Thoughts on the anniversary of Columbine

I was listening to the local public radio station this morning (WAMC in Albany, NY), and they asked the following question:

Ten years after Columbine, what lessons were learned and what gaps remain when it comes to school safety?

 

 Here is my fairly quick response:

 

As a long-time teacher, I am convinced that while we have made some gains, it is simply not possible to stop committed, intelligent kids who want to harm other students or teachers.

 

Sure, Columbine made us look at school safety in a different way, but it's been mainly in keeping adults out of school they don't belong in. It's not getting down to the kids.

 

There is a new mindset, however, and adults are paying more attention.

 

There have been a number of instances in which the youths planning an attack were stopped, usually because they talked to friends about what they were planning.

 

I think that today, if students made a video of themselves walking around the school shooting people and showed it to adults such as guidance counselors, those adults would alert the authorities. That might well have stopped Columbine.

 

The absolute key here is the teachers, who need to be involved and aware of what their students are doing. Good and great teachers have strong connections to their kids and often can intervene before things get out of control.

 

Certainly this is happening more and more with GLBT issues and with other varieties of bullying.

 

But we still need to connect better with kids. they need to learn about events like Columbine. (A number of local schools are involved with Rachel's Challenge, which grew out of the shootings at Columbine.)

 

But with the focus more and more on test scores, I think we sometimes miss the chance to connect with our students in other ways.

Holy Cow! I work for a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper

Yes, I know I only work part-time, and I do not know the guy (I actually tend to disagree with his opinions), but yeah, Go Post-Star.

Glens Falls Post-Star

GLENS FALLS – Mark Mahoney, The Post-Star’s editorial page editor, has been named winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished editorial writing.

The announcement of the Pulitzer Prize winners and nominated finalists was made at a press conference this afternoon at Columbia University in New York City.