcement officials. Take a proactive approach — don’t wait until a crisis hits. With their assistance, establish a special phone number community members can call when they spot suspicious activities around school grounds. If a disaster does strike, law enforcement officers who have been involved in helping you plan for such an emergency will be supportive allies. Tips for setting up a "safe schools hotline" are included in this packet.

·         Keep the lines of communication open with prosecutors. Work with prosecutors to assure that notifications of sex offenders living in your community are provided to all school employees and to parents.

·         Include the topic of safety as an integral part of your K-12 curriculum. Schedule police officers to speak to secondary students at assemblies and to work with elementary-age children on a regular basis. Cover violence prevention, weapons control and avoidance of drugs and alcohol.

·         Make use of campus supervisors. In some districts, campus supervisors are police officers; in others, district employees. Whichever your district utilizes, enlist these safety officers to speak to students about violence, weapons control and other pertinent issues. Encourage campus supervisors to get to know students personally.

·         Provide transportation safety checks. In many states, the state patrol conducts annual safety checks on school buses. In coordination with bus drivers and supervisors, the patrol checks brakes, horns, rear view mirrors and other safety items on buses.

·         Formulate your district’s disaster-preparedness plan. Include police officers and firefighters, as well as city and county officials, as you prepare your district’s staff and students for a potential disaster.

·         Take advantage of fire department safety programs. Fire departments in many cities or jurisdictions employ full- or part-time safety officers or community education officers. Ask local firefighters to provide CPR training for students, staff and parents. Develop a fire prevention curriculum with the assistance of the fire department. Your local fire department should be able to provide instructional materials.

·         Invite hospital administrators to speak to students and parents about safety issues. Ask a representative of the nearest hospital to speak about student safety, including the importance of crossing the street at crosswalks, wearing seat belts and other safety concerns.

·         Involve the mayor and/or other elected officials. These people are always concerned with student safety. Keep the lines of communication open regarding ways your city and/or county can help encourage a safe environment, including providing well-lit streets and helping to formulate and enforce zero-tolerance policies on weapons and drug abuse. Organizing partnerships with city and county organizations, including police and fire departments, will go a long way towards assuring a safe environment for district students and staff. Take the time to get to know your local officials before disaster strikes!

·         Work with city/county departments to install crosswalks and crossing lights near schools and on routes used by students to travel to school.

·         Hold evening and/or afternoon workshops at local schools or libraries, ask your parent organizations to host safety nights or volunteer to provide a program for a neighborhood meeting and then arrange for one of the following people to speak on one of the proposed topics:

Speakers/Topic

·         Police Officer: Crime in the area. Real or potential threats to students and the community.

·         District Security Officer: Current practices to ensure student safety in buildings, halls, classrooms and adjoining fields and woods.

·         Student: Safety concerns and the need for increased awareness.

·         Administrator: Current policies that focus on student safety, such as no gang clothing, no weapons on campus, disciplinary actions, etc.

·         Community Relations Director: Lead small group discussions about potential problems and what activities might help ensure that students are safe in school. Ask a spokesperson from each small group to report to the entire group. Compile the information for use by your community action team.

·         Superintendent/ Administrator: The importance of the school district and community working together to make school a safe place to educate children

Set up a Safe Schools Hotline

First, discuss the idea with middle school and high school students. Ask them if they would use it, and if not, why not? Ask them what it would take for them to use it. Repeat the discussion with parents. Be sure the groups you query are representative of students and parents in your schools, and give their advice serious consideration as you begin planning for your hotline.

If students are interested, involve them on the planning team. They’ll be very helpful when you begin to market the hotline because they’ve helped to create it.

Meet with your local police department to determine what role, if any, law enforcement officers will play. In some cities, someone at the police department monitors the hotline; in other cities, such as Seattle, the school district’s security personnel monitor the line. If the police officers don’t monitor the line, perhaps they will train staff and/or volunteers to differentiate between real and fake calls.

Ideally, the hotline should be monitored 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week. At a minimum, it should be monitored from early in the morning to early evening.

If your district doesn’t have a security staff on duty 24 hours-a-day, consider rotating the hotline duty among other staff or volunteers who agree to take the assignment as a service project.

All who call the hotline should be guaranteed anonymity.

Develop a log that will help the person monitoring the hotline to secure and retain useful information.

Determine who needs to know what and when, based on the possible severity of a situation. For example, the desired action following a "hot" tip about impending violence or a weapon on a school campus might be:

An immediate call to the police department; and

A call to the principal and/or security personnel at the affected school.

Ask the phone company if the hotline phone number can be a series of numbers that spell out an appropriate name for the line, such as 555-SAFE.

Once you have the details of the line established, announce its availability through a variety of ways so that everyone in your community is aware of it, and frequently remind people that by using the hotline to report threats to student safety they will be helping make schools a safer place.

Conduct at least two media briefings to announce the establishment of the line, one for student editors and student leaders and another for representatives of local news organizations. Be prepared to demonstrate the questions that callers will be expected to answer when they contact the hotline.

If students helped develop the hotline, involve them prominently in the media briefings.

Prepare a simple fact sheet about the hotline and how it works, emphasizing the anonymity of the callers.

Sponsor a contest inviting high school and middle school students to develop a logo and slogan for the hotline. Involve other students as the judges.

Develop an awareness campaign to publicize the hotline. Materials can include posters; radio and TV public service announcements; articles in student and parent newsletters; book covers; buttons; letters to youth groups, service clubs and churches asking for their support; reader-board signs; a booth during a local fair or celebration; flyers distributed through local businesses; place mats for local restaurants; etc.

Try to convince a service club to "adopt" the hotline as a community service project and to provide financial support.

Give students wallet cards with safety tips on one side and the safe schools hotline phone number on the other.

Mention the hotline every opportunity you get. If you find yourself dealing with an act of violence in your schools, be sure the ensuing news coverage emphasizes what you are doing to prevent violence, including the hotline number.

Provide your community with occasional follow-up reports on the usage of the hotline. Emphasize that if a call results in averting just one violent incident, the safe schools hotline is worth its weight in gold.

Promoting your safety officers

Many school districts have hired school safety employees or have developed partnerships with local law enforcement agencies to bring police officers on to school campuses. These safety officers are making a difference in our schools.

Students are getting to know their safety officers in a positive atmosphere. The officers visit with them in the halls and some offer workshops to help students with issues like peer pressure and other life skills. These relationships are beneficial both at school and when police are interacting with young people in the community.

Parents and community members should be informed about the benefits of these school-police partnerships. Here are some tips on getting this information to the public:

Encourage school safety officers to be your ambassadors.

·         Invite the school safety officers to introduce themselves at a school assembly. The principal or a student leader can welcome the officers and can describe the role of the police at the school.

·         Officers can be guest speakers for service clubs or other community groups. Have them discuss how they are making a difference in school safety. In addition, they can talk about the good things they see happening in schools. Also have students speak at the meeting about how students view the officers and how positive relationships are being built.

·         Work with the school parent organization to make school safety a topic for a monthly meeting. Safety officers can be guest speakers.

·         Make school safety a topic for a school board meeting and include the safety officers in the discussion.

Feature school safety officers in publications.

·         Work with the editors of student newspapers to introduce the officers to the students. This will help answer many of the questions students might have about police officers on their campus.

·         Feature school safety officers in district newsletters that go out to the community.

·         Use your district employee newsletter to introduce the school safety officers to all staff.

Work with local news media representatives to publicize the positive steps being taken to make schools safe.

·         Encourage your local education reporters to feature school safety officers in a news article.

·         Encourage newspaper editorial writers to applaud the partnerships between schools and police.

Spread the word to other school districts.

·         If the school safety officer program is working well in your district, tell other districts about it. For example, bring together the superintendents and law enforcement officials from surrounding districts to inform them about the program.

Handling a crisis: The First 30 Minutes

The procedure followed in the first 30 minutes of a crisis is crucial in establishing how people perceive the crisis and their attitude about how it was handled. Here is a checklist to help you work through that crucial first 30 minutes.

o        Assign the appropriate person to handle the situation. The administrator (principal or superintendent) should take charge of implementing the crisis plan.

o        Understand the circumstances. Do not speculate.

o        Define the problem.

o        Consider all the options. Act decisively to ensure the safety and well-being of students and staff.

o        Communicate with the staff.

o        Communicate with the media. In an emergency, the quickest way to reach the greatest number of parents may be through the media.

o        Update students in individual classrooms — not in large group settings.

o        Inform parents by a letter sent home with students at the end of the day explaining the circumstances and the procedure used at school to communicate with students. If a crisis team was on site, note their role and any potential follow-up.

o        Disseminate accurate information through the news media, key communicators, parent organization or booster club leaders, etc.

o        Post information about the incident on your district’s/school’s web page and change your telephone hotline message, if applicable. Keep this information as up-to-date as you can.

o        Ensure that the school board has been notified.

Surviving when tragedy strikes

In the event of a school tragedy, it is possible to predict the waves of responses from media and the public. You can better survive the emotional trauma of a school tragedy by being aware of these predictable waves of reactions and being prepared to deal with them. These tips will help you brace yourself against the onslaught while you are striving to maintain "business as normal" in your school or school district.

Before it happens . . .

·         Schedule a board work session to familiarize school board members and administrators with, or to develop, your district’s crisis management plan. Districts that fail during a crisis usually do so because they haven’t developed a specific plan or anticipated all the things that need to be done to handle crises.

·         In order to be prepared to deal with whatever crisis hits your school district, you must first develop a list of every issue or situation that has crisis potential. Add to this "hot sheet" whenever new issues or situations emerge.

·         At the work session ask yourself, "What would your district do in the event of an accident, suicide, bomb threat, drug overdose, hostage situation, gang action, gas leak, fire, explosion, power failure, bus accident, earthquake, employee scandal, snow or flood?" Talk about how to handle these situations that are potential crises. Brainstorm solutions. Put in writing the steps you will take. This will be your guide when a crisis actually occurs.

·         Develop a core team of staff (three to six, depending on the size of your district) who can work together in the event of an emergency. A copy of all school crisis plans should be on file with the team leader. Team member assignments should be made based upon:

·         Individual’s current position (For example, the director of elementary education might be in charge of notifying the elementary schools and a parent contact at each school.)

Individual’s understanding of emergency procedures as they effect her/his department.

·         If your district does not have a communication specialist, choose one member of the team to be the district spokesperson. During an emergency, this person will provide all information to both the electronic and print media and may also serve as the liaison between the district and the news media throughout the year.

·         Communicating the nature of the crisis and what you’re doing about it may be almost as important as dealing with the crisis itself. Remember, the person who speaks for the school board and/or the school district must be seen as a leader who is decisive and credible.

·         Here’s a checklist of considerations:

o        Criteria for determining who (external and internal audiences) needs to know what and why. Consider and treat representatives of the news media as partners in handling a crisis.

o        Assignment for who calls whom.

o        List of communication channels that are appropriate for each type of crisis.

o        Resources that may be needed such as counseling, transportation or public agency assistance and who to contact.

o        Emergency contact lists with names and phone numbers.

o        Access to appropriate communication devices such as maps, emergency procedures, evacuation routes and telephone lines.

o        Someone who can assist with regular functions while you’re involved with the crisis.

o        A written plan distributed to all who have any type of responsibility when a crisis does hit.

·         Help your front-line phone people understand the vital role they will play in an emergency, and show them how to be prepared to keep good records of media calls. Provide them information about how to handle calls, especially from the news media, and train them in how to deal with worried, upset and/or angry callers.

·         Never approach representatives of the news media as the enemy. They are doing the same thing you are — a job. The more fervent and aggressive they are, the more likely they have a passion for their work that is similar to your passion for your job. Most reporters are moral and honest. They believe strongly in the public’s right to know. How you treat them and how you honor their deadlines and time schedules can result in them being your friends or your foes.

·         Create a "fast facts" sheet for each school in the district. Be sure to include:

o        School name, address and phone number and administrators’ names and phone numbers;

o        Number of students and number of staff;

o        Grade levels included in the building;

o        Number of classrooms, age of building, special features of the school; and

o        Programs and achievements that are prominent at the school.

·         Prepare a complete list of the names and addresses for all the support groups for each school. Parent support groups, neighborhood churches, youth groups who meet in your building, service clubs who volunteer, business partners — list the main contact person for any group that has connections to each school building.

·         Designate someone to serve as record-keeper should a tragedy strike. This person will be responsible for clipping newspaper articles, taping radio broadcasts and video taping television coverage of the incident. He or she can also begin building a database of names and addresses of all people who will need thank-you notes when the emergency is over.

·         Always have ready at least one set of address labels, and if possible, stamped and addressed envelopes, for your key communicators. Individual schools might consider having labels ready for the parents or guardians of all students organized by the students’ grade level.

·         Encourage administrators to each recruit a colleague to be his or her professional buddy in the event of a crisis. Depending on your specific job, you will be running your building; nurturing your staff, parents and students; handling media requests; and, at the same time, dealing with your own emotions. It’s more than most people can handle alone; you may need to talk to someone with a clear head and a different perspective and who can manage details for you. If you have no district communications person, make a pact with a compatriot from another school or, preferably, from another school district. Promise to be your "buddy’s" back-up in exchange for that same support in return.

When a crisis hits

Wave one . . .

When the time comes to activate your crisis plan, the typical role for school board members is to be informed, assure constituents about what is being done, support staff efforts to resolve the crisis and respond to changes dictated by the crisis.

Using the crisis management plan, the district should target and prioritize internal/external audiences: students, staff, parents, school board, general public, other schools/districts, etc.

Respond quickly with facts — who, what, where, when. Craft a statement of what you do know as quickly as possible and keep feeding changes and updates of your statements to those who are answering the phones. Also, get information out in the most timely manner via phone tree, press releases, etc. Make the news media part of the solution. They can help get the message to your various audiences. Speed is essential. A few facts early on will reduce the impact of the news. This is the main benefit of having a well-thought-out plan and a predetermined crisis management team. Delays in responding may be viewed as a cover-up and can immediately place your district in a position of presumed guilt from which it is difficult to establish innocence.

If the crisis warrants, your district should set up a "news room" for members of the media. Be sure this room has electrical outlets and phones. The media will know immediately that they are included in the crisis communications efforts and won’t have to go through "the back door" to get the story. School board members called upon to assist or lead during a crisis should ask for a separate room, away from the news room, for privacy while directing strategies.

Consider a news conference. A news conference can be the best way to get your statement(s) out all at once in a controlled manner. Set a time and location away from the scene of the tragedy, but still on your turf. (Unless there is a good reason to hold the press conference at another site, e.g., the police station, the disaster center, etc.) Make sure there is evidence of "education" in the room where you hold the news conference, such as student art on the walls or an American flag that will show in pictures of the speakers.

Be sure those who answer the phones are alerting all media to the time and location of the news conference. Time the conference so that as many reporters as possible can still meet their deadlines. Don’t play media favorites.

Be in control of the news conference. Make your statement as clear and as inclusive as you can. Listen to the attorneys working with you, but remember they are concerned about liability, not the "human" factor. Don’t say any more than they advise, but use your own wording with compassion and depth.

After your statement, open the floor to questions and answer those that you can, rephrasing the main points from your statement as often as possible. If you can’t answer a question, explain that you can’t, but never say, "No comment." Promise updates to your report as soon as more information is available.

Send copies of all news conference statements to your key communicators immediately. Include a brief note affirming their importance to you and that you want them to have the facts about the tragedy as quickly as possible. Promise them more information as soon as it is available and then follow up on that promise.

Assume the public’s point-of-view in terms of social impact and seriousness to the community. There may be a tendency to view the event from a management point-of-view and to downplay its seriousness. It is safer to err on the side of taking the crisis too seriously than to underestimate how serious the media can make it appear.

Don’t speculate. If you are called upon to speak or have been designated as the board spokesperson, talk about your district’s policy and standard procedures. The answer to almost every question during a crisis should indicate that the district puts children first. If confidentiality is an issue, simply explain that to reporters.

Consider sending notices to parents that contain the same information you have released to the news media. Include tips about how they might help their children deal with issues and emotions.

Wave two . . .

The demand for details in wave one will overlap with wave two. Initial requests for facts will merge with empathy for those involved. Questions will focus on how people are handling the situation, how it has affected the school day, etc. At this point, reporters may want access to the building and to students.

Remind reporters of your school’s need for privacy and healing. Be firm and clear about not allowing them on school grounds. Solicit help from parents, custodians and maintenance people to alert you to media presence in the parking lots and on the grounds. In some cases, parents have formed human barriers between cameras and students so that students could get on buses, move from one building to another and so forth.

At this point, you will be neck deep in nurturing. You’ll most likely be feeling the need for some nurturing yourself. At the same time, there is a school to run and programs that must continue — a sense of normalcy is important to healing. It will be easy to snap at reporters, to not be fully tuned into the needs of all those around you or your own needs for serenity.

This is when a dispassionate professional buddy or communications person can be particularly helpful. Use them to write statements, to fax releases to media, to oversee the mailings to your key communicators and to brief front-line phone people. Let your buddy run interference and set up the logistics for your news conference. Ask him or her to listen as you practice media statements and answering questions from the "reporter from hell." Be prepared with answers to the toughest possible questions.

It’s important that you be visible to your school family and to be seen as a compassionate leader in charge. Don’t allow yourself to stay in the office taking care of details others can handle for you. It’s even more important than usual that you visit classrooms to take the emotional temperature of your school.

Somewhere in this time frame the Good Samaritans will probably come forth. They will call you to offer help — donations of food, money, clothing or time. Rely on your regular supporters to organize such things as pot-luck dinners and donation programs. You’ll exhaust yourself trying to meet media deadlines, running your building and counseling those in pain, so let someone else be in charge of donations, but ask them to keep careful records.

Wave three . . .

This wave of activity comes when you are emotionally and physically exhausted. Its nature and timing make it very difficult to tolerate.

You will be hit with such questions as: Why did this happen? Who is at fault? How could it have been prevented? How will you make sure this never happens again? Who will sue who?

The news media and general public will have already recovered from whatever shock and grief they might have felt. While you are still reeling, they may be ready to fix blame and move onto the next story. While you are still coping, there may be insurance investigations. Do affected staff and students know what that means? Do they understand that it is a necessary part of the process and that their cooperation is important? Who can they expect to ask questions?

Wave four . . .

Even though the aftermath of the tragedy may not really be over, there are follow-up details that must be handled.

Professionally print (don’t use the copy machine) or laser print thank-you notes with a message specific to the tragedy and expression of thanks to all who contributed. Make a lasting impression of your caring by sending the note cards, hand signed, to all involved: supporters, reporters, key communicators, etc.

Monitor suggestions and concepts for memorials and tributes. Are they appropriate? What about the tragedy’s anniversary next year? How will you honor or ignore it? Be prepared for emotional aftershock and the need to rearrange schedules, change the use of rooms and so forth.

Take time for an after-event critique. What went well? What could have been better? How will we respond next time? In other words, evaluate the effectiveness of your district’s crisis plan and make necessary adjustments.

When working with the media, always remember:

·         Be prepared;

·         Let the media know that you will provide the information to them as soon as you have it;

·         Anticipate questions;

·         Stay calm, no matter what happens;

·         Be in control of the interview with short, direct answers;

·         Never say, "No comment;" (This can be interpreted by the media that you are either uninformed or that you have something to hide. If you do not know the answer, it is better to say, "I don’t know," than to be either evasive or give an incorrect answer. You can always get back to the interviewer with the correct information later.)

·         Don’t speculate, but make sure reporters have as much information as possible about an incident so that they in turn won’t be tempted to speculate;

·         Say what you want to say, but don’t be pushed into saying what the reporter wants you to say;

·         Before an interview, stop, check your appearance, reread your notes (it helps if you are looking in a mirror) and take a deep breath; and

·         Always be honest.

Administrator’s checklist for responding to a tragedy

Use this checklist to make sure a tragedy is handled competently and effectively.

Immediate Actions

o        Instruct the principal to notify the school crisis coordinator and key support staff.

o        Verify information regarding the tragedy.

o        Notify superintendent and appropriate assistant superintendent(s).

o        Notify community relations director (communications officer).

o        Contact school security/police regarding special circumstances, i.e., murder, suicide, shooting, etc.

o        Contact district’s crisis team coordinator and activate team members.

o        Contact school board members.

o        Remove personal items from the victim’s lockers, desk, etc.

o        Stop disciplinary, testing or special placement notifications that may inadvertently be sent to the victim’s family. Unfortunately it may be impossible to stop all such notifications.

Family Contact

o        Contact the family personally and offer support.

o        Establish a school contact for family members.

o        Obtain information regarding funeral arrangements, flowers and home visits.

o        Verify names of surviving siblings or other relatives and the names of the schools they attend.

School Plan of Action

o        Announcing the Loss

Use the district’s telephone tree to notify all staff of the tragedy before they return to school.

Hold an all-staff meeting before school. Provide recommendations for dealing with a loss. Review procedures for referring students to counseling. Provide statements to be read in all first period classes. Plan to extend the home room period. Provide substitute(s) for any teacher(s) who feel they cannot go directly to class. Check on the emotional needs of support staff.

Counseling Responsibilities

o        Work with the district crisis response team if available. Remember a crisis team is there in a supportive role and to help avoid burnout of the site-based team.

o        Provide areas for large and small groups and/or individuals to talk with counselors.

o        Cancel appointments and meetings that are not of an emergent nature.

o        Request additional secretarial or volunteer help to answer phones.

o        Maintain a list of students who are counseled. Make follow-up calls to parents or students in distress.

Administrative Responsibilities

o        Keep staff updated on circumstances and events as new information becomes available.

o        Identify staff members who are in need of mental health support services. Utilize the crisis team, employee assistance programs and community counselors.

o        Emphasize the need to use prepared statements to control rumors.

o        Be highly visible to show support and control of the situation.

o        Help students to feel safe by providing necessary support and reassurance.

o        Make announcements about activities and future meetings.

o        Make arrangements for excused absences for students who wish to attend the funeral.

o        Make arrangements to reschedule standardized testing programs or any other canceled activities.

Responding to the Media and Community

o        Identify a spokesperson if your district does not have someone already designated.

o        Develop a written statement for staff to read in classes.

o        Develop a statement for secretaries/volunteers to use in responding to inquiries.

o        Develop a press release for immediate distribution and update it as new information becomes available. Number all subsequent releases.

o        Set boundaries where media is allowed to go. (Parents can usher media to these areas.)

o        Provide handouts for all media. Emphasize actions being taken by principal, staff, crisis team and others in assisting students.

o        Prepare a letter from the principal and send it home with all students at the end of the day. The letter should include:

o        A brief statement of the incident;

o        An outline of what has taken place throughout the day;

o        What to watch for in student’s physical, academic or emotional behavior;

o        A contact phone number for community assistance; and

o        A request to notify the counseling office of any student concerns.

o        Send a similar letter to parents of students in other affected schools.

o        Hold a meeting for concerned parents and students if safety is a perceived or real issue. Have the principal, a counselor, a police officer and a community relations director address the group.

Memorial Services/Special Activities

o        Encourage staff and students to become involved in planning a service.

o        Make mass transportation available if a large number of students want to attend.

o        Have counselors available for students at the service or special activities.

o        Plan appropriate recognition (if not a suicide) through:

An assembly;
The yearbook;
A scholarship fund;
Letters to family;
Planting a tree;
High school graduation ceremonies;
Recognition at ceremonies; or
A memorial plaque.

o        Invite family members as guests to special ceremonies. Discourage family participation in assemblies during the first few months.

o        Provide a quiet area for staff and students who do not wish to attend special activities.

o        After an appropriate time, consider an official ending for the grieving process by holding a memorial service or some other special activity.

Other Considerations

o        Notify previous teachers, especially from other schools.

o        Lower the flag to half staff.

o        Remove reader board messages.

o        Deal with inappropriate phone calls.

o        Organize offers of help.

o        Transport distraught students who should not be driving.

o        Respond to cards and letters sent to the school.

o        Report the incident in the school newspaper.

o        Provide food and beverages for a crisis response team and staff members who may have to work all day without a break.

o        Cancel after-school practices (plays, sports) and events.

o        Notify alumni. Recent graduates may know the victim.

o        Anticipate the impact of news reports and media coverage on staff and students.

o        Plan ahead for the attention that may be given to a one-year anniversary of the incident.

o        Include recognition during graduation ceremonies if the victim was a junior or senior.

Dealing with suicide

The causes of suicide among young people are many and varied. Some of the most common reasons are lack of attention, spite or anger. The most characteristic behavior of suicidal persons is directing aggression to oneself, rather than outwardly.

Intervention by school personnel

o        Listen. An effort should be made to really understand the feelings being expressed behind the words. Allow the person to express his/her feelings.

o        Determine, if possible, the intensity or severity of the emotional disturbance.

o        Notify parent(s)/guardian(s) about concerns.

o        Contact appropriate outside agencies (Youth Service Bureau, Ministerial Alliance, County Crisis Clinic, survivors of suicide support groups, national runaway hotline [1-800-621-4000] or other agencies in your community).

o        Ask a relative or friend of the student to work with the school counselor.

o        Act definitively. Do something tangible and provide the student with an alternative course of action.

o        Be affirmative and supportive. Strong, stable mentors are necessary in the life of a distressed individual.

o        Ask directly if the individual has considered suicide. Try to discuss this openly and frankly.

o        Do not be misled if the individual admits to seriously considering suicide and then makes light of the issue.

o        Be a non-judgmental listener who shows interest and support.

When a suicide attempt or death occurs, the following are steps to include in your crisis plan.

o        Identify the crisis and circumstances: was the attempt or death on campus? at home? at a party? alone?

o        Obtain the facts: who, what, when, where, how and, if known, why.

o        If the suicide occurred within a classroom, keep the students together and away from the area. If it occurred in a public area, isolate that area from other students.

o        Notify police and aid cars.

o        Notify the superintendent.

o        Notify the school board.

o        Notify the appropriate assistant superintendent(s) of elementary education, secondary education and operational support.

o        Notify the community relations director. The community relations director should work with the media in an area agreed upon by the director and principal. The director should consult with the school board about established media relations procedures.

o        Notify the parent/guardian/spouse of the victim. Gather information about other brothers/sisters and other close relatives and the schools they attend. Ask parents how they would prefer these individuals be notified. Update affected principals and relay any pertinent parent information.

o        The community relations director should meet with counselors, administrators and secretaries to draft a statement and develop a plan for notifying other staff members and the media.

o        Meet with staff and give them the facts about the crisis.

o        Contact appropriate outside agencies (Youth Service Bureau, Ministerial Association, County Crisis Clinic, national runaway hotline, survivors of suicide support groups or other agencies in your community).

o        Provide time for classroom discussion.

o        Set aside specific rooms and identify personnel to address individuals who are having difficulty dealing with the crisis. Involve the Ministerial Association if high numbers of students and staff warrant the need. Recruit counselors from other schools within the district.

o        Inform the parents’ club president of the tragedy and the plan that is being implemented to handle the crisis.

o        Determine who will go to the family’s home, who will send flowers and who will attend the funeral.

If a tragedy occurs outside of school hours

Make sure the superintendent has a staff and student directory at home in order to communicate with them.

Schedule a meeting with administrators, crisis team and counselors early on the first work day following the incident to address the crisis and attendant issues.

Sample safety letter to parents

This sample letter can be printed on your school letterhead and mailed to the parents of the students in your school, or it can be used as an article in your school or district newsletter. Be sure to check your district policies before using this letter.

Dear Families,

We are asking for your help. Please be sure your children do not bring any weapons to school for any reason. We are taking this stance because we want your children to be safe at school. Our society has experienced a significant increase in violence of all kinds as well as an increase in the number of students bringing weapons or look-alike weapons to school. We do not want weapons on our school grounds at any time, and we want to act before a serious problem develops.

School district policy requires that a student who is caught with a weapon on district property or at a district function is subject to emergency expulsion. Emergency expulsion means immediate removal from school and all school-related activities and can result in a student being permanently excluded from attending any school in the district. Disciplinary action for possession of look-alike weapons will be determined based upon the age of the child and circumstances surrounding display of the look-alike weapon.

You can help ensure the safety of all students in the following ways:

Talk to your children about situations that would make them feel they need protection;

Counsel your children that violence does not solve problems; it only creates more problems;

Ensure that any weapons you keep in your home are not accessible to your children. According to national statistics, an estimated 80 to 90 percent of students who carry guns bring them from home;

Monitor the movies and television shows your children watch. Research indicates that many of the popular violence-prone movies and television shows send children a message that violence is the way to solve problems. It is not; and

Continue to develop your children’s positive self esteem so they can make good choices and avoid potentially dangerous associations or situations.

I can assure you that we will do all we can to provide a safe environment for your children in our schools. I ask that you, too, do all you can to help.

Sincerely,

(Name)

Superintendent

Safety Tip Sheet for Families

Are your children safe?

Your children's safety is important to us. We know it is important to you, too. We will take every possible precaution to be sure your children are safe and secure while in our care. We hope the tips that follow will help you to ensure your children's safety at all other times.

Help us to teach your children how to be safe on and around the school bus by pointing out how important it is to:

·         Stay out of the street on the way to the bus and at the bus stop.

·         Always cross the street in front of the bus.

·         Always obey the bus driver.

·         Always stay seated on the bus, with hands, arms, and head inside the bus.

·         Never to retrieve papers or other belongings that fall under the bus.

Help your children develop good decision-making skills by playing "what if?" games. "What if you were locked out of the house?" "What if a fire started?" "What if the lights went out?" "What if a stranger approached you?"

Be sure your children have — and wear — safety-approved helmets while bicycle riding. Such helmets carry the ANSI (American National Standards Institute) or Snell (Snell Memorial Foundation ) safety approval symbol. Be sure to buy the right size for each child.

Review with your children how to answer the phone and the doorbell when you're not home; who in the neighborhood they should call for help; and how to call the fire or police departments in an emergency.

Emphasize how important it is for your children to play, walk, and wait for the school bus with other children.

If your children are coming home from school to an empty house, be sure they know never to enter the house if a door is open or a window is broken.

Share the following "common sense" safety tips with your children:

Never hitchhike. Ever.

Never walk or play alone or outside at night.

Always wear a seatbelt in the car. (That goes for you, too.)

Never play or loiter in deserted areas such as the woods, a parking lot, alley, or new construction, or such areas as washrooms or elevators.

Remember, your children's safety is no accident!

Your children’s safety is important to us, too!

We want you to know that we will take every precaution we can to insure your children’s safety at school or while riding on our school buses. Unfortunately, sometimes children get hurt, but often those injuries can be prevented.

School bus safety tips to discuss with your children:

·         At the bus stop, line up facing the bus or street, not parallel to the street. Also, don’t stand too close to where the bus stops. The first person in line should be well back from the edge of the street.

·         Don’t play ball or tag in the street while waiting for the bus.

·         Never retrieve papers that have fallen under the bus. If you drop the papers on your way to school, tell the bus driver. If you drop something as you leave the bus, wait for the bus to leave and then ask an older child or an adult to help you retrieve what you dropped.

·         After getting off the bus, move immediately to the sidewalk or to an area away from the bus where the driver can see you.

·         When crossing the street, follow the driver’s instructions as to when it is safe to proceed. Even then, never run across the street without looking both ways.

General safety tips for parents:

·         Teach your children their full name, address and telephone number.

·         Tell your children who in your community can help them if they have a problem: police, crossing guards, block parents, neighbors, etc.

·         Keep the telephone number of the police and fire departments taped to each phone in your house. Make sure your children know how to call for help and under what situations they should make those calls.

·         Tell your children where it is safe to play and what places to avoid.

·         Teach your children to never go near a car with someone in it who they don’t know well and to never get into a car without parental permission.

·         Tell your children that a stranger is anyone they don’t know.

·         Review safe walking routes to and from school. Walk the route several times with your children.

·         Tell your children to travel and play in groups, any time of the day.

·         Teach your children never to accept gifts such as candy or money from anyone they don’t know well.

Safety tips for families

Accidental injuries are the number one killer of children. In fact, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), injuries kill more than six times as many children as cancer and account for more deaths among people ages 1-34 than do all diseases combined.

Whether your children are in our classrooms, on our playgrounds or on the way to and from school, we know their safety is important to you. It's important to us, too. That's why we're offering these tips:

·         Insist that everyone in your car use a seat belt — even for a quick trip to the market. Make sure that lap belts are worn snug and low across the hips and that shoulder harnesses are snug with no more slack than the width of two fingers.

·         When you provide your children with bikes, be sure to provide approved bike helmets (ones that display the ANSI or Snell safety approval label) that fit properly. A helmet should cover a child's forehead and not slide back when worn.

·         Select the right bike for each individual child, too. Some bikes require more skill than others. For instance, hand brakes are more difficult for children under 9 or 10 because they don't have the hand strength and coordination yet. Be sure the bike's measurements match your child's measurements. A bike that is too tall or too short can lead to injury. Ideally, the rider should be able to straddle the bike with both feet flat on the floor.

·         Store all medicines, cleaning supplies and toxic material in a locked cupboard. Never give medicine in the dark and always read the directions and dosage before giving any medicine. Be sure to remove all alcoholic beverages from your children's reach, too.

·         Develop a family escape plan in case of a fire or other emergency. Be sure your children know how to stop, drop and roll in case their clothing catches fire. To prevent fires, keep matches, lighters and burning cigarettes out of your children's reach.

·         If your children come home to an empty house after school, be sure each knows his or her full name, address and phone number, as well as your name and employer's phone number and how to call for emergency help. Your children should also know how to carry a key so it is out of sight; how to check in with you or a neighbor at a regularly-scheduled time; what to do if they think they are being followed; how to get out of the house in case of a fire; and how to answer the phone without letting callers know they are in the house alone.

·         Be sure your children know to never enter a house if the door is ajar, a window is broken or anything looks suspicious.

·         If your children walk to and from school, review the safest route and time it. Your children should also know to obey all traffic signals and markings, stay on the same route every day, look in all directions before crossing the street and cross the street only at a corner or crosswalk.

·         Establish family procedures in the event of a storm, earthquake or other emergencies.

·         If your children ride the bus, emphasize how important it is that they not play around the bus stop, board and exit following the driver's instructions, remain seated at all times on the bus and keep hands and arms inside the bus.

12 Things Law Enforcement Can Do

Help stop school violence with this starter list of ideas. Some require only individual action; some require concerted effort. Some address immediate issues; others address the problems that cause violence. Consider this list a launching pad -- there's lots more that can be done.

1.      Get to know students in non-confrontational settings. Help them see you as a mentor, peacekeeper, and problem solver, not just as an enforcer.

2.      Develop a formal memorandum of understanding with the school about handling complaints, criminal events, and other calls for service. Volunteer to serve on the school's Safe School planning team.

3.      Offer to train teachers, staff, and students in personal safety. Work with students to help present these trainings.

4.      Help students learn about the costs of violence to their community -- financial, social, and physical. Link them with others in the community who are affected by violence to help them understand its lasting impacts.

5.      Provide accurate information about your state's juvenile and criminal justice systems and what happens to youth who are arrested because they've been involved in violence. Explain also the kinds of help available to young people who are in distress or who are victims of crime.

6.      If you are qualified in crime prevention through environmental design offer to help school staff perform a security survey of the school building, identifying lighting needs, requirements for locks and other security devices, areas where physical changes to the building could increase safety, and needs for pruning or other landscaping changes. Share training opportunities through your department with school security personnel.

7.      Work to include school administrators, staff, and students in existing prevention action against gang weapons, and other threats.

8.      Consider starting a school resource officer program, in which a law enforcement officer is assigned to a school to work with the students, provide expertise to teachers on subjects in which they are qualified, help address school problems that can lead to violence, provide personal safety training for students, and the like.

9.      Work with school attendance officers to identify truants and return them to school or to an alternate facility.

10.  Develop links with parents through parent-teacher associations and other groups; educate them on violence prevention strategies and help them understand the importance of their support.

11.  Work with community groups to put positive after-school activities in place throughout the community and for all ages.

12.  Together with principals and parents, start safe corridor programs and block parent programs to make the trip to and from school less worrisome for students. Help with efforts to identify and eliminate neighborhood trouble spots; using community policing and problem-solving principles.

 SCHOOL SAFETY AND THE LEGAL RIGHTS OF STUDENTS

National Child Labor Committee

In ensuring school safety, the courts have sought to balance students' constitutional rights with the need for safety and freedom from violence in the schools. At present, the balance is thoroughly tilted towards efforts to effect tough safety and drug policies in the schools and against any extension of the current scant constitutional rights students enjoy. As the preoccupation with drugs and gang paraphernalia in the schoolhouse has escalated, school searches of students and seizures of their property in accord with the Fourth Amendment comprise a cutting edge issue for the courts and school authorities.

This presents a brief review of recent Fourth Amendment decisions that affect the rights of students and the parameters of schools' authority to maintain a crime- free environment. It is important to state, however, that education is almost exclusively a matter of state and local laws, regulations, and policies. It rarely involves the Federal government or Federal powers, except for the Federal courts' interpretations of constitutional protections in the school setting. Thus, although the Federal decisions illustrated below apply nationwide, and do serve to mark the boundaries of permissible state and local action, they are no substitute for an understanding of the many legal issues that are primarily a function of state and local laws. State and local school authorities must check the laws, regulations, legal precedents, and policies of their own jurisdiction to ascertain the lawful limits of their own actions, rather than rely upon the examples cited here.

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General Fourth Amendment Issues

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Over several decades, in a series of cases involving public school students, the U.S. Supreme Court and state courts have very gingerly both bestowed and limited Fourth Amendment rights. These cases suggest that the delicate balance between students, rights and school safety procedures is strongly tilting towards the rights of school authorities to proactively isolate and reduce perceived causes of school violence. Starting in 1968 and culminating in 1984, the law of the land concerning the status of students vis-Ö-vis school authorities shifted to a more constitutional basis. Prior to that time, student-school rights were defined by the common law doctrine of in loco parentis, which for centuries posited that school officials had the right, duty, and responsibility to act in the place of a parent. Their right to act included the exercise of many parental powers, such as the right to search students for illegal items, or for those items merely considered as contraband under state or local law or school district policies, without the warrant or probable cause mandated for all other citizens under the Fourth Amendment.

The doctrine of in loco parentis began crumbling in 1968, when Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District (1969) found for the first time that constitutional rights-in this case, the First Amendment right to wear a black armband in school as symbolic speech in protest against the Vietnam War-were applicable to students. In landmark language that has been repeatedly cited, if not always upheld, the court said, "It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate" (pp. 506, 511).

Tinker left unanswered the question of whether Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures applied to students when searched by school authorities, and if so, with what restrictions, if any. It was not resolved until 1985, in New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985). In that case, an assistant vice principal opened and searched the purse of T.L.O. (as the student involved was identified to protect her identity), after she had been accused of violating the school's policy of smoking a cigarette on high school property. His search disclosed not only a pack of cigarettes but also rolling papers associated with marijuana use, marijuana, a pipe, plastic bags, a large sum of money, a list of students who owed T.L.O. money, and two letters that involved her in dealing marijuana. When she was arrested on drug charges, she claimed that the evidence found in her purse should be suppressed as the fruits of an unreasonable search and seizure.

The court decided in T.L.O. that students subjected to school searches are, in fact, citizens covered by the Fourth Amendment. Also, for the first time, the court considered school officials, when acting in furtherance of publicly mandated educational and disciplinary policies, far more akin to government agents-the very subject of Fourth Amendment restrictions-than to parental surrogates who, under the doctrine of in loco parentis, were free from constitutional restraints.

The final question considered by the court was whether the search was reasonable, as guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment. The Amendment requires a warrant and probable cause before a search is considered reasonable, although there are several exceptions to the imposition of that formulaic and high standard. The T.L.O. court carved out another such exception to the usual standard; it found that the Fourth Amendment's requirement of reasonableness was met if school authorities acted without a warrant, but with "reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school. Such a search will be permissible in its scope when the measures adopted are reasonably related to the objectives of the search and are not excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature of the infraction" (p. 733). Thus the "reasonable suspicion" standard was definitively asserted. It permitted school authorities to lawfully search students upon meeting its two-pronged test: the search must be (1) reasonable in inception, and (2) reasonable in scope.

Some recent search cases in which the two-pronged "reasonableness test" was successfully applied include these:

• A school dance monitor, who, upon seeing that some students were inebriated, in contravention of school policy, took them to a private office and asked them to blow on her face (Martinez v. School District No. 60, 1992).
• Upon hearing an unusual thud when a student threw his bag onto a metal cabinet, a security guard rubbed his hand along the bag to feel for a gun (Matter of Gregory M., 1992/1993).
• Upon a student's report to a guidance counselor that another student possessed an illicit drug, the administrator searched the latter student's book bag, because the administrator also had knowledge that the student had been previously disciplined for possession of a controlled substance (State v. Moore, 1992).

The case law on student search and seizure has yielded a few other useful factors to consider when conducting a search to ensure that it is reasonable at the inception and in scope. They include the student's age, history, and school record; the seriousness and pervasiveness as a school problem of the suspected infraction or crime; the urgency that required the search without delay; the school official's prior experience with the student; and the evidentiary value and reliability of the information used to justify the search (Rapp, 1994).

What cannot and will not be condoned by the courts are searches that are performed with malicious intent to deprive students of their rights, those where school officials know or should have known that their actions violated students' rights, those that are capricious or discriminatory, and those that do not closely follow school search policies.

The T.L.O. rule and its progeny have been applied to the rights of school authorities to engage in the following acts:

• Search students' school lockers to look for contraband or illegal materials (Student searches and the law, 1995; S.C. v. State, 1991).
• Search a student's car in the school parking lot (State v. Slattery, 1990; Student searches and the law, 1995).
• Organize searches by drug-sniffing dogs (Doe v. Renfrow, 1980; Horton v. Goose Creek Independent School District, 1982; Jennings v. Joshua Independent School District, 1989; Jones v. Latexo Independent School District, 1980) or metal detector machines (People v. Dukes, 1992; National Treasury Employers Union v. Van Raab, 1989).
• Perform a visual or manual body cavity search (Student searches and the law, 1995).

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Drug Testing Law

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As contentious as Fourth Amendment issues have been, the lessons of the T.L.O. case were not substantially reviewed until the courts assessed the issue of mandatory and voluntary drug testing. Until 1995, the short answer to the question of whether schools could mandate all or a class of students to submit to blood or urine tests for drugs could be clearly answered: "no" (Price, 1988). Such testing was seen as a violation of students' reasonable expectation of privacy (Jones v. McKenzie, 1986), and repugnant not only to the U.S. Constitution, but also to the nation's common sense of students' integrity (Anable v. Ford, 1985; Odenheim v. Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District, 1985). The courts did, however, make a distinction between mandatory and voluntary drug testing, with the latter subject to no Fourth Amendment protections, as it is based upon consent.

That distinction blurs, though, when the tests are used as a precondition for school enrollment or for participation in extracurricular activities. Until June 27, 1995, the courts were split on drug testing as a precondition for participating in extracurricular activities, with some courts approving it exactly because these activities are voluntary (Student Searches and the Law, 1995). Then came Acton v. Vernonia School District 47J (1991), which involved a high school student, James Acton, who wanted to be on his school's football team. His parents refused to sign a form consenting to a urinalysis that would test their son for a variety of drugs, if James were randomly selected by school authorities to comply with the school's newly instituted mandatory, random drug testing program. There was no claim that James was suspected of drug use, but school authorities asserted that their random urinalysis drug testing policy was the result of their being at their "wits' end" over how to solve a perceived growing drug problem (Daniels, 1995). James Acton, as a consequence of his parents' refusal to consent to such a test, was denied a spot on the football team. In courtroom after courtroom, ending at the U.S. Supreme Court, school officials pressed their claim that they were justified in implementing their random testing program in order to stop the rowdy, anti-authoritarian behavior of their athletic teams that resulted from increased drug use in their rural Oregon school. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the Actons, found the mandatory policy an "unreasonable search," and rousingly stated that "children, students, do not have to surrender their right to privacy in order to secure their right to participate in athletics."

The U.S. Supreme Court did not agree, and once again tipped the scale in favor of educators' efforts to maintain perceived school order and discipline and against the preservation of an individual student's rights to privacy as guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment (Vernonia School District 47J v. Action, 1995). In this final appeal of the Vernonia case, the Court, in a 6-3 ruling, reversed the lower courts and found that the district's policy conformed with the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. It ruled that although the urine test was a "search" it was a "reasonable" one because legitimate governmental interests outweighed any intrusion on a student's privacy rights. The Court found that athletes have an even further reduced expectation of privacy than other students, as they are more closely regulated in many areas, such as grades and medical condition, and they participate in communal undressing and showering, further obviating any claim of physical privacy. In addition, the Court found that the urine test procedure was negligibly intrusive, even though students had to divulge the prescription drugs they were taking at the time, since the process was akin to public restroom conditions and the test was being used only to determine illicit drug use rather than to identify any medical situation. In an outright reversal of any previous rationales, the Court emphasized that a random drug testing policy was better than suspicion- based testing because the latter would turn the process into a badge of shame and would also permit teachers to arbitrarily test "troublesome but not drug-likely students."

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Case Law Trends

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The citation of Vernonia has served as the precedent for several constitutional decisions on the Federal district court or circuit court of appeals levels during the few years since its issuance. Stigile v. Clinton (1996) found a strong governmental interest in permitting random drug testing of high school athletes, when such testing is "undertaken in furtherance of the government's responsibilities, under a public school system, as guardian and tutor of children, entrusted to its care."

Thompson v. Carthage School District (1996) permitted the generalized search of all males in the sixth through twelfth grades in an Arkansas school district that required them to empty their pockets and to submit to a "pat-down" for weapons by school authorities. The Thompson court applied T.L.O.'s two-pronged "reasonable test" and then applied the lessons of Vernonia. It found that Vernonia-which established that random drug testing in the absence of individualized suspicion was "reasonable," and that even the significant privacy invasion of a urinalysis was justified by the important government interest, as students' "reasonable guardian and tutor" in reducing drug abuse by student athletes-could buttress the court's rationale in permitting the invasive "pat-down" and emptying of pockets.

In Wallace by Wallace v. Batavia School District (1995), the court cited Vernonia when it permitted as a reasonable seizure a teacher's grabbing a high school student's wrists and elbow and escorting her out of the classroom, after observing the student participate in a screaming match with another student and then threaten that student with physical violence. The finding of "reasonableness" was based upon Vernonia's dictum that the nature of students' "rights is what is appropriate for children in school."

Cheema v. Thompson (1995) extended the previously abandoned legal theory of schools' functioning in loco parentis. The court noted that Vernonia held that for many purposes "school authorities act in loco parentis" when it decided, on other grounds, that Sikh students in California cannot be forced to utterly abandon their possession of religiously mandated ceremonial knives or cease attending public elementary school. After Cheema, it could be posited that there are still legal grounds to argue that school authorities are endowed with parental rights when assuring students' safety and drug-free status, and that students' constitutional protections are subservient to those parental rights.

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Conclusion

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With respect to students' rights in school, the current direction of Fourth Amendment law reflects society's fears of and disrespect for children and the paucity of alternatives to police-type enforcement measures that are both in use and under consideration in the schools. It also indicates that school authorities no longer have to grant students the civil rights considered inalienable by the rest of the nation's citizens. Thus, the first line of defense of school administrators is to bring in more policing measures, such as car searches, metal detectors, urinalyses, and drug- sniffing dogs. The cases reported here, as well as many others not discussed, result from the shared frustration felt by administrators trying to stop the perceived violence and drugs without restraint and alternative.

There is, however, a wealth of information and experience about alternatives to such draconian school violence prevention strategies. Law-related education (LRE) is a fresh approach to reducing the causes of school violence early and continually throughout a student's education. It is a generic, interdisciplinary direction in education that combines particular kinds of content (related to rules, laws, and legal systems) with interactive instruction (McBee, 1995).

Student conflict resolution and mediation training, including student courts, represent another approach. Peer counseling has also proven effective in breaking the impasse between violent students and the school system (Sachnoff, 1988). Using trained students as helpers, friends, counselors, mediators, and educators to ease the school tensions and conflicts that result in violence is an educational and effective first line of defense against school disruptions and crime. The use of dress codes and uniforms to change a school's violent culture has also dramatically reduced crime and violence in many school districts ("Restricting Gang Clothing," 1994; Kennedy, 1995; "Long Beach Schools," 1995; "Regulating Student Appearance," 1994). Parental and other adult participation not only bolsters school anti-violence programs, but also aerates the school system and demonstrates the entire community's concern with students' education and progress. All of these initiatives provide early and ongoing education and experience in nonviolent means of violence prevention for grades K-12. In fact, the list of such innovative strategies to combat school violence is as extensive as society's creativity and commitment to empower rather than punish children.

Reliance on prevention programs is not only an issue of efficacy and morality, but is also one of international law. Children have human rights, regardless of their behavior or the school setting. The Convention on the Rights of the Child sets the basic, minimum standards for juvenile justice procedures, children's access to education, their rights to bodily integrity and mental health, and the provision of other resources to enable children to become healthy and productive adult citizens. One of the main tenets of the Convention is that children's human rights rest on a bedrock of their right to be heard, to be listened to, and to participate in the decisions and environments that affect their lives. Certainly, violence prevention training, as opposed to criminal enforcement techniques, is the course most consistent with a recognition of children's human rights. At this date, the Convention has been ratified by over 180 nations worldwide; only the United States, Somalia, and the Cooke Islands have not ratified it.

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References

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Acton v. Vernonia School District 47J, 23 F.3d 1514, 9th Cir. (1991).

Anable v. Ford, Civil Action No. 84-6033, W.D. Ark. (1985).

Cheema v. Thompson, 67F.3d 883, 9th Cir. (1995).

Daniels, L. (1995, March 29). Vernonia's day in court. The Oregonian.

Doe v. Renfrow, 632 F.2d 91, 7th Cir. (1980).

Horton v. Goose Creek Independent School District, 690 F.2d 475, 5th Cir. (1982).

Jennings v. Joshua Independent School District, 877F F.2d 313, 5th Cir. (1989).

Jones v. Latexo Independent School District, 499 F. Supp. 223, E.D. Tex. (1980).

Jones v. McKenzie, 628 F. Supp. 1500, D.D.C. (1986).

Kennedy, M. (1995, August 19). A fashion statement with real meaning. The Los Angeles Times, p. A1.

Long Beach schools favor dress codes as violence declines. (1995, August 19). Oakland Tribune, p.12.

Martinez v. School District No. 60, 852 P.2d 1275, Colo. Ct. App. (1992).

Matter of Gregory M., 184 A.D. 2d 252, N.Y. App. Div. (1992), aff'd., 82 N.Y. 2d 588 (1993).

McBee, R. H. (1995, Spring). Law-related education and violence prevention. School Safety Journal, pp. 24-28.

National Treasury Employees Union v. Van Raab, 489 U.S. 668 (1989).

New Jersey v. T.L.O., 1055 Ct . 731 (1985).

Odenheim v. Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District, 211 N.J. Super. 54 (1985).

People v. Dukes, 580 NY2d 850, NY Crim. Ct. (1992).

Price, J. R. (1988). The rights of students. New York: Wiley-Liss.
(ERIC Abstract)

Rapp, J. (1994). Education law. New York: Matthew Bender.

Regulating Student Appearance: A new trend. (1994, March). School Safety Update, p. 6.

Restricting Gang Clothing in Public Schools. (1994, March). School Safety Journal, pp. 1-4.

Sachnoff, I. (1988, Winter). Peer counseling for troubled youth. School Safety Journal, pp. 26-27.

S.C. v. State, 583 So 2d 188, Miss. (1991).

State v. Moore, 254 N.J. Super. 295, N.J. Super., App. Div. (1992).

State v. Slattery, 56 Wash. App. 820, Wash. Ct. App. (1990).

Stigile v. Clinton, 932 F. Supp. 365, 367 Dist. Ct. D.C. (1996).

Student Searches and the Law. (1995). Malibu, CA: Pepperdine University, National School Safety Center.

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969).

Thompson V. Carthage School District, 87 F.3d 979, 8th Cir. (1996).

Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton, No. 115 S. Ct. (1995).

Wallace by Wallace v. Batavia School District., 68 F.3d 1010, 1017, 7th Cir. (1995).