Crime and Violence in Schools Thirty Years Ago: More or Less [2]

(Second in a series)

On April 16 and June 17, 1975, the U.S. Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency conducted hearings to understand “the nature, extent, and cost of violence and vandalism in our nation’s schools.” Subsequently, the Safe School Study Act was incorporated into the Elementary and Secondary Education Amendments of 1975. In response to the legislation, the National Institute of Education (NIE), U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), designed a three-part study. In this study, Boesel et al. (1978) formulated “Implications for Action” to address school crime and violence. The authors recognized that increases in crime and violence in schools had leveled off, but they also observed that there was “abundant evidence of a problem.”

Implications for Action: School Governance and Security

A system of governance that is orderly and equitable is correlated with schools that are safe. There is evidence that effective governance encourages student commitment to the school, which contributes to the safety of schools.

"Seriously affected schools should give particular attention to the establishment of legitimate and effective governance programs.

"Schools and their communities should recognize that the role of the principal is important to the success of any school, but that it is the key in schools which are seriously affected by crime and disruption.

"Communities and their school districts should provide the resources necessary to enable principals in seriously affected schools to exercise a leadership role vis-a-vis students as well as teachers.

"Teachers and other school personnel require pre- and in-service training for making schools safe.

"Communities and their school districts should increase the number of teachers in schools which are having serious problems with crime and disruption.

"Consideration should be given to ways of increasing the ‘personalization’ of secondary schools.

"Seriously affected schools should provide more relevant courses to students, especially those who are alienated and ‘turned off’ by school.

"Relationships between the administration and teachers, among teachers, and between the school and the school system are important in producing safe schools and should be supportive in dealing with the problem."

Security measures cannot substitute for effective governance, but they can help to reduce violence and property loss. Where effective governance is not present and sustainable, security measures can become no more than another challenge for offenders to circumvent.

"School systems with serious problems of violence and vandalism can benefit from the hiring of additional security personnel. The recruitment and training of such personnel should emphasize interpersonal skills as well as security functions.

"Schools experiencing serious problems should give special attention to surveillance and traffic control in areas such as hallways, stairwells, and cafeterias, where violence and disruption are most likely to start.

"Schools and school systems should move to improve recordkeeping and reporting of serious problems to the police and other appropriate agencies.

"Schools and school systems in which crime is a problem should coordinate their efforts with those of local courts.

"Schools and school systems should select security devices with care and with reference to their special needs."

Next: The American Teacher surveys, 1993, 1994, and 1999

Part 1 of this series, Crime and Violence in Schools Thirty Years Ago: More or Less, is available at http://www.hamfish.org/dailies/051026.html.

References

Boesel, D., Crain, R., Dunteman, G., Ianni, F., Martinolich, M. Moles, O., Spivak, H., Stalford, C., and Wayne, I. (1978, January). Violent schools–safe schools: The safe school study report to the Congress. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Elementary and Secondary Education Amendments, Pub. L. No. 93-380. (August 21, 1974). [Safe School Study Act]

School violence and vandalism: Hearings before the Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency of the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, 94th Cong. (1976). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office (see the GPO Federal Depository Loan Program at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fdlp.html).

Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, 94th Cong. (1975). Our nation’s schools–a report card: ‘A’ in school violence and vandalism. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office (see the GPO Federal Depository Loan Program at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fdlp.html).

Page Updated: November 02, 2005