Tips for Students to Help Create Safe Schools

Students can do a lot to help create safe schools. Here are ideas from students in other school districts:
1. Listen to friends if they share troubling feelings or thoughts. Encourage them to get help from a trusted adult, such as a school psychologist, counselor, social worker, leader from the faith community, or other professional. If you are very
concerned, seek help for them. Share your concerns with your parents.
2. Create, join, or support student organizations that combat violence, such as Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE).
3. Work with local businesses and community groups to organize youth- oriented activities that help young people think of ways to prevent school and community violence before it starts. Share ideas for how these community groups and businesses can support students’ efforts.
4. Organize an assembly and invite the school psychologist, school social worker, and counselor – along with student panelists – to share ideas about how to deal with violence, intimidation, and bullying.
5. Get involved in planning, implementing, and evaluating your school’s violence prevention and response plan.
6. Participate in violence prevention programs such as peer mediation and conflict resolution. Employ these new skills in other settings such as the home, neighborhood, and community.
7. Work with teachers and administrators to create a safe process for reporting threats, bullying, intimidation, weapon possession, drug selling, gang activity, graffiti, and vandalism.
8. Help develop and participate in activities that promote students’ understanding of differences and that respect the rights of all.
9. Volunteer to be a mentor for younger students and tutor peers.
10. Know your school’s code of conduct and model responsible behavior. Avoid being part of a crowd when fights break out. Refrain from teasing, bullying, and intimidating peers.
11. Be a role model – take personal responsibility by reacting to anger without physically or verbally harming others.
12. Seek help from your parents or a trusted adult, such as a school psychologist, social worker, counselor, or teacher if you are experiencing intense feelings of anger, fear, anxiety, or depression.

Tips for Parents to Help Create Safe Schools

Parents can help create safe schools. Here are ideas that parents in other communities have tried:
1. Discuss the school’s discipline policy with your child. Show your support for the rules, and help your child understand the reasons for them.
2. Involve your child in setting rules for proper behavior at home and school.
3. Help your child understand the importance of following directions during any type of incident at school.
4. Talk with your child about the violence he or she sees – on television, in video games, on the Internet, and in the neighborhood. Help your child understand the consequences of violence.
5. Teach your children how to solve problems; praise them when they follow through.
6. Help your child find ways to show anger that do not involve verbally or physically hurting others. When you get angry, use it as an opportunity to model these appropriate responses for your child and talk about it.
7. Help your child understand the value of accepting individual differences.
8. Note any disturbing behaviors in your child. For example, frequent angry outbursts, excessive fighting and bullying of other children, cruelty to animals, fire setting, frequent behavior problems at school and in the neighborhood, lack of friends, and alcohol or drug use can be signs of serious problems. Get help for your child. Talk with a trusted professional in your child’s school or in the community. 
9. Listen to your child if he or she shares concerns about friends who may be exhibiting troubling behaviors. Share this information with a trusted professional, such as the school psychologist, principal, or teacher.
10. Monitor your children’s Internet use, including social media sites. Ask them what they do online and which websites they visit. Put parental controls on inappropriate websites and access to social media sites.
11. Be involved in your child’s school life by supporting and reviewing homework, talking with his or her teachers, and attending school functions.
12. Volunteer to work with school-based and community groups concerned with violence prevention.
13. Talk with the parents of your child’s friends. Discuss how you can form a team to ensure your children’s safety.

Source: Early Warning, Timely Response:
A Guide for Safe Schools