This book is a reference primarily for school planners within the United States tasked with designing, implementing, and maintaining a safe school plan. Every school should have an effective, locality-specific emergency plan in place and this guide helpsyou do just that. Written by three experts with decades of experience in the school safety field, this guide takes you step-by-step through prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery, providing easy-to-use advice and checklists, as well as samples from safe-school planning documents currently in use.

The school violence events that occurred in the 2006-2007 school year and the March 2007 shooting tragedy in Germany have renewed concerns about schools all across the country. The need, therefore, for a book on planning and implementing school safety measures would seem to be vital at this point in time. Reeves, Kanan, and Plog have created just such a guide, providing important information that can help prevent incidents of school violence for all educators involved in crisis prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. The emphasis the authors place on the connection between physical safety efforts and psychological safety efforts make this work even more valuable.

Bullying. Gang assaults. Rampage shootings. School violence, especially when it turns deadly, has enduring social and psychological effects on students, faculty, staff, and the community. And though a great deal of research focuses on the significant role children’s positive social development plays in reducing incidents of school violence, in-depth examinations of evidence-based preventive measures have remained minimal until now. With its focus on averting lethal school violence, this unique volume translates the prosocial findings into practicable preventive measures that can be put to use in school settings. Making expert use of news reports as well as scholarly data, Preventing Lethal School Violence clarifies the links between bullying and lethal violence and delineates typical characteristics of school shooters while cautioning against outright profiling. Students’ awareness of self and others, strong connections with adults, and other social and ethical skills form the basis of a comprehensive, research-based model for reducing—and potentially eliminating—lethal incidents at school. This accessible volume: Outlines the scope of school violence as a broader social problem. Summarizes current information on the traits common to students who commit lethal violence at school. Examines the relationship between bullying/cyberbullying and rampage incidents. Analyzes examples of successful prevention of violent acts and resolution of hostage situations. Describes in detail the concept of positive school climate and introduces the Safe School Communities Model. Synthesizes key research data into violence prevention skills for students, teachers, administrators, and all professionals working in schools. Preventing Lethal School Violence is a must-have resource for researchers and professionals in school psychology and allied education disciplines, including school administration, school counseling, and social work.

This publication summarizes research on the benefits of safe-school planning, provides examples of successful programs and strategies, and offers a step-by-step planning process that school teams can apply to their individual campuses and student populations. It also reflects new state and federal laws that established California's School Safety Violence Protection Act and the federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act. Chapter titles reflect the book's content: Chapter 1, "Safe Schools: Respect and Connection for Every Student"; Chapter 2, "What We've Learned about Safe and Effective Schools"; Chapter 3, "Beyond the School Door"; Chapter 4, "The Safe School Model"; Chapter 5, "Component 1--The School Climate"; and Chapter 6, "Component 2--The Physical Environment." Appendices contain the following information: California's policy on school safety, discipline, and attendance; information on where to find sample policies; a planning guide for action containing requirements in existing California and federal programs; several safe-school questionnaires useful for planning; a list of statutes regarding school safety; various sample forms; a list of acronyms; and discussions on ways to include students in program design and implementation, including how to handle outsiders and other interference, suspension, expulsion, and involuntary transfer. (WFA).

An update of the successful first edition, this handbook adds critical information about safe-school planning and response. It is geared for those involved in school safety planning, preparedness, prevention and mitigation, response, and recovery.

This workbook presents a seven-step planning process for safe and effective schools. Though specifically directed to schools in California, most of the components of the plan will pertain to schools everywhere. The workbook contains requirements of the California Education Code; many work sheets, sample forms, summary sheets, checklists, rubrics, matrices, and definitions; and an action plan for each of the seven steps. The seven steps in the planning process are as follows: (1) Identify your safe-school planning committee members; (2) create a vision of your school as a place where students are safe to learn, and base that vision on youth development; (3) gather and analyze data; (4) identify strengths and areas of desired change, and set major annual goals for each of the two safe-school components; (5) select and implement strategies; (6) communicate the safety plan to the public, hold public meetings for input, and keep the updated plan available for public inspection; and (7) evaluate your progress, revise the plan annually, and include the plan in your school accountability report card. (WFA).