Education Vital Signs: Safe From Harm
Breaking Schools’ Rules
http://justicecenter.csg.org/files/Breaking_Schools_Rules_Report_Final.pdf
A study of Texas public secondary school students reveals that almost 60 percent of them have been suspended or expelled. Of the 15 percent of those suspended or expelled 11 times or more, almost 50 percent ended up involved in the juvenile justice system. According to “Breaking Schools’ Rules,” a report from the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center, only 3 percent of these disciplinary actions were state mandated; 97 percent of the suspensions and expulsions occurred at the discretion of school officials.
July 2011
Zero Tolerance in Philadelphia
http://youthunitedforchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/YUC_ZeroTol.pdf
According to a new report, Zero Tolerance in Philadelphia, the city’s zero tolerance policy has actually made its schools less safe, and is responsible for the creation of a “school-to-prison pipeline” within city schools. Philadelphia’s school security force—which the study claims has fundamentally changed the student experience in many schools—is three times larger than the security forces of Pennsylvania’s 19 other school districts combined, despite Philadelphia’s far lower student enrollment. The report claims that Philadelphia’s charter schools have disciplinary policies as harsh as or even harsher than its traditional public schools.
January 2011
National Report Card on Protecting Children During Disasters
http://www.savethechildren.org/publications/reports/2010-Disaster-Report.pdf
Save the Children’s
National Report Card on Protecting Children During Disasters finds that 38 states and the District of Columbia failed to meet one or more of its four requirements for disaster preparedness: a plan for evacuating kids in child care; plans for reunifying families after a disaster; plans for children with special needs; and an evacuation plan for schools. Seven states – Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, and Wyoming – met
none of the standards.
July 2010
Teaching Discipline: A Toolkit for Educators on Positive Alternatives to Out-of-School Suspensions
http://www.ctkidslink.org/publications/edu10discipline.pdf
A new report from Connecticut Voices for Children demonstrates that there are effective means other than out-of-school suspensions to improving school discipline, including support for positive behavior, mentoring, peer mediation, detention, restitutions, parent meetings, and fostering student engagement. The report, Teaching Discipline: A Toolkit for Educators on Positive Alternatives to Out-of-School Suspensions, showcases examples of alternatives to out-of-school suspensions used successfully in Connecticut schools, where out-of-school suspensions have dropped from 7.1 percent in 2006-07 to 5.4 percent in 2008-09.
June 2010
Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009326.pdf
Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools, a preliminary look at findings from the National Center for Education Statistics’ School Survey on Crime and Safety for school year 2007-08, shows 48 percent of schools reporting at least one student threat of physical attack. The highest rate of violence occurred in middle schools. The lowest rate of violence occurred in high schools. The rate of violence in America’s middle schools is twice as high as in its high schools.
May 2009
Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2008
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009022REV.pdf
Schools may be less violent than in the past, but that does not mean they are safe, according to a study released by the Departments of Education and Justice. According the report, Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 86 percent of public schools experienced at least one violent incident in 2005-06, and one third of all students reported being bullied.
April 2009
Emergency Preparedness Online, Fifth Edition
http://www.emergencyinfoonline.org/eas/3030/
Bridge Multimedia of New York City, a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Preparedness Coalition, has created a new free online emergency preparedness resource guide “30 Days, 30 Resources,” that features articles, guides, lists, and links to timely facts regarding disaster readiness for homes, schools, businesses, and more. Emergency Info Online was developed as a method of disseminating information regarding emergency preparedness, particularly as it relates to individuals with disabilities.
2007