Introduction
In order to complete this activity, I conducted a survey of resources on school violence and participated as a member of a disciplinary hearing committee on our campus. I also interviewed JM, our upper school’s Assistant Principal to discuss our school’s policies and procedures regarding violence as well as past incidents and how they were handled. I also met with AH, our Head of School to discuss any insights he could add and other experiences he has had.
Findings
First and foremost, I believe that we are fairly lucky. As a small school, we don’t see much violence on our campus. In the last few years, only minor incidents have occurred, including a student bringing a slingshot to school and a couple of fights in the parking lot. though we are a security-concious school and we have a locked campus and 24-hour security force, that’s mainly to protect us from the outside; our student body is remarkably non-violent in light of what I read about during my research.
Our Discipline Policy is clear when it comes to violence and any incident results in immediate action up to and including expulsion. When a teacher discovered that a student had brought a slingshot onto campus in a gym bag last year, the policy was followed to the letter. The police were contacted, demerits were awarded, the family was contacted and a discipline hearing committee was convened. The student was later expelled, though not for this offense; it was only one of a string of unfortunate decisions the student made.
The only other incidents have been occasional fights in the parking lot, but none of these have been serious enough to cause injury or even permanent ill will. Ours is a small school with a close student body and violence on campus has not really ever been an issue. However, in my discussion with JM, he talked about how the research indicates that incidents of violence can come without warning and how we must be prepared for the worst. “Our policies spell out some things I’d rather not contemplate,” he said, explaining that it’s best to be prepared for anything..