Steps Parents Can Take to Stop School Violence

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The justified public alarm and concern over recent school shootings across the nation have prompted a search for answers and calls for action. Parents may find themselves baffled about what they can do. But, according to the National Resource Center for Safe Schools operated by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, there are concrete steps that parents can take.

For example, in a Fact Sheet, the center points to the National Crime Prevention Council's list of 12 things parents can do as a beginning:

• Remove firearms from your home, or at least ensure that they are locked, well secured, and stored separately from ammunition.
• Take an active role in your children's schools.
• Act as role models. Settle your own conflicts peaceably and manage anger without violence.
• Listen to and talk with your children regularly.
• Set clear limits on behaviors in advance. Discuss punishments and rewards in advance, too.
• Communicate clearly that you don't tolerate violent behavior.
• Help your children learn how to find solutions to problems.
• Discourage name-calling and teasing.
• Insist on knowing your children's friends, whereabouts, and activities.
• Work with other parents to develop standards for school-related events and activities, and require adult supervision.
• Make it clear to your children that you support school policies that help create a safe school environment.
• Join with other parents through school, neighborhood, civic, or religious organizations, or through youth activity groups. Talk to each other about concerns regarding youth and violence in your community.

For a free copy of the center's Fact Sheet with this information and more about how to prevent school violence, write Newspaper Column, Public Information Office, NWREL, 101 S.W. Main, Suite 500, Portland, OR 97204-3297.

This column by Karen Blaha and Betsy Adams is provided as a public service by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, a nonprofit institution working with schools and communities in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.