Resources for Students
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In this section, you’ll find empowering tools and tips to help you stay safe in school, and help make your school a safer place.
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Responsibilities as a Student
You have four main safety responsibilities as a student:
- Read and follow the district’s Rights and Responsibilities Guide: A Student Behavior Handbook.
- Know your school’s rules and emergency procedures and follow them. Pay attention during drills and know what to do in an emergency.
- Be alert for Warning signs of trouble—in yourself and others. Know when to turn to an adult for help.
- Keep it cool! Do what you can to diffuse situations and keep violence in check.
In addition, you’ll find ideas for dealing with specific situations under Tools and Tips.
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Warning Signs of Trouble
Feeling scared and alone can lead to problems. The following list of problems indicate it's time to get help; talk to your parents, a teacher, counselor, or building administrator. Feel free to talk to a trusted adult any time you feel safety is an issue—for yourself or others.
- If you, or one of your friends, have ongoing feelings of sadness or depression, or symptoms of depression.
- If you have had thoughts of hurting yourself, or a friend has mentioned hurting themself. Take it seriously and get help.
- You see another student being repeatedly bullied, or repeatedly excluded and picked on.
- You hear a student threaten another student with physical harm.
- You hear a student mention wanting to get even, attack or harm another student or staff person.
- You see or hear about a weapon in school
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Tools and Tips
SIX THINGS YOU CAN DO TO PREVENT VIOLENCE
School safety is on everyone's mind, especially after events like the Red Lake and Columbine shootings. Long before tragedies occur, there are several things you can do to lower the risk of violence. Take charge of your future and be strong about zero tolerance for violence in your school. It’s your life; be strong.
- Refuse to bring a weapon to school and report those who do. You may feel like a snitch, but you could be saving their life - or your own.
- Learn how to help other kids resolve their disputes peacefully. Join a peer mediator group and educate yourself on how to diffuse tough situations.
- Mentor a younger student. Younger students sometimes feel alone and intimidated when they first come to a school, and try to act tough to establish themselves. You can help steer them straight.
- Take a stand against violence. Do stories on anti-violence in your student newspaper. Hold a vigil, make posters, do whatever it takes. It’s your school.
- Welcome new students. Get to know at least one unfamiliar student every week. Violence often comes from students who feel alone and isolated.
- Report crime immediately to school staff.
WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT FIGHTS
You can help prevent fights by getting your head in the right place before they occur. A little preparation can go a long way to keeping things cool when tempers flare.
- Know your triggers. Understand what sets you off and find ways to diffuse your own anger before it erupts.
- If controlling your anger is a problem, enroll in an after-school program at a community center, church or other location that offers conflict resolution training.
- In a tense situation, give everyone an emotional out. Most fights occur because one or more participants have been backed into a corner emotionally and feel they have no way to save face other than to fight.
- Be willing to concede something to your opponent. Understand why they’re angry and try to find something you’re willing to offer. Use your head, not your fists.
- Never fight with anyone using drugs or alcohol, or anyone carrying a weapon.
- Never carry a weapon yourself. Having a weapon greatly increases your chance of being seriously injured, or injuring someone not involved in the dispute.
- Be a responsible bystander. Never cheer on a fight, it escalates the intensity and leads to more serious injuries for the participants.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU’RE BEING BULLIED
Bullying may be a natural part of childhood, but that doesn’t make it right. Here’s what you can do to reduce the impact of bullying on yourself, or a friend who’s being bullied.
- Talk to a trusted adult. Your parents, a teacher, counselor or building administrator. You may think it’ll make it worse to involve an adult, but research shows it leads to better results. You never have to face a bullying situation alone!
- Be confident. Hold your head up, stand up straight, make eye contact, and walk confidently. Bullies tend to isolate and pick on those who don’t show self-confidence.
Don’t blame yourself. Bullies have issues, not you. Come up with a plan with a trusted adult to end the situation. - Don’t fight back aggressively, it only makes the situation worse. Defensive blocking, breaking holds and other types of protective maneuvers are fine.
- Look for an out. Make a joke, ignore the bully, look for an escape route. Don’t let them know how much they’re getting to you, it’ll only make the situation worse.
- There’s power in numbers. Make friends and make sure you’re with them in typical bullying situations. Stick up for each other. If you see someone else being bullied, tell the bully to stop.
- Don’t fall into the trap of arming yourself. Carrying a weapon is against school policy, is illegal and only makes it more likely for someone to be seriously hurt.
- Bullying situations come and go, getting seriously hurt can last for life.
- Parents shouldn’t take it on themselves to straighten out the bully or the bully’s family. Unless your parents know the family very well, it’s not a good idea to confront strange families about the bullying problem.
THINK TWICE: FAST FACTS ON GANGS
Before you get yourself in over your head, here are a few facts on gangs to give you some perspective.
- Gang members are 60 times more likely to be killed than non-gang members.
- Gang violence has become increasingly deadly in the last several decades as a result of the introduction of automatic weapons and drive-by shootings.
- About 95% of hard core gang members are high school dropouts.
- In 1975 there were about 55,000 gang members in the United States. By 1997 the number had ballooned to over 800,000. In 2015 the FBI reported 1.4 million active gang members in 33,000 different gangs across the Unites States. (source: FBI)
- Once you’re in, it is often times extremely dangerous and difficult to leave.
- Many gangs resort to violence, even homicide, to enforce loyalty and prevent members from leaving.
EIGHT TIPS FOR AVOIDING GANGS
The truth of the situation is that gang activity is escalating all around the country. That doesn’t mean you have to become a victim. Here are eight tips to avoiding gang activity.
- Don’t hang out or associate with gang members or "wannabe” gang members.
- Don’t identify or communicate with gangs.
- Keep your eyes open for known gang hangouts and steer clear.
- Don’t approach cars with people appearing to be asking for directions.
- Know the gang-related clothing in your area and don’t wear it where gangs congregate.
- Never attend a party put on by gangs or their associates.
- Don’t take part in any graffiti activity or hang around where graffiti is present.
- Don’t use any kind of finger gesture or sign language in public that might be construed as a gang sign.
(From: http://www.gangwar.com/parent1.htm#advise)
LESSONS FROM RED LAKE AND COLUMBINE
The truth is that while shootings at Red Lake and Columbine got a tremendous amount of media attention, they are extremely rare. Yet, students, parents and teachers can all take away some important lessons from these incidents.
- Violent rampages are rarely impulsive actions, in almost all cases someone else knew the plot and had seen warning signs.
- Most students who went on rampages were social outcasts, and were often bullied, and teased mercilessly by other students. The violence was payback for the bullying.
- Attackers had exhibited signs and symptoms of fantasizing about committing violent acts against fellow students and teachers.
- Attackers will often “leak” information about their intentions to other students.It is the responsibility of every student to report such intentions to a responsible adult.
- Most school tragedies are avoided by students sharing information with adults. Step forward and help everyone in the situation by doing the right thing.
- Warning signs common in most incidents are violent art and writings, feelings of depression and isolation, mentioning to friends that they’d like to shoot someone, and mention of suicide.
- Be alert for radical changes in behavior.
- Be especially sensitive for warning signs after a student has experienced a personal loss, such as the death of a loved one.
Report a Concern
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If you hear about a threat at your school, or a rumor that someone has a weapon, please let us know. We don't need your name - just information to help keep you and your friends safe. Please complete this anonymous online form. You can also "Send a Tip" through your mobile device. Download the MySPPS app from Google Play or the Apple App Store. Let us know what school you attend, and what your concerns are. We'll take it from there.
Together, we can strengthen safety in our schools through a network of relationships, services, organizations and community members. Safe schools start with you!
