I do not think we are overreacting at all. The issue here is not the
care and feeding of the individual student that makes threats, whatever the
reasons they might have. The issue is the safety and security of all the
rest of the students, teachers, and other employees in the school. We are
not only responsible for creating an environment where student, etc are safe,
but for creating an environment where they FEEL safe too.
Expulsions from school are often not permanent, and students can reenter if
they meet conditions set by the board. Often these conditions include
anger management and counseling. The expulsion serves mainly to focus
everyone's attention including the student
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 1999 7:52
AM
Subject: School Violence
A couple of weeks ago a 13 year old Pullman youth was
expelled from school and charged with felony harassment. Yesterday the
Deary High School was locked down because of rumored threats. Aren't we
overreacting a bit? I can see some manipulative youths using this for
kicks, starting rumors just to see how adults will react.
While I would agree that SV needs to be taken seriously,
isn't there a better way: having anger management programs for the whole
student body, putting a peer conflict resolution team in place, identifying
problem youth that need special attention. Even then if there is a
threat to work at finding a counseling or remedial program that will help
rather than punish the youth.
Any thoughts?