By Jim Brown
A school safety expert is warning that the recent spate of violent, public-school-related deaths across the U.S. this semester may escalate over the course of the school year.
Since mid-August, there have been 18 violent deaths that took place in, or otherwise involved, American public schools. This high mark has been reached less than three months into the academic calendar, when only 16 such incidents took place during the entire 2002-2003 school year. In fact, the number of public-school-related fatalities so far this year have exceeded totals for the previous two years.
However, this statistic has been rarely noted and largely ignored by the press. Ken Trump with National School Safety and Security Services believes he knows the reason for the mainstream media's neglected coverage of the alarming trend.
“Public attention from media, legislators, and in some cases the parents, in general, has really been focused on the war on terror and overseas activities,” Trump says, “and the war at home on violence in our schools has taken a back seat.”
The school security analyst says there is not one specific cause for the recent spike in such violence. He notes that most violent incidents involving schools or school children typically occur in the spring, so seeing this rising level of violence already occurring in the fall suggests that the U.S. may have a long year ahead in terms of school safety problems.
“The climate unfortunately is ripe for the school violence to continue to grow,” Trump says. He lists decreasing school safety funding as well as increasing pressure on educators to focus on test score results as factors. “And to some extent,” he adds, “an increased complacency and belief that school officials did everything they needed to do following Columbine and the other school shootings has pushed school safety largely to the back burner.”
Apparently, even as the media and government officials focus on terror abroad, the safety of America's schools and schoolchildren is becoming a domestic security issue of growing concern. Trump says he hates to think that Americans could reach a day when their country is protecting bridges, monuments, and government buildings better than it is protecting children and teachers in U.S. classrooms.
(This article courtesy of Agape Press).
