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Keeping Students Safe
Aired Tuesday, June 1, 2004 on KPLU
By Jennifer Wing
Anchor Lead:
The shooting at Columbine High School five years ago in Littleton Colorado brought school safety to the nation's attention.
Today schools in Washington State are working hard to make sure an event like that never happens here.
In the latest edition of The Learning Curve, KPLU's Jennifer Wing looks at some of the ways schools are trying to keep students safe.
They involve mutual respect and some help from new technology.
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Or read the full text below:
Should schools be focusing time and energy on bullying and harassment?
We'd like your feedback. Email learningcurveonline@kcts.org or
call 253-536-5008.
Full Story Text:
In an average year public schools in Washington state report more than 2,000 incidents involving guns,
knives and other weapons. Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane had its own run-in with a gun last September.
It was a sunny day. The week was just getting started. Principal Jon Swett recalls it was around 11:30 when
something went terribly wrong.
"A situation can change instantly. What started out to be a normal day turned out to be an evacuation of
all of our students and staff."
"It's time for Q 6 local news at 5:00. Tense moment for a downtown Spokane high school. A student armed with a
gun fires a shot into a wall. Teacher and students nearby. That leads to a standoff and close to 2,000
students evacuated. It ends with gun fire, officers shooting the armed students."
16-year-old Sean Fitzpatrick walked into a third floor classroom with a gun intending to end his own life.
The building was evacuated in minutes. Police were soon on the scene equipped with a virtual map of the school.
It detailed every inch of space, right down to the direction the door opened in the classroom where Fitzpatrick was
barricading himself. The map was made by the Seattle-based company "Prepared Response." Jim Finnell is the
company's CEO. On his laptop he brings up an aerial photo of the school and the surrounding neighborhood.
"There's the school right there. Here's I-90 going across the screen here."
The photo is dotted with little markers.
"These are where they want all their road blocks. Where would they want their command post. Where would they want to
have triage. Where would they want to have the media meet. Where would they want the reunification point for the
families, so they move the kids off campus. Landing zone observation point, all those types of things."
Washington state is paying Prepared Response three million dollars to map every single public high school,
equipping police and fire departments with vital information that can be quickly accessed. Another company is looking
into how vulnerable Washington state high schools are to violent threats. Fortunately no one was killed at Lewis
and Clark last fall, although the student is still recovering from his injury. Jon Swett says the tragic event made him
more dedicated to reaching out to students and keeping an eye out for any changes in behavior.
"Our staff has made a commitment to be in the doorway between classes. Greeting kids as they come in and telling them
to have a great day when they leave. That allows them be in the hallways, listening to conversations going on.
And patting that kids on the back who just hit a home run on the baseball team or the drill team that just went to
state competition."
Even though incidents like the one at Lewis and Clark are unusual, it's not that uncommon for students to carry weapons.
According to data from the state office of public schools, in 2002 between seven and 10 percent of kids surveyed reported
carrying a gun, knife or club for self-protection. The U.S. Secrect Service National Threat Assessment Center examined
37 school shootings in the US and found that bullying played a major role in two-thirds of the incidents. Victims of
harassment are also more likely to have thoughts of suicide. Casey McGalister, a high school student, shared his story
of desperation a few years ago at a forum in Seattle on school safety.
"They would call me things like fag, loser and they would push me around. I never told a teacher because I didn't
want to be a narc. They would yell things at me from the bus. One day I decided everyone would be better off without me.
I attempted to commit suicide."
Casey failed to kill himself. But his anger about being bullied and feeling like no one cared continued to fester.
He began picking on others because being the bully himself made him feel powerful.
"I've learned that our words have power. We can use that power to make people feel good or bad. I realized I
don't want anyone else to feel so bad about themselves that they decide to take their own lives."
McGalister urges state lawmakers to pass an anti-bulling and harassment law. That eventually happened
and the law went into effect last summer.
Michelle Reid, the principal of Port Angeles High School, was on the state attorney general's committee that helped
draft the legislation. At Port Angeles High School the staff works to create an environment where students don't
feel the need to bring weapons to school. Reid doesn't allow students to engage in any harassing behavior.
"I think one of the most common harassing terms on a high school campus is the word fag. And so what we said
is that's not acceptable any longer."
Charlotte Sanderson, who has taught math at the high school for 26 years, recalls what the environment was
like before a hard line was taken on behavior.
"A few years ago it was really bad. At one time I had a kid who came into the classroom and was chasing
another boy around the room and I had to call the principal who came down and threw the kid over his shoulder and
carried him down to the office because he was chasing this other kid. He was going to beat him up in my classroom.
It's not exactly good for an educational environment."
17-year-old Adriana Marciel is a senior at Port Angeles High School. She says there aren't nearly as many fights at
this school as there were at her middle school. Marciel and her classmates know the consequences for acting out.
"I think everyone's aware that you don't just go to detention if you say something very hurtful to someone or do
something hurtful to someone. It's more severe."
Principal Michele Reid: "In the past I think we might have gone with detention or some lower level discipline.
At this point, if it's harassment they're going home for a few days and we're meeting with parents."
The state's anti-bullying and harassment law requires all school districts to come up with policies and
practices to prevent bullying. A report released last December examines what districts are doing. Beth Reis,
with the Safe Schools Coalition, is one of the authors of the study. She says it appears the law is
empowering victims to take action.
"I've heard directly from parents who've said I spoke up about my child being bullied because I knew there
was a law (where as before) people didn't expect to be taken seriously."
School districts have banned everything from rumors and demeaning comments to deliberate ostracism.
The Spokane School District has even set up a hotline students and parents can call to report harassment.
It will likely be a few years before it can be determined whether any of these actions have improved school
safety. But if Port Angeles High School is a view into the future, things look pretty good.
When Port Angeles started cracking down on bullying a few years ago, discipline actions spiked up.
But now that trend is reversing. Detentions are down by 30 percent and the number of suspensions has
been cut in half.
Jennifer Wing, KPLU News.
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