School Violence PSA

In recent years, school violence has been at an all-time high, wreaking havoc on

the safety of students. Ranging from brawls, stabbings, school shootings, bombings, threats, etc.,

these are all condemning the peaceful learning environment that every student has a right to.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increasing rate of school

violence, especially incidents involving gun violence. According to EducationWeek, there have

been 180 school shootings in which at least one person was killed or injured since the year 2018.

Upon hitting 2020, a school shooting low struck as schools were mainly shut down for in-person

learning; however, as soon as face-to-face education reopened, an all-time high in gun violence

rates occurred.

School safety is paramount in education for students to experience and learn a

positive developmental trajectory. I recall many recent times when my younger sister, a freshman

in high school, would return home from school, telling me there was another fight where things

got brutal, and the staff hardly intervened to stop the violence from growing. At times, knives are

pulled out, and other threatening objects put both the students involved in the fight and those

around them in grave danger. What these experiences my sister is having in school have made

me realize is that school violence increases, especially when authorities and rules become

lenient, as do consequences for actions such as these. This leaves students with a sense of

freedom and power to act on violent tendencies as they please and threaten the lives of not only

other students but teachers as well. In the early 1990s, violence and crime peaked, and

policymakers at both federal and state levels felt the need to ensure safe schools for students. An

article by EDNote states, “All states moved to pass legislation to comply with the federal law,

and some went beyond the federal requirements — requiring automatic suspension or expulsion
not just for weapons violations, but also for infractions like possession or use of drugs. In

addition, states enacted other policies addressing student behavior, including making parents

financially liable for their children’s behavior, suspending or revoking driving privileges for

young people who violated weapon- and violence-related laws, and establishing requirements

around information-sharing between school districts and law enforcement agencies,” (Thomsen).

These laws were passed as a reform effort in education to ensure the issue of school violence

rates drops and even ends ultimately. According to this article, in recent years, the topic of zero

tolerance has subsided, leaving a cracked door for students to lash out with no repercussions.

However, a highly effective reform effort is taking place to balance student discipline between

leniency and strictness. These approaches include “limitations on the length of suspensions or

expulsions, prohibitions on the use of exclusionary discipline in the early grades, and

consideration of student circumstances and the context of a discipline issue before using

exclusionary discipline” (Thomsen). Through this educational reform effort, students, teachers,

and families will feel that schools are rightfully a safe place for students and staff while also

bringing justice for any wrongful disciplinary punishments placed on their children.

PSA:

Hi, my name is Jasmine Rizk.

I believe students should feel safe in their school learning environment with

rightful student disciplinary rules set in place. We must reinforce the concept of “Safety first,

safety always.” To create a safe and just learning environment, let’s balance leniency and

strictness to end school violence.

 This means safety protocols, security reinforcement, general student disciplinary

acts, and a justful consequence system must be discussed and reinforced within all educational

institutes. School is the second home for every student, and our responsibility is to make them

feel safe and justified in their homes.

For more information on ending school violence, visit EducationWeek, EDNote,

and T&FOnline.