Monday, August 16, 1999
Ohio goal: Avert school violence
BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — James Garbarino sat by the phone last Tuesday, waiting to take reporters' calls he knew would come after another shooting of children.
It's a drill the Cornell University professor has gone through many times in recent months, after school-related shootings in Paducah, Ky., Jonesboro, Ark., Littleton, Colo., and now, Los Angeles.
“In the immediate aftermath of the Colorado shootings, people panicked,” said Dr. Garbarino, an expert on child development and violence. “But those feelings of powerlessness seemed to have turned into grim determination to figure out what we can do.”
Crime is down in schools, but educators, academics, police and politicians have gathered in every state to discuss new security measures, improved psychological services and methods to detect potential violence before another classroom tragedy.
In Columbus, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft and Attorney General Betty Montgomery will be hosts for a two-day summit starting Wednesday.
Despite the drop in reported violence, highly publicized cases of school violence, such as the shooting of three youngsters, a teen-age counselor and a receptionist at a Jewish community center in suburban Los Angeles, have heightened fears among parents, teachers and administrators.
“These incidents can be very difficult to prevent,” Mr. Taft said last week, “but we need to do everything we can to help the schools help themselves become more safe.'
Experts seem to fall into two camps: one advocates tighter security and tougher anti-crime laws; another promotes counseling programs and other efforts to prevent violence.
“We need to be careful about how we analyze these reports showing violence is decreasing in our schools,” said Dr. Garbarino, a panelist at this week's Ohio summit. “The epidemic of lethal youth violence is moving from inner-city poor neighborhoods into suburban and rural communities.”
He advocates efforts to identify high-risk kids early and get them into counseling before they are expelled for fighting or bringing a gun to school.
To be more effective, teachers need to be better trained to spot warning signs, and children need to be willing to break their “code of silence” about troubled classmates, said Barbara Riley, executive direc tor of the Center for the Prevention of School Violence in Raleigh, N.C. “Teachers and administrators are on the front lines, but often they are the least trained to deal with these situations.”
Under legislation signed by Mr. Taft this year, all Ohio school districts must develop safety plans.
The law also allows judges to add two years to sentences for violent crimes within new “School Safety Zones” that include school property, school buses, bus stops and school activities.
Moreover, students can be suspend ed or expelled for misconduct directed at teachers or administrators beyond school property, and they will find it tougher to escape suspension by transferring to another school.
Mr. Taft sought to build on that legislation last week by unveiling proposed changes in juvenile crime laws, including tougher penalties for truancy that would be extended to parents.
Lawmakers set aside $40 million to expand the number of alternative schools for troubled students, but critics say the state hasn't done enough to boost the number of school counselors and psychologists.
“Unfortunately, those people usual ly are the last to be funded,” said the attorney general, a former legislator. “This is an issue that needs to be taken more seriously by the entire community, not just the school.”
There are signs that previous attempts to improve school safety are working. A federal survey found 90 percent of schools reported no serious violent crimes such as robbery and weapon attacks last year.
Still, school officials across the Tristate spent the summer preparing for the possibility of an attack.
Nearly 1,000 people attended a two-day seminar in Sharonville last month sponsored by the FBI. One agent recalled her interview with Luke Woodham, who on Oct. 1, 1997, opened fire on his classmates at Pearl High School in Pearl, Miss, killing two and injuring seven.
When the FBI agent asked the killer what he would tell police and educators, it was to “pay attention” and “know what your children are doing.”
Perhaps the biggest threat, Dr. Riley said, is that people will become numb to stories about students turning on classmates.
“It still needs to shock us,” she said. “There are no guarantees, but we can do a better job.”
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