Committee hears from experts on school violence prevention
The Select Committee on Children and Youth heard testimony Friday from state officials and national experts on what’s being done to make schools safer and prevent school shootings like those taking place in the last few years.
The meeting comes more than a month after a 14-year-old Campbell County boy was accused of fatally shooting an assistant principal and wounding two other school administrators. Authorities have yet to release a motive in the shooting, but the boy is scheduled for a mental evaluation.
On Friday, the committee was told that the commonality among school shooters is a “sense of hopelessness.” Seventy-five percent of them had threatened suicide, according to a study done by the U.S. Secret Service.
“There are so many children today that are struggling with hopelessness,” said Sen. Roy Herron, D-Dresden and chair of the committee. “The fact that 75 percent of those that commit these acts of school violence had previously indicated suicidal tendencies is something that we need to be picking up on.”
The committee was also told that 66 percent of school shooters felt persecuted or bullied by their peers. Tennessee recently passed legislation that requires each local school board to develop an anti-bullying policy.
Bruce Opie, legislative liaison for the state Department of Education, said two anti-bullying workshops scheduled for this month and next have been booked. However, he said “there’re still schools all over the state that have not had educators benefit from this kind of training.”
Besides the anti-bullying workshops, Opie outlined other initiatives the state is considering to make Tennessee’s schools safer. They include improving coordination efforts between school systems and law enforcement agencies, as well as providing school safety training for administrators.
Lawmakers agree such initiatives are necessary, but they say a large part of school violence prevention starts at home. Experts testified that 66 percent of the students got guns from their homes or a relative.
“Many times we focus on schools, but that’s just the conclusion of it, not the beginning,” said Rep. John DeBerry, a Memphis Democrat who is also chairman of the Children and Family Affairs Committee. “Some of these kids have been shooting since they were a child.”
Besides the number of guns retrieved from homes, lawmakers were surprised to learn that many of the school shootings took place in rural areas and that 75 percent of the shooters were white males.
“I don’t think any of us were aware just how overwhelmingly male and Caucasian the shooters are,” Herron said.
Bill Bond, a consultant with the National Association of Secondary School Principals, agrees with lawmakers that the “best offense we have is caring adults.”
Bond is the former principal of West Heath High School in Paducah, Ky., where eight years ago a high school freshman opened fire on classmates in an informal prayer circle in the school’s lobby, killing three students and wounding five others.
After the shootings, Bond started a program where a teacher or adult is assigned to an eighth-grade student and follows that person until graduation.
“It takes a lot of effort,” Bond said of the initiative. “But it’s a way of trying to ensure that no student goes unknown. Every student should have an adult they care about and that cares about them.”
Incidents of school violence this year
Incidents of violence reported at or near Tennessee schools this year, starting with the most recent:
? Nov. 8, Jacksboro: A 14-year-old boy was accused of fatally shooting an assistant principal and wounding two other school administrators.
? Oct. 28, Nashville: Four males ? ages 18, 19, 21 and 23 ? were arrested for carrying firearms after police unexpectingly used metal detectors at a Friday night high school football game.
? Oct. 21, Nashville: A 16-year-old female was shot in the neck during a shooting across the street from a high school.
? Sept. 21, Henderson: Students at a high school left early following rumors of a possible shooting at the school in retaliation for the shooting death of a 16-year-old at the country fairgrounds the previous week.
? Aug. 25, Dandridge: A student was struck in the leg when a gun discharged in the boys restroom of a middle school. Further investigation revealed that three male students allegedly had a plot to kill one of their teachers in retaliation for that teacher having disciplined one of the students.
? May 16, Collierville: Five homemade bombs were discovered in a parking lot near an elementary school.
? March 24, Memphis: A 17-year-old female student accidentally shot herself in the arm when she reached into her purse.
? March 2, Cumberland City: A 14-year-old boy was accused of fatally shooting a school bus driver.
? Jan. 28, Lafayette: Two junior high students were arrested for plotting an attack, which included a hit list of students and teachers.