A View from the IU

   The simple fact is that most students who engage in or threaten violence in school have significant social, emotional or mental health issues as a result of the lives they live at home and in their community during non-school hours.  It is in these often harmful settings that a student's mental health and overall well being are determined.  Their concerning school behaviors are simply a bi-product of an otherwise unhealthy and broken home life.  By the time they get off the bus much of the damage to that student is already done.

  In order to be truly proactive in helping a student to move toward a more positive and healthy life intervention must extend outside their schools four walls and engage them at home and in the community. With children being in school for a limited number of hours and days per year a schools ability to counter a student's unhealthy home life.   Sadly the Pennsylvania's 2018 School Safety Task Force Report has recently identified a critical need for more social workers in our school system.  This report revealed that only 17.2 % of the state's educational agencies employed a social worker and those that did the average ratio of student to social worker is an overwhelming 2,285:1.  (2018 School Safety Task Force Report, p. 20).  We have done a good job at identifying student's physical hunger when not in school with  year round nutritional programming to meet the students individual needs by filling the gap left when they are not at school.  So maybe it's time to apply this same principle to fulfilling a student's emotional and mental health needs when schools not in session.  

For those of us who live in the world of school safety and security we recognize that this battle must be waged in the prevention discipline rather than simply preparing and responding to unsafe behaviors once they have manifested themselves in the school setting.  The Task Force was correct in its observation that early detection, effective communication and dedicated intervention is the key to not only reducing incidents of school threats and violence but even more importantly helping troubled children change the trajectory of their already broken lives.  

   If you are considering how to best invest safety and security dollars I would encourage you to seriously consider employing more social workers and creating systems to better track and help students in crisis before their life time of brokenness and anger erupts into an act of violence.  Take time to read this important report by clicking on this link and commit your school to finding real solutions to this growing problem.  

   Until next time this is John Baker for Safetysolutions4schools at the Lancaster Lebanon IU13.  As always if there is anything we can do to help your school improve safety and security give us a call.  We can help you find both free and affordable solutions.  

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