In the 1950s, Hollywood presented a film entitled Blackboard Jungle, starring Glenn Ford. It was a film about an idealistic teacher in an urban slum area who fights doggedly to communicate with violent students. More than that, it was a film that presented the stark reality of situations in which children--in this case high-schoolers--can be trapped in world of hatred and prejudice, and who react violently as a result.
The recent incidents in Littleton, Colorado, and Conyers, Georgia, were tragic reminders that violence in the schools still exists. Psychologists and psychiatrists must deal with the social reasons for violent behavior among young people. But school districts themselves can take action to minimize the chances of violent incidents. Some already have. It is a matter of risk management and loss control, and in these areas independent insurance agents can play an important role.
The Insurance Services Office (ISO) is offering free to school officials, parents, and other interested persons its recently published report: "School Violence--A Prevention Program." Developed by ISO's Engineering & Safety Service unit, the report provides an overview of the scope of violence in schools and outlines steps that schools, communities, parents and kids themselves can take to prevent such violence.
The study draws heavily from the Annual Report on School Safety by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, and it provides information on developing and implementing a comprehensive school violence prevention plan.
"As far as insurance is concerned, we are protected for lawsuits that may come about because of a violent situation under the general liability portion of our insurance," says Mark McKinney, property/casualty claims manager for the South Carolina School Board Insurance Trust, a self-insurance vehicle for a number of schools in South Carolina. "But schools can be protected against such lawsuits if they do everything they can to minimize the possibilities of such incidents," he says.
Apparently, the McCormick Middle School in McCormick, South Carolina, has been doing just that. According to ISO, McCormick Middle School has been named as one model cited by the Departments of Education and Justice for use by other school systems in the country. Other schools are mentioned in the ISO study as well, and independent insurance agents who provide insurance coverages for schools might do well to consider the risk management procedures that have been implemented in these schools when writing insurance coverage.
In the case of McCormick Middle School, a few years ago, because of concern about high incidences of bullying, school officials instituted an anti-bullying program. The students named the program "Students Against Bullying." Start-up activities included staff meetings and in-service training for all teachers; establishment of a steering committee, including teachers and counselors; and involvement of parents through committee membership and communications that are sent home.
For two years, the activity was intense. Student training sessions occurred every two weeks, and administrative policy changes to support changed student behavior were adopted frequently. As an outgrowth of the anti-bullying focus, character education, conflict education, and a mediation program now are in place. All students are involved in these activities. The aspects of the program that focused solely on bullying are less intense, but follow-up on the original program continues.
According to ISO, the school's administration reports that McCormick is a different school today. The school's strict rules regarding students showing respect to each by not touching each other inappropriately have cut much of the shoving, pushing and bullying behavior of the past. Statistics show that bullying incidents have been reduced by 22%.
But there's more that must be done, according to Jake Jennings, who is in charge of risk management controls for the school district. "I do safety audits, checking campus security and I look at the physical aspects that must be considered. Campus layout is important. How accessible is the school to students who have been expelled or suspended? Lots of schools have cafeterias or auditoriums in the front of the campus. In these areas, there is usually a large concentration of students. That's bad.
"Some schools have too many entrances," continues Jennings. "With multiple entrances, there is less control of movement. Doors should be designed and maintained so that there is easy evacuation in case of fire or a violent incident, but so that there is also controlled entrance."
Jennings says that schools should have a "resource officer" on campus to act as a kind of law enforcement official as well as a student counselor. In addition to that, he says, schools should have students and teachers and staff wear color-coded ID tags to prevent those who don't belong from entering.
--Mark McKinney, Property/Casualty Claims Manager, South Carolina School Board Insurance Trust
Another school that is taking a strong risk management approach, according to ISO, is McNair Elementary School in Hazelwood, Missouri. After the 1991-92 school year, McNair's administration decided to try a new approach to preventing fights and aggressive behavior in school. Although the number of fights was not extremely high (55 fights and 27 suspensions out of a total school population of 519 students) in that year, the staff felt that suspensions and detentions were not changing student behavior. McNair borrowed from the Safe and Drug Free Schools strategy and initiated the Fight Free School Program. Schools in other areas have adopted it.
The program sets clear expectations for students and parents, provides students with social skills training, and teaches students to resolve conflicts peacefully. Offering daily positive reinforcement for good behavior, through strategies such as declaring fight-free days over the public address system and flying a fight-free flag over the school when there are no fights is also central to the program, according to ISO.
In another school model program cited by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, the San Diego Unified School District in San Diego, the sixth largest school district in the nation, instituted an approach to reduce youth violence and increase students' educational success. After a decade of noticeable increases in juvenile violence and crime, the district decided to proactively deal with discrimination and gang issues by starting at an early age. It employed a team of counselors and nurses to educate students in every elementary school.
The district also uses police officers, juvenile judges, and probation officers who work with its schools to ensure that youth who break the law are held accountable but also effectively diverted from leading a life of crime. The district also protects its students with a variety of security measures including: school police, closed campuses, undercover police to detect drug use, a crisis team, an emergency operations center connected to all sites by radio, and emergency plans at all schools.
The school reports the following results: less crime and truancy during the school day; students feel safe at school; tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use have decreased by 50% to 75%; use of multiple drugs has declined by as much as two-thirds; dropout rates have decreased; attendance has increased; and teen birth rates are down.
The ISO study mentioned other schools that have been cited by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice as potential models for schools across the nation. These models all address the issues of crisis response, evacuation planning, police and parent notification planning, media communications strategies, and counseling for students.
Insurance agents who represent schools in terms of purchasing necessary insurance coverages might consider the loss control and risk management elements of the ISP report, not only in terms of providing professional insurance services, but also in terms of providing citizenship services to their communities. *
©COPYRIGHT: The Rough Notes Magazine, 1999