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What is being done to make schools a safer place in your locality?

Middle school here ends after grade eight. High school begins in Grade nine. Students change schools. We have transition reports and meetings on each student to determine what is needed to help the transistion go smoothly. This is where we learn about previous violence, student/teacher conflict, educational and homelife history, needs outside of IEP needs, and any flags for violence. We take that information and have more meetings with that student’s grade nine teachers. In these bloody long meetings, we carve out strategies to help the student adjust to high school and put into place programming to help. We get some right into sports from day one. For some, we get them into auto shop or woodworking. Then we track those students into the next grade, adding supports as needed. In grade 10 we get them into co-op programs and try them out in the workplace. We try to find placements that correspond to their interests. We raise money among staff for students who do not have the basics. We have a lunch program that overlaps with a cooking class. We make sure these students are fed. If violence is a factor, and we need to suspend for long periods, we do not leave them at home festering. Many suspensions are done in a separate classrooms in the school. If that is not an option, they go into a program outside of the building at another location where they can earn their way back into regular school. During this transition, they are still registered students at the school. They still belong to us. If even this program is not working, we have another school-to-work program where they are placed in workplaces and the government pays 60% of minimum wages and the employer pays 40%. They are still our students. Teachers check on them. If they get through all this, they can graduate with all the other students of that year. They are never pushed out without options. During the roughest periods, even the most difficult students are still part of the school culture. Result: one guy is now a technician on Lexus cars. Another works at the arena doing maintenance. Another manages a pizza place while his boss winters In the south. Another works nights in a bakery and does all the cake decoration. He still looks like The Hulk. Another is a kind bouncer In a strip club in a large city. Another changes tires at an auto place of some sort. The key is to keep them connected to the system they have grown up in, and to have programming that offers hope and direction. These angry young men are still engaged and have hope and a plan. They aren’t out looking for guns to take to school. The transition periods are of great concern. We have lots of programming to support even the most difficult students through those times.