Safety Rules at School

AFSCME school employees work to keep schools free of violence.

As news of the Columbine High School massacre near Denver unfolded on April 20, James Monaghan, an electrician who had been making repairs at West Middle School — just five miles from Columbine — was glued to a TV set in the teachers’ lounge.

Moments into the broadcast, he learned that his son — who attends another area high school — had been sent home in the wake of the gun rampage, which resulted in the deaths of 13 students and one teacher.

“I told him not to overreact to such a senseless act of rage and not to fear returning to his school the next day,” says Monaghan, chief steward and a past president of AFSCME Local 1605 (Council 76). He works at various schools in the Cherry Creek School District, which is adjacent to the Jefferson County School District, of which Columbine is a part.

Safety talks. “At first I was overwhelmed with feelings of helplessness,” remembers Monaghan. “Then I decided to get busy and do something that might ease students’ and teachers’ fears as well as protect them from future assaults.”

That something was developing a list of safety measures with assistance from other Local 1605 activists and presenting them to management during contract negotiations that were taking place in the aftermath of the shootings. The list called for reviewing existing emergency plans; training on how to deal with potentially dangerous students and assistance to address weapons, bombs and drugs.

Monaghan says that although the local is still at the bargaining table, management has stepped up to the plate to address school safety. “They have beefed up school guards and placed surveillance cameras in many high and middle schools.”

On the decline. While it may appear school tragedies are on the rise, a joint report published by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education that school killings are extremely rare and have actually declined in the past five years.

A finding from that report, “Indicators of School Crime and Safety,” says that over a period of one year, the percentage of 12th graders who have been injured (with or without a weapon) at school has not changed over the past 20 years.

“The welfare of our children is a top priority for all AFSCME school employees,” says JoAnn Johntony, president of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE)/ AFSCME Local 4 and chair of AFSCME’s Advisory Committee for Public School Employees.

Johntony predicts that ways to more effectively work with administrations and communities throughout the country to improve school safety will be high on the advisory committee’s agenda at its next meeting.

Unsung heroes. “Public employees’ concern about school violence did not start with Columbine,” Johntony says. She relates a November 1994 incident when a deranged gunman burst into Wickcliffe Middle School near Cleveland and opened fire, cutting short the life of OAPSE member Pete Christopher. As shots rang out, Christopher ushered several students to safety before being fatally injured.

Fortunately, for the most part, many AFSCME school employees have not experienced violent attacks on the job. However, some have had to deal with mental anguish while performing their jobs.

Just ask school bus driver Joetta Fleming, who works for the Prince George’s County Board of Education and is a member of the AFSCME Local 2250 in Maryland. For over three months in 1997, she was cursed and threatened by gang members who wore black headbands.

“They told me that they were in control of the bus and that it was just my job to drive it,” she says.

“They even sprayed the back of my seat, marking their territory. Others rolled up windows, spit at cars, and exposed body parts,” recalls Fleming, noting that her radio calls for help to the Department of Transportation went unanswered. When she informed her supervisor about the problem, his response was “that’s good experience for you.”

Fleming called upon her local, which convinced management to release her from the bus run and to allow her to take a leave of absence. The union sought assistance from county Transportation Department Director Kenneth Savoid who, with assistance from county police, set up a one-day, in-service safety seminar for bus drivers and bus attendants.

In upstate New York, several Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)/AFSCME Local 1000 members assist with school safety on behalf of students and teachers at Fallsburg High School.

Simmie Williams and Jim Blake are employed by the Fallsburg School District. Williams, a Village of Woodbridge police officer, is assigned to the school as a Youth Resource Officer. Blake is a custodian and serves as president of the CSEA Sullivan County Local 853 school district unit.

Williams has a rapport with the kids, a relationship he has cultivated in his three years at the school. “Many kids come to school with a lot of baggage,” he notes. “Some have fathers who are in jail. Others live in single parent homes. Some are pregnant or live alone, or with grandparents. My heart goes out to them,” says Williams, who makes it his business to know each student.

He conducts peer mediation sessions in which other students counsel troubled students. He says when conflicts are resolved, the students involved sign a contract to comply with the decision.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Blake, who has worked in the school system for the past nine years, harbors no fear about sending his two daughters, ages 12 and 14, to school.

He believes that parents need to know their kids better, paying special attention when things are not going well and taking an interest in their children’s friends.

At South Junior High School in Newburgh, N.Y., school monitor Henry Reed helps kids on and off the job by volunteering as a youth advocate on weekends and evenings.

Reed says a lot of kids have been expelled, some are on probation, some are one step from jail or have drug, alcohol or emotional problems. He counsels them and establishes trust and keeps the communication lines open. “I try to be a role model,” he says.

And just when they want to give up, Reed offers unwavering support, even attending classes and sports activities with them. And, when he thinks they need it, Reed refers them to professional counseling.

“Very often kids just need someone to relate to,” says Reed, a CSEA Local 836 shop steward who admits he was once a troubled youth. “I used to be a hopeless case, but I changed my attitude and my behavior. Now I can give back because I’ve been there and know that someone might be able to be saved.”

By Venida RaMar Marshall

Measuring safety at US schools

In October 1998, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education jointly published "Indicators of School Crime and Safety," which provides a comprehensive profile on school safety. Here are some of the findings:

• The percentage of 12th graders who have been injured (with or without a weapon) at school over a period of one year has not changed over the past 20 years, although the percentage of those who have been threatened with injury show a very slight overall upward trend;
• Five percent of all high school seniors reported in 1996 being injured with a weapon such as a knife, gun or club during the prior 12 months while they were at school (inside or outside the school building or on a school bus), and 12 percent reported intentional injuries without a weapon at school;
• In 1996-1997, ten percent of all public schools reported at least one serious violent crime to the police or law enforcement agency, and another 47 percent reported a less serious violent or non-violent crime, such as a physical attack or a fight without a weapon, theft/larceny or vandalism. Forty-three percent of public schools did not report any type of crime;
• Between 1989 and 1995, the percentage of students who felt unsafe at school increased from six percent to nine percent and the percentage who felt unsafe going to and from school rose from four percent to seven percent;
• Percent of students who avoided one or more places at school for fear of their own safety increased from five percent to nine percent between 1989 and 1995, representing 2.1 million students.

Schools answer the call for preventing crime and violence

The Department of Education's 1998 Annual Report on School Safety reveals that school officials are responding to the threat of crime in various ways: establishing zero-tolerance policies for weapons, increasing school security, and implementing formal school violence prevention or reduction programs. The Gun-Free Schools Act enacted in 1994 also provides that each state receiving federal funding through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act must have a law mandating that any student found bringing a firearm to school be expelled for at least one year. In 1996, the states reported they had expelled over 6,000 students for bringing a firearm to school.

"It is not that teens have greater access to guns, propane and kitchen timers than they had a decade ago. The real problem is that they now feel the urge to use them for mass murder. ... We need real solutions: more counselors in schools; a zero-tolerance program for bullying and ostracism at least as tough as those aimed at weapons and drugs; and a recognition that kids in trouble with juvenile authorities are more likely to pose a threat in the future. Anything less does not have a prayer of succeeding."

— Dr. Helen Smith, noted research scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, at the White House Youth Summit on Violence May 11.

Legislative solutions

Here are a few legislative solutions that might reduce the likelihood of another tragic killing:

• States such as Oregon are looking into laws that would have a 30-day observation — psychiatric or psychological evaluation period — for any student who brings a gun or dangerous weapon to school;
• Counseling and psychotherapy should be more readily available in school programs;
• Long-term parenting programs for high-risk families and short-term in-service programs for all families of school-age children should be established;
• Violence prevention programs for children that teach them early to praise others, avoid insults, resolve conflicts peacefully, manage anger and speak about hurt feelings must be expounded;
• In-service programs for teachers to help them recognize the emotional as well as physical symptoms of at-risk children; and
• Critical thinking skills to teach kids more logical and rationale ways to solve problems constructively can prevent violence.