The number of incidents of violence in our schools has been increasing. Recent tragedies in Colorado, Georgia and Alberta have heightened the concern for how such violence can be prevented. A safe environment is essential for students to learn and teachers to teach.

External Sites and Materials:

• School Violence - Its Roots, Interventions, and Challenges. Based on an article written in Orbit (1994). A conversation with Stuart Auty, Dan Offord, and Fred Mathews.
• Scholastic Advice for Kids answers questions about feeling safe, dealing with tragedy, and other problems.
• Ten Things Kids Can Do To Stop Violence. This fact sheet from Connecticut Clearinghouse offers tips you can use to prevent or stop violence.
• On2: Fighting School Violence. This page from PBS discusses ways that different communities are fighting violence and keeping kids safe in their schools and neighborhoods.
• Nova Scotia Teachers' Union Anti-Violence Resource Library. Halifax, Nova Scotia. An excellent bibliography.
• School Violence. This article from the Why Files focuses on trying to keep your schools safe. It talks about danger in schools, what leads some kids to act out violently, and how they can get help.
• Advice for Parents and Teachers. Answers from Scholastic Online to questions addressing parents' and teachers' concerns about kids and their safety and well-being.
• An Educator's Guide to Violence in Schools. A book by Eric Roher which provides a legal framework for dealing with violence. Available from Canada Law Book. Also read Education Law News 1997 Violence in Canadian Schools.

Programs and Projects:

• Center for the Prevention of School Violence focuses on ensuring that schools are safe and secure so that every student is able to attend a school that is free of fear and conducive to learning.
• The Safe Child Program is a comprehensive curriculum which teaches prevention of sexual, emotional and physical abuse by people known to the child; prevention of abuse and abduction by strangers; and safety in self-care.

Related: Campaign Against Bullying in the Workplace, Conference: Preventing Violence in Schools,

Organizations:

• Canadian Safe School Network. Mississauga, Ontario.
  Phone: (905) 848-0440
  eMail: CSSN@interlog.com
• Safe School Task Force. Toronto, Ontario.
  Phone: (416) 395-8326
• National School Safety Center . Westlake Village, California.
  Phone: (805) 373-9977

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Updated October 5, 2000