Deputies Placed on School Buses after Violent Incident

Bartow, FL

After a violent incident on a school bus in which a student was knocked unconscious by a "sucker punch" to the head, a Florida school district is placing off-duty deputies on 12 routes.  This is a temporary move to "guarantee the safety of kids".  Video of the incident.

Analysis
Placing deputies on school buses should be a short-term plan.  The school might also plan to exclude from the school bus those students who engage in violence.  In Indiana, and elsewhere, courts have ruled that school-provided transportation is not a right, but a privilege.  Check you won state laws and school policies to see if such is the case at your school.

The first step for many schools is to remember that the authority of the schools extend to the school bus, as well as the responsibility for keeping students safe.  Take some time and assess how your school is meeting that responsibility.  After all, school-transportation related fatalities are the number one form of death in K-12 schools (Satterly, 2014).

Canadian School Has School Safety Issues

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Brentwood Elementary, a school in Elk Island Schools, showed that school violence is not just an American problem.

A fourth grade student assaulted a teacher's aide.  That same student was allegedly in possession of a "hit list".  The school district met with parents, but were unable to share information wanted by the parents, due to privacy concerns.

Analysis
In Staying Alive, we make the point that school attacks are not limited to American schools.  They occur all over the world.  In fact, most people reading the above story without looking at the title would most likely assume they are reading about a U.S. school.

Are Zero Tolerance Policies the Answer to School Violence?

Detroit, MI

A teacher at Pershing High School was terminated after she broke up a fight in her classroom by swatting one of the participants with a broom.  The fight was very intense, with desks being knocked around, other students screaming, with no sign of ending anytime soon.

Tiffani Eaton, the teacher, attempted to intervene by swatting at the combatants with a broom.  Citing a violation of the corporal punishment code, the Education Achievement Authority, Detroit's school district for failing schools, terminated Ms. Eaton.  The two students were suspended, one for ten days, the other for three.

Ms. Eaton has retained an attorney, and she has a chance to appeal her termination in June.

Analysis
Best-selling author Mitch Albom weighed in on the situation, siding with Ms. Eaton.  I have also read several comments calling for a "zero-tolerance policy" on school violence.

I have looked, and I cannot find any research that shows such policies work.

In Staying Alive, we stress using research-based techniques, and techniques that are proven in the field, to prevent deadly encounters, or surviving them should they occur.  I would also stress this approach to school safety.

Zero-tolerance policies typically state that students who participate in student violence are given maximum punishments.  In this particular instance, a zero-tolerance policy would have seen both students engaged in the violence expelled.  What we did see is the teacher get fired, while the students returned.

To be fair, I do not know all the facts.  Watching the video, I personally do not see anything for which to fire the teacher.  She acted as best she could.  Perhaps the EAA could provide specific instruction to its staff on intervening in fights.  Giving the teachers the right tools to respond to such incidents can only help.

I do not know who was the aggressor in the fight, nor do I know what the facts were.  It's therefore difficult to blindly administer consequences, or render judgment on those consequences.

I do know I find this situation disquieting.