School Violence

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - A psychologist who does consulting work for the FBI and is chief psychologist for the Baltimore Police Department predicts there will be more school violence of the type that hit Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. [cont. from front page ] James McGee, who spoke at a public forum on school safety at Jefferson High School Wednesday night, has completed a 36-page article that examines the students and circumstances surrounding the 13 incidents of fatal school shootings across the country since 1993, including the Columbine massacre.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - One month after 200 people gathered in a Martinsburg park to express concerns about school safety, the effects of last April's massacre at a Colorado high school are still being felt across the Eastern Panhandle. West Virginia Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley, will hold a follow-up to his May 9 town meeting with a second forum at War Memorial Park on Thursday at 7 p.m. to discuss ways to prevent school violence. The May 9 meeting was called after a May 7 bomb threat emptied 25 schools across Berkeley County and sent 13,000 students home early.

Ending school violence starts in the home Teaching your child | By Lisa Tedrick Prejean As a parent, do you wonder what role you should take to prevent violence in your child's school? There's a lot you can do, and it starts at home. Children must know that their feelings matter. "What we hear from students - kids don't feel respected, connected," says Ann Marie Lenhardt, professor of counseling in the School of Education and Human Services at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y. Parents get busy and lose track of where a child is emotionally, says Lenhardt, who has researched school violence through focus groups of students, parents and educators.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - Violence in the schools can't be solved by school or law enforcement officials alone, according to speakers at a public hearing here Monday. --cont from news -- It's going to take a community-wide effort, including a broad-based change in adult behavior, and government funding for needed facilities, professionals and training, said speaker after speaker at the hearing on school violence at Reynolds Hall on the Shepherd College campus. "The violence we are seeing from our young folks is really a reflection of what we're seeing in our society.

Stopping school violence requires all citizens' help A Waynesboro, Pa. middle-school student is facing criminal charges for what police said were terroristic threats in connection with a "hit list" of fellow students. The young girl's arrest follows a shooting spree allegedly carried out in California by a 15-year-old who formerly lived in Knoxville, Md., and a number of what appear to be "copycat" incidents. What, if anything, can be done to prevent such violence from spreading?

As a young child, I was always the little girl on the playground with only one or two friends. Being shy was probably part of the problem, but popularity was the major issue. Unfortunately, this status has followed me through middle school and into my high school years. There is an excessive number of cliques in high school. Some cliques are based on social class, style, race, and athletic and musical interests. Those who are not part of a clique are considered the "outcasts" and are the targets for criticism and harassment.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A new school safety hot line will open statewide in West Virginia next week. The toll-free number was announced Monday in Charleston, W.Va. by state Attorney General Darrell V. McGraw Jr. and U.S. Rep. Bob Wise, D-W.Va. The number, 1-888-200-5360, will be operational Aug. 23 and will allow parents, students and school personnel to report suspicious behavior that could lead to school violence. Two members of the Attorney General's Office Consumer Protection Division will staff the hot line and will refer tips to police agencies and school superintendents around West Virginia, Wise spokesman Steve Cohen said.

School violence: What is causing anger in teens? School violence. The topic has been examined by politicians, the media and the public. But the problem still exists. continued What causes teenagers to want to kill their peers? Could it be the music with violent lyrics or the movies where the hero kills the villain and then gets the girl? Or could it be the lack of parental supervision? Or maybe it is the bloody video and computer games kids play? Maybe the reason was the pain the shooters were holding inside.

Local educators take steps to prevent school violence WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Area educators said Wednesday that while they take students' threats seriously, there was nothing anyone could have done to prevent Tuesday's ambush at an Arkansas middle school in which four students and a teacher died and 11 others were wounded. "How can you prevent lunacy?" said P. Duff Rearick, Greencastle-Antrim School District superintendent. Rearick said educators shouldn't overreact in the wake of such violence.

It's a drill, but school violence is real concern By BOB PARTLOW / Staff Writer WILLIAMSPORT - "We have a report of a student with a handgun in the vice principal's office. " With those chilling words crackling over the police radio, several dozen police fire and emergency medical personnel took off for Springfield Middle School just after 9:20 a.m. Saturday. Those kinds of reports have become more common across the country in recent years, as high-profile cases of high school, middle school and grade school shootings rattle the national psyche.

“The most memorable answer I ever read from Dear Abby was in response to the woman who wanted to go to law school, but hesitated because she would be 50 by the time she finished. Dear Abby wrote, 'And how old will you be if you don't go?'” - Hedgesville, W.Va. “I'm so glad to see the comment in Mail Call, Jan. 18, about people rushing out to buy weapons. These extreme - and they're mostly tea party people - do not live by faith, but fear and hate, which is a sin.” - Hagerstown “Police Chief Buskirk, for a supposed law enforcement officer, you know precious little.

Rachel Joy Scott was a 17-year-old high school junior when she died on April 20, 1999. She was the first victim in the Columbine shootings, the worst high school shooting in America's history. When she was alive, her goal was to spread kindness and compassion. In her essay, "My Ethics, My Codes of Life," Rachel once wrote, "I have a theory that if one person can go out of there way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same. People will never know how far a little kindness can go. " We need to notice the chain reaction verbal violence can start.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- Wearing a pink T-shirt with the words "STOOD UP" across the front, Principal Paul Sick strummed a guitar and led a room full of Falling Spring Elementary School students in song: "Don't laugh at me, don't call me names, Don't get pleasure from my pain, In God's eyes we're all the same, Some day we'll all have perfect wings, Don't laugh at me. " "He's good," student Shaqon Baker said after Sick...

Students from across the state, including representatives from Washington County Public Schools, participated in the Student Summit for School Safety Solutions, sponsored by the Maryland State Department of Education, in Greenbelt, Md., on Oct. 27. State Schools Superintendent Nancy Grasmick welcomed the students by identifying the objective of the summit: discussion of perceptions, problems, causes of and solutions to violence in schools....

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. -- Susan Caperton has stepped up to the task of serving as project director for the community-focused Morgan County Partnership. Caperton, who took over the position on Aug. 26, said she loves the job. "There is such momentum in the county and such a strong sense of identity in the county," she said. The Morgan County Partnership formed in 2006 and was led by Jacqueline Fischer until she resigned last July. Caperton said the main focus is on drug and alcohol prevention, "and we are geared toward 40 developmental assets in order for kids to succeed, such as positive activities in the community, a strong source of belonging in the community and internal assets that include a strong self-esteem.

At this time, I would like to thank Antietam Cable, The League of Women Voters, Hagerstown Community College and The Herald-Mail Company for holding the forums on Wednesday, Aug. 16, and Thursday, Aug. 17. I also would like to thank the concerned voters who turned out on these nights along with the voters who watched on TV. There were a lot of good issues discussed from all candidates. This goes to show that people really care about their communities. I would also like to address a few concerns.

As a young child, I was always the little girl on the playground with only one or two friends. Being shy was probably part of the problem, but popularity was the major issue. Unfortunately, this status has followed me through middle school and into my high school years. There is an excessive number of cliques in high school. Some cliques are based on social class, style, race, and athletic and musical interests. Those who are not part of a clique are considered the "outcasts" and are the targets for criticism and harassment.

scottb@herald-mail.com The Washington County Health Department plans to work with law enforcement personnel to investigate reported increases in the number of students who binge drink and who are suspended from school for violence-related offenses, Health Officer William Christoffel said Monday. The increases are among the changes documented in an annual publication that the Health Department examines to help track possible health problems in the county, Christoffel said.

gregs@herald-mail.com Washington County Public Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Morgan pledged a review Thursday of how teachers and administrators handle in-school fights, a day after a South Hagerstown High School teacher was injured while trying to break up a fight. Two ninth-grade boys each face a second-degree assault charge as a result of the Wednesday morning incident that sent Civil War history teacher John Michael Priest, 53, to the hospital for treatment of head and chest injuries, Hagerstown City Police said.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Five years ago, Sherry Cline, shocked by the violence of the Paducah, Ky., school shooting, wondered what local communities could do to prevent a similar scenario from unfolding here. "What was impressed upon me as I was watching the different televised vigils was that maybe if the communities would have thought of the Lord first, maybe it would have helped prevent the violence from happening," Cline said. On Dec. 1, 1997, 14-year-old Michael Carneal opened fire on a group of students finishing their daily prayer.