NCCAT Town Meeting
Thursday, February 24, 2000
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Safe Schools

NCCAT: Good afternoon and welcome to the second in our series of Teacher Town Meetings from the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching.   From time to time, we ask our Seminar presenters to share their knowledge and expertise with you through these meetings. I am your host, Stephen Sorrell, an Educator-on-Loan with NCCAT and will be moderating the discussion.  This week, NCCAT is conducting a Seminar titled: Safe Schools and we are fortunate to have with us Ms. Joanne McDaniel from the Center for the Prevention of School Violence in Raleigh. Would you please tell us a little about yourself, Joanne?
 

NCCAT: Joanne, are our children safe in North Carolina schools?

Joanne McDaniel: Yes. The schools of North Carolina are some of the safest places our young people spend time. We are in a mode of improvement in our state. A lot of effort and energy is put in every day to make the schools as safe as possible. There is room for improvement but we are doing a good job.

NCDPI: Do we have statistics that compare NC schools to other schools in the nation?

Joanne McDaniel: North Carolina is one of a small number of states that actually collects data about school violence incidents. There are fourteen reportable categories of incidents in our state. Some states do not collect any information. Some collect more, South Carolina for example.  In North Carolina we had 7539 incidents reported during school year 1998-99 in the fourteen categories. The top three categories were possession of non-gun weapons, possession of controlled substance, and assault on school personnel.

NCCAT: Joanne, 7539 incidents sounds like a lot...is it in terms of public school enrollment?

Gaston County: Do you know what that breaks down to per school - student enrollment?

Joanne McDaniel: The incidents reflect a 6.2 rate of reported incidents per 1000 students - a decrease from 7.8 in 1993-94.

NCDPI: How does this break down into Elementary, Middle and HS?

Joanne McDaniel: As you might suspect, there are more incidents reported for middle and high schools than elementary schools. An interesting point to make is that school size is as critical a variable as level of school.

Gaston County: In which way?

Joanne McDaniel: The bigger the school, the more incidents reported.  DPI is responsible for collecting the data and generating the annual report. The report contains a per student rate for each school system.

NCCAT: Karen, can you go run quick & get those numbers?

NCDPI: Who has the data at DPI?

Joanne McDaniel: The Safe Schools section. Dr. Dennis Stacey is a good contact.

NCDPI: How many incidents of gun related weapons were reported?

Joanne McDaniel: There were 144 reported incidents of firearm possession. This represents a 68% drop since the baseline year of 1993-94. We attribute this success to several factors. Harsher penalties for bringing guns, zero tolerance for guns on campus, School Resource Officers, and the Center's and DPI's safe schools efforts.
 

NCDPI: Are there federal funds that are provided to help implement your program as well as state funds?

Joanne McDaniel: The Center is a state-funded agency.  We did receive a federal grant recently to address conflict management training for preservice teachers and administrators.

NCCAT: What type of training do you do with those teachers?

NCDPI: Where will the preservice teachers receive their training?

Joanne McDaniel: We provide a variety of training for teachers: from training in law-related education programs such as We The People to training in safe school planning. The Schools of Education will offer the new conflict management training in the state. We are just getting started on the project but hope to have some integrated materials ready for those in class this summer.

Gaston County: Is any of this training online?

Joanne McDaniel: Not yet. Staff of the project is starting next week. I'll get them working at it. You will be able to find information soon at our web site www.ncsu.edu/cpsv

NCDPI: I'm glad to see this program being implemented. I hear from preservice teachers regularly that do not feel they are fully equipped for classroom management.

NCCAT: What do you offer in-service teachers and administrators?
 

Gaston County: What is the session you are doing now at NCCAT?

Joanne McDaniel: The session is Creating Safe Schools.  Seven school teams are working on a safe school planning. We've discussed prevention, intervention, and crisis response and management. We've provided a template for building-level planning. We've discussed how to get students involved in school safety. We've shared information about how to identify at-risk students.

Gaston County: That seem like a f-u-l-l week but sure the teams enjoy this gift of time and instruction to develop the plans.

Gaston County: What was the result of the Governor's Task Force on Youth Violence and School Safety?

Joanne McDaniel: The Task Force provided six general recommendations and ten action items. The ten action items have all seen action to date. Several of them involved getting information to locals so that they could better undertake safe school planning. The conflict management project mentioned earlier is Action Item #10. The #1 Action Item is a statewide anonymous tip line for handling threats to school safety. That was turned on a few weeks ago. The Center is partnering with Pinkerton Services Group of Charlotte to provide the service as well as an educational campaign. The number is 888-960-9600.

Gaston County: An easy number to remember.  Has the word hit the school campuses?  Is that a 24-hour response line?

Joanne McDaniel: Yes the line is 24 hours seven days a week.

Gaston County: Has the word hit the school campuses?

Joanne McDaniel: That is one of our projects. To ensure that students find out that the tip line is available ... as a "last resort" mechanism. We want our schools to be places where students are comfortable enough to report locally. Only if they do not feel comfortable should they turn to the tip line.
 

NCDPI: How long will the members of the Task Force stay active?

Joanne McDaniel: The Task Force was on a fast track per Governor Hunt's instructions. They reported recommendations in August. It is now all of our jobs to see that what they suggested gets acted upon.

NCCAT: How can I get a copy of the governor's task force report?

Joanne McDaniel: You can access from our home page www.ncsu.edu/cpsv. Or if you want a bound copy you can call the Center at 800-299-6054.

Gaston County: What are some of the specific types of improvements are being made in North Carolina?

Joanne McDaniel: We can start with the safe school planning efforts that are taking place across the state. Each school is in the process of reviewing plans for prevention, intervention, and crisis response. We are seeing schools move beyond physical security issues to people issues in efforts to make schools safer. And we are seeing people make the connection between educational missions and safety.

Gaston County: It seems that things are moving ahead!

NCDPI: Does the Safe Schools Program in our schools collaborate with the Character Education Program?

Joanne McDaniel: The Center is one of the partners in the North Carolina Character Education Partnership. DPI, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Wake, and Cumberland are the other partners. All are working with a model that is based upon the three "C's" which are seen as important in a character education approach. The "C's" are community consensus, school climate, and curriculum integration.

NCDPI: Have you had an opportunity to get any feedback from teachers on how they think the program is impacting their schools?

Joanne McDaniel: Yes. The Character Education Partnership has an outside evaluation component which is being conducted by Dr. Rita O'Sullivan at UNC-CH. The evaluation is showing positive impact on school climate in the schools that are implementing character education.

NCCAT: What has been the impact, in your opinion, of the change in law that brings law enforcement into schools for fighting and weapons possession?

Joanne McDaniel: From discussions with people across the state, the impact has been felt in schools. The number show that with that significant drop in gun possession on school property. School people tell us that when students know "the law will be called" they are less likely to fight.

NCCAT: Schools are a reflection of their community. What services do you offer to communities to prevent violence?

Joanne McDaniel: We have done a lot of work with law enforcement agencies in starting and implementing School Resource Officer programs. These programs reflect community policing principles but in a school environment. We also work with agencies like Y's and social services to assist their out-of-school efforts to help young people.
 
 
 

Gaston County: Any other pointers that have come out of the meeting at NCCAT?

Joanne McDaniel: An interesting theme among the schools this week is the importance of having relationships with the students in their classrooms. Nothing can replace knowing and caring about your students. That is the best pointer for education as well as for safety.

Gaston County: Can you give the classroom teacher some pointers on how to make their individual classrooms a safer place to be?

Joanne McDaniel: Education; student court; Students Against Violence Everywhere; physical security.

Joanne McDaniel: Be prepared. Be honest in your efforts to address safety, which means reporting incidents to law enforcement even though there may be fall out. And take care of your staff when crises happen. They are people too. If staff is expected to take care of students, we need to remember that they too need attention.

NCDPI: Are there any discussions for giving incentives to schools that are showing exemplary strides for having a safe school?

Joanne McDaniel: Principals and assistant principals are able to receive a 1% salary adjustment as determined by local boards of education. A new program which schools will be able to apply to DPI for is the "Triple S" program which stands for Super Safe Schools. It will required schools to put together a packet which reflects their safe school efforts and successes. The State Board is finalizing the program next month and schools will be able to apply late this spring.

NCCAT: how can schools get information about the S.A.V.E. and/or W.A.V.E. programs?

Joanne McDaniel: Students can get information about S.A.V.E. and W.A.V.E. from the Center through our toll-free number 800-299-6054

NCCAT: Joanne, it sounds like the most effective violence prevention program is the one we're really known about all along: that when children feel accepted and cared about in their school and classroom, they are much less likely to be violent.

Joanne McDaniel: That is true and that has been recognized by the State Board with its change in Strategic Priority 2 from "Safe and Orderly Schools" to "Safe, Orderly, and Caring Schools."

Gaston County: I am glad they added caring... a real key.

NCCAT: We have just a few minutes left...are there any final questions for Joanne?

Gaston County: We have asked you (I think) a record of questions in this amount of time... it there something you would like to share with us?

NCCAT: Joanne, are there any thoughts you'd like to leave us with?

Joanne McDaniel: I think to remember that the safety of our schools is closely linked to the academic success of our schools. They are not discrete choices we have to make in our schools. The Center's vision that "Every student will attend a school that is safe and secure, free of fear and conducive to learning," should be our goal.

NCCAT: Joanne, on behalf of Teachers Connect and NCCAT, I'd like to thank you for your time and expertise today.

NCCAT: Thanks to all of our Town Meeting participants for taking part in our discussion. NCCAT and Teachers Connect are currently planning more Town Meetings for both Teachers and Students. Check the Teachers Connect web site for topics, dates and times.

Gaston County: I appreciate Joanne taking an hour out from her already F-U-L-L schedule to share with us! Hats off to Stephen who has made all this possible!!!

NCDPI: Thanks Joanne, you shared some valuable information and we appreciate your time.

Posted: February 25, 2000