Special Report
Families & the Community Opinion

School Safety, Climate Hinge on Communication

By Candi Cushman — January 04, 2013 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

It seems like every other day there’s another horrifying headline about students hurting other students—or worse, harming the very adults hired to protect them. Who can forget the video that went viral of the school bus monitor being harassed by students until tears ran down her face? Or the elementary-age students in Washington, D.C., who were given cocaine by a classmate? Each year, more than 3 million K-12 students are suspended or expelled.

Daniel Huerta, a mental-health counselor at the organization I work for, Focus on the Family, has seen many of the faces behind those statistics. Not only does he help field the thousands of calls we receive from distressed families, but he’s also a licensed clinical social worker who spent five years in the public school system. One thing his experience has made crystal clear is that campus discipline issues arise from a complicated mix of cultural dynamics both inside and outside the school building. Given that reality, what can schools realistically do beyond simply enforcing consequences for wrong behavior?

Here are a few suggestions based on our work with families and feedback we receive from professionals on the ground like Huerta.

Proactively involve parents. While schoolwide programs and teacher trainings are beneficial, unless those lessons are reinforced at home by students’ parents, they’ll likely not have staying power. One way to tackle that reality, drawn from Huerta’s and other mental-health professionals’ work with schools, is regular “family nights.” Such events can feature free workshops for parents on how to better connect with their children and support the school’s efforts to maintain discipline. These should be community affairs: Local businesses might provide food and door prizes, while volunteers organize family crafts. Relationship building is key: Families not only can get to know one another, reducing their isolation within the community, but they also might begin trusting educators more and become better aligned with the school’s goals.

Be consistent. A lack of widespread buy-in among teachers often sabotages successful implementation of school safety initiatives. Already overwhelmed with state and federal mandates, educators can be tempted to view these as yet more items on an already-unmanageable to-do list. The result is pervasive inconsistency. A child might experience one teacher severely correcting him for bad behavior, only to have another completely overlook it. The problem is, children are savvy and quickly adapt. Too often, they just learn to be manipulative or deceptive, rather than learn the lesson that “I can’t do this here.”

Taking the time to help educators emotionally invest in the “why” of what they’re doing, in addition to learning the “what to do,” helps strengthen consistency. Identifying a core group of teachers who are natural leaders and can inspire others to embrace common goals is also essential, suggests Joe Coles, a former principal who conducts teacher trainings for Rachel’s Challenge, a program for student and adult empowerment. Founded by the parents of the first victim in the Columbine High School shootings, 17-year-old Rachel Scott, the organization provides an estimated 2,000 trainings and 2,500 anti-bullying assemblies in public schools annually.

See Also

What is the most effective approach for maintaining discipline and a positive climate in the public schools?

Education Week Commentary asked six thought leaders to share their answer to this question in Quality Counts 2013. Read the other responses.

Create a life-valuing culture. Coles also emphasizes “discipline with respect"—the ability to hold kids accountable while conveying a deep-seated regard for their innate worth as human beings. That philosophy echoes the principles we hold dear at Focus on the Family, particularly when it comes to restoring a culturewide respect for human life. When you consider the onslaught of degrading social-media messages, television ads and violent video games that bombard children—combined with high levels of family trauma and breakdown—is it really any wonder that so many students enter school already desensitized to the value of others’ lives, not to mention their own?

That’s why we believe the best strategies for maintaining school safety and positive climates must include ongoing communication with parents and communitywide efforts to strengthen families. It’s also why we support policies that send the core message to children that they are worthy of protection from harm and have inherent worth as human beings, regardless of how society might classify them economically, socially, or otherwise.

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Families & the Community Opinion Why Educators Often Have It Wrong About Right-Leaning Parents
Stereotypes and misunderstandings keep educators from engaging constructively with conservative parents, write Rick Hess and Michael McShane.
Rick Hess & Michael McShane
5 min read
Two women look at each other from across a large chasm.
Mary Long/iStock + Education Week
Families & the Community Opinion Chronic Absenteeism Has Exploded. What Can Schools Do?
The key to addressing this issue is rebuilding the relationship between families and schools.
8 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Families & the Community Leader To Learn From Absenteeism Was a Big Problem in This District. A New Strategy Is Getting Results
Sharon Bradley remembers how it felt to miss school for reasons outside her control.
11 min read
Sharon Bradley, director of student, family and community services for Plano ISD, listens to members of the Character, Attendance, and Restorative Education (CARE) team discuss their current projects in Plano, Texas, on Dec. 14, 2023. The CARE department focuses on equipping students and adults with the tools, strategies, and resources that support a safe, engaging, and collaborative learning environment through character education, attendance recovery, and restorative practices.
Sharon Bradley, the director of student, family, and community services for the Plano, Texas, school district listens to staff members on a special team that focuses on helping students and their families address a range of challenges that may get in the way of regular attendance and engagement at school.
Shelby Tauber for Education Week
Families & the Community Leader To Learn From A Former Teacher Turns Classroom Prowess Into Partnerships With Families
Ana Pasarella maximizes her community's assets to put students first.
8 min read
Ana Pasarella, the director of family and community engagement for Alvin ISD, oversees an activity as Micaela Leon, 3, a student in Alvin ISD’s READy Program, draws on a piece of paper on Alvin ISD’s STEM bus in Manvel, Texas, on Dec. 8, 2023.
Ana Pasarella, the director of family and community engagement for the Alvin Independent school district in Texas, oversees an activity as Micaela Leon, 3, a student in the district's READy Program, draws on a piece of paper inside the district's STEM bus in Manvel, Texas.
Callaghan O’Hare for Education Week