School Violence

All 5,600 employees of Howard County schools will get photo identification cards as a security measure to protect staff and students, the school system's security coordinator told parents last night.The ID cards are among violence-prevention initiatives being planned, Steve Drummond, the security coordinator, told the Parent Teacher Association Council of Howard County.Some safety initiatives are in place, he said.About 50 people attended the meeting in Ellicott City.School safety has become a national issue as incidents of school violence have left students and staff members injured or dead.

In an effort to prevent school violence, Howard County police and school officials have placed an officer in each high school and opened a phone line for anonymous tips on school violence.County Executive James N. Robey, who announced the measures during a news conference at Atholton High School yesterday, said violence in schools across the country has prompted county leaders to take preventive measures."Columbine, for example," Robey said, noting the school shootings last spring in Colorado.

The collective sigh is almost audible, exhaled in relief by educators across the country as a particularly violent school year finally comes to an end."This will be a good year to get behind us," said a rueful William Kimball, superintendent of the Port Huron, Mich., school district, which was among many to face a copycat threat after the shootings April 20 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo."I feel like I've been holding my breath waiting for June," agreed Richard Lieberman, a psychologist with Los Angeles schools.

In Baltimore CityPolice investigating killings of 2 teens in separate shootingsBaltimore homicide detectives are investigating the deaths of two 17-year-olds who were shot on city streets in unrelated incidents during the weekend.Police said Byron Sanders of the 2000 block of E. Eager St. was in the first block of S. Smallwood St. about 10: 15 p.m. Saturday when an unknown male shot him several times with a handgun and fled. A friend drove Sanders to Bon Secours Hospital, where he died a short time later.

A NEW Louisiana law requires children to address their teachers and other adult school employees as "ma'am" or "sir" and to use Mr., Mrs., Ms. or Miss when calling them by name.State Sen. Don Cravins, a Democrat, drafted the bill in an attempt to teach children civility and respect and to put an end to school violence.Mr. Cravins feels that similar rules of address in Louisiana prisons work wonders with unruly prisoners: "I've seen how polite and well-mannered the young inmates are."Louisiana students who do not show proper respect will be subject to punishment to be determined by local school boards.

House gun bill wasn't perfect, but did merit supportLast week's votes on the House of Representatives' gun control bill asked members of Congress to make some tough choices. Those who voted to kill the gun control bill -- 82 Republicans and 197 Democrats -- did so for a variety of reasons. In a bipartisan way, however, we lost an opportunity to pass reasonable gun safety legislation.The Sun correctly noted that the bill did not go as far as the version passed by the Senate ("Diluted gun bill killed in House," June 19)

PERHAPS the scariest place for a child to be the day that Columbine High School opened its doors for the new school year was in front of the television. Beginning with the morning news shows and continuing all-day on 24-hour news channels, into the evening news and concluding, mercifully, with "Nightline," experts queued up to mourn the death of safety in our schools. Any child who caught just a bit of the news reports could only conclude that it's dangerous to go to school.The average adult, as well, has been lured into a false sense of insecurity about schools.

CONCORD, N.H. -- The subject was school violence at Concord High School here the other day as Vice President Al Gore addressed a jam-packed crowd in the school auditorium. This was the Al Gore who had just gone through a somewhat embarrassing public examination of his now-famous sartorial remake -- open-necked shirts, earth-tone suits and all that -- and he was back being the old uncool Mr. Gore.He stood without the jacket of his dark blue suit, in dress shirt and tie, and engaged in a lively dialogue with the students for nearly an hour over their feelings about violence in movies and the incident at Columbine High in Colorado.

THE DEVASTATING suburban high school shooting in Colorado the other day shows once again that the potential for violence in today's schools is all too real. Though few such incidents are dramatic enough to dominate the headlines, we know for a fact that schools cope daily with an increasingly violent and aggressive student population.In the federal government's recently released national study on school violence, one in 10 principals who participated in the study reported that at least one serious violent crime had occurred in his or her school the previous year.

In the wake of concerns over school violence, Harford County school officials have formed a task force with law enforcement officials to produce a systemwide safety plan.Representatives from the school system, sheriff's office, state and local police, emergency operations and the fire marshal's office have made 17 recommendations to improve school security because of the slayings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo."My office has already committed to doing site plans for every school," said Harford County Sheriff Joseph P. Meadows.

This is the first of two parts. Sometimes, preventing violence means getting the buses to run on time. That's why the city's school police chief, Marshall "Toby" Goodwin, marched up and down the sidewalk on a street off Gwynns Falls Parkway on the opening day of classes, a BlackBerry pressed to his ear, barking orders, talking to a transit supervisor sitting in her SUV, pleading for help. Students from one of three high schools inside the old Lemmel complex were pouring out, the first of three staggered and carefully choreographed dismissals.

A student from an Anne Arundel County high school said she's seen guns on campus. A Howard County girl said squabbles that start as Internet exchanges lead to fights at school. And a senior at a Baltimore school told of fights that are part of gang initiations. One of the main messages from students across Maryland who gathered yesterday at a summit on school violence is that the issue cannot be ignored. "We have so many problems in our school system that we don't think about," said Josh Maley, 16, a junior at Howard High in Ellicott City.

Communities and schools should take a preventive approach to school violence rather than focus solely on punishing students who have behavior problems, experts said yesterday at a summit on school violence. Students are looking for structure, high academic expectations, and teachers who understand and can communicate with them, said Ivan J. Juzang, a consultant who gave the keynote address at the daylong meeting at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Providing those basics will make schools safer, he said.

Baltimore City Council members are urging the school system to develop and implement a conflict resolution curriculum for students in grades three to 12 in an effort to stem school violence. Members of the council's Education Committee voted to endorse legislation sponsored by Councilwoman Agnes Welch that supports student-to-student counseling, teacher training in nonviolent conflict resolution and community partnerships to stem after-school violence. The bill, which is not binding, follows several recent high-profile incidents of school violence and violence by students, including the beating of a city school teacher in her classroom and an attack by students on a public bus passenger.

'Reading First' helps build skills The Sun's editorial on the Reading First program jumped to unfounded conclusions and buried the most important point ("Reading failure," May 7). While calling for the program to be "overhauled or scrapped," the editorial also noted that Maryland educators say the program has helped students improve - and it clearly has. Indeed, Maryland's program evaluation for this plan stated that "student achievement is improving in Reading First schools, in all grades and [districts]

A male student at W.E.B. DuBois High School in Northeast Baltimore has been arrested and charged as an adult with robbery and attempted theft in the attack April 24 of a Baltimore Examiner photographer who was taking pictures outside the school for an article on school violence. The school is next to Reginald F. Lewis High School, where a teacher was beaten by a student during a recent attack that was videotaped. Preston Feaston, 18, was arrested about 6:30 a.m. yesterday at his home in the 3900 block of Frisby St. by uniformed police and members of the Warrant Apprehension Task Force, authorities said.

Stop tolerating school disruptions When a student physically attacks a teacher and his or her immediate administrator blames the teacher for the assault, saying that the teacher used a target word or facial expression to provoke the assault by a student, everyone in the community should be appalled ("Attack highlights 'chronic problem,'" April 13). When school safety "experts" say that teachers need to be taught how to deal with these situations, the community should be outraged. A teacher's job is to impart knowledge, not to police the actions of unruly, disrespectful, violent students.

Right to reject wind power plan While it was a tough call, I believe Gov. Martin O'Malley made the right decision to not allow wind generation in state forests ("Wind farms to be barred," April 12). We do have an obligation to future generations to protect open space first. Once it's gone, we cannot make any more. But there are other options for renewable power. Perhaps a better solution to the problem of providing renewable power would lie in a more grassroots approach. There are already many cell phone towers around the state.

Leniency limits chance for learning In recent weeks, I've seen many stories about teachers who have either been the victim of or been plotted against by students ("Attack on city teacher highlights training gaps," April 11). And indeed, it is becoming routine for teachers to break up fights and assault situations either in school hallways or even right in the middle of their own classrooms. Almost every teacher has had the experience of being cursed at by his or her students. Unfortunately, these students seem to face few consequences for such behaviors.

Responding to a teacher assault that made national headlines, Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso is launching a campaign to recruit 500 volunteers for the city schools in the next two weeks. In a letter e-mailed to 2,500 community members over the weekend, Alonso wrote that "this essential work of making safe schools cannot be done by the administrators, teachers, staff or students at each school alone. I cannot say strongly enough how important it is for families and community members to rally around our schools, our teachers, and our students."