Students need to feel like their school environment will not pose physical harm to them whether that comes from other students, staff, security or an external threat. Even harassing verbal interaction is enough to derail the learning process. Fear or unexpected events put our brain and body into survival mode and higher level processing shuts down until the immediate threat is gone. While there are precautions aimed at keeping external threats off our campuses, we also need to address the fighting and bullying that occurs on campus. Disruptive behavior takes up precious teacher and administrative time. Many parents have shared with me that their student was verbally harassed or witnessed another student being harassed, and the resolution was less than satisfactory, leaving their student afraid to return to school. We need to deal with misconduct on campus so school can be a respectful, safe environment for everyone.
To effectively address school safety due to behavioral issues, we need to look at the sources of these behaviors. Students act out as a way of seeking attention, seeking autonomy, seeking revenge and hopelessness or giving up. The solution to these issues is to involve Dads (and Moms). For those students who do not have a dad who will participate, we will find a mentor to be a Stand-in Dad. Our kids deserve better and it is our responsibility to set reasonable expectations and train them for a successful future. In doing so, we are providing for ALL students.