Saturday, April 24, 1999
Counselors' plea: Open hearts to kids
Anger, violence awareness urged
BY BERNIE MIXON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ANDERSON TOWNSHIP — Schools can help curb violence by focusing more time on teaching violence prevention and anger management and investing more in counselors and psychologists.
Scott Poland should know. He helped with counseling in the aftermath of school shootings in Paducah, Ky. and Jonesboro, Ark.
Before a packed room of about 150 school administrators, counselors and others Friday, Mr. Poland talked about how schools can develop their own violence prevention strategies.
“Schools have been mandated to focus on state reading, writing and arithmetic scores,” said Mr. Poland, director of Psychological Services for the Cypress-Fairbanks school district in Houston.
“We need to give our schools a clear message that violence prevention and anger management are as important as teaching the basic subjects,” he said.
His presentation came three days after two students in black trench coats killed 12 classmates and a teacher in Littleton, Colo. The pair then killed themselves.
“I am frustrated that the Colorado shooting is yet another wake-up call to a serious problem in our society that has not been addressed,” Mr. Poland said.
“Our children are killing each other because our society is glamorizing it through movies and video games.”
But he also blamed easy access to guns and a lack of attention to children's mental health issues as reasons.
“I believe since adults are the only ones who can purchase guns, they should be responsible for keeping guns out of the hands of children,” Mr. Poland said.
A way to cut down the violence would be to have more counselors, psychologists and social workers in schools devoting themselves to the needs of children.
“Most kids are OK on a given day, and there are kids who are in crisis every day in every school,” said Charles Woodward, a licensed school psychologist and counselor who works with 7th- and 8th-graders at Anderson High School.
“The question is, "Can we engage them and let them know there is a place for them to go?'” Mr. Woodward said.
The Colorado shooting is a reminder of “how precious every child is, and that you have to keep your eyes and ears and hearts open to the needs of kids,” Mr. Woodward said.
Tristate schools act upon threats
Teens: It could happen here
What do you think
Counselors' plea: Open hearts to kids
Talk about gun control and school shootings at our forum
Latest details, complete coverage of Columbine shootings from Associated Press
Interventions don't help only the alcoholic
Tristate schools act upon threats
Teens: It could happen here
What do you think
Counselors' plea: Open hearts to kids
Light rail could bore through Mt. Auburn
Millennium lot cleared, awaits tower
Crime victims find a friend
Prosecutors' victim/witness assistance programs
Cyberspace threats tracked down
Grandson's band serenades woman on 97th birthday
Justin's birth parents sue their attorney
Y2K highlights our dependence
Campbell Co. official, under probe, resigns
Drunken-driving suspect on bond
Teens arrested in pellet shootings
Ballet's 'Butterfly' turns heartbreak into beauty
GET TO IT
Jazzy soloist shines as CSO alters image
Cemetery ties Lebanon to pioneer times
Chief wants road spikes to slow fleeing suspects
Church will honor retired Rev. Booth this Sunday
Court looks at police probe
Court orders retrial in sisters' murder case
Fernald to have new DOE manager
Foundation honors tree program
Grandparents find help raising kids
Man hurt in crash fleeing police
Mason water, sewer fees rise
Police find 26 guns in car; 5 arrested
Rielage is Ohio's fire marshal
Scouts collecting food, clothes Sunday
TRISTATE DIGEST
