Education Law

School summit seeks solutions for violence

The Washington Post reported today on a school summit that met in Maryland to discuss the realities of school life. About 200 students came together to talk about the problems bullying, brawling, and school violence have created in their own schools and neighborhoods.

State Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick called the summit after three unrelated violent incidents last April. At the summit, she shared the numbers from the previous school year; Approximately 1,800 weapons were confiscated and there were nearly 13,000 altercations and fights. According to the article, Grasmick told the students who gathered:

"This needs to stop," Grasmick told the students. "You live in these schools every single day, and when behavior becomes more important than learning, it becomes an inhibition to learning. . . . We are asking you to speak candidly."

Not only did these students share their troubles, they also offered their solutions including peer mediation programs, which offer a chance to reconcile miscommunications before the escalate into more violent forms.

Students also attributed the cause of most school violence incidents as a reflection of problems between neighborhood cliques.

School violence is a serious matter, and BoardBuzz shares in the concern for the students and teachers affected by it. We hope other schools are also proactively working to address the problem and sit down with students. Does your school district have any working solutions? Leave us a comment to tell us about it.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on November 07, 2008 (boomark / email).