The P◆E◆A◆C◆E Challenge

I'm gonna go on a rant in this post - please bear with me on this. After virtually every single incidence of school violence "serious" enough to make a news story, it seems like there are always those who say something to the effect, "Ours is a quiet community", or "I never thought it could happen here", or "Why didn't the school/authorities prevent this from happening", or "Whose fault is it?", or on, and on, and on, and on. Why is it these questions are almost always asked and statements are made "after the fact", so to speak? It's about enough to drive me up a wall backward!!!!!!

Perhaps it's time we, as individuals, and we, as a community, take responsibility and do something proactive rather than reactive to promote school safety. There are many things that have already been done, but so much more NEEDS to be done. It ain't gonna get done by the schools or the authorities all by themselves, not because they don't want to do it, but because of their financial constraints and a lot of other issues, as well. Parents, students, and community NEED to get involved.

I'll get off my soap box now.

Once again ---- just sayin'


http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/12/10649552-cops-university-of-maryland-student-vowed-rampage-would-make-it-to-national-news

Is it any wonder why our nation is the way it is? According to this link to Wikipedia, the United States has been in a virtual "state of armed conflict" of varying degrees throughout our entire history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_military_operations Is it just me, or is something wrong with this picture?

Another school shooting, this time in France: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/19/10753032-four-shot-dead-at-jewish-school-in-france-gun-used-in-earlier-attacks

From our website: http://thepeacechallenge.org/guidance/are-you-ready.html

When it comes to thinking about how safe our schools are, is the "Psych-IL-logical Emergency Management Cycle" really what we need?

The following are some questions you may want to consider.

1. What can you, a parent or member of the community, do to enhance safe schools?

2. What do you, a parent or member of the community, need to know in order to enhance safe schools?

3. What should you, a parent or member of the community, look for related to school safety at schools in your community?

4. What do children think about safety in their school.

5. How comfortable are you, a parent or member of the community, with methods and procedures for reporting safety concerns at schools in your community?

6. Is access to schools in the community controlled and monitored?

7. Do schools in the community have established policies and procedures on security and emergency preparedness?

8. Do schools in the community have "living" school safety teams, a safety plan and ongoing process, as well as a school crisis team and school emergency/crisis preparedness guidelines in place?

9. Do school and public safety officials use internal security specialists and outside public safety resources to develop safety plans and crisis guidelines?

10. Are school emergency/crisis guidelines tested and exercised?

11. Have school employees, including support personnel, received training on school security and crisis preparedness issues?

12. Do school officials use outside resources and sources in their ongoing school safety assessments?

13. Are you, as a parent or member of the community, honestly doing your part in making schools in the community as safe as they can possibly be?

Granted, these questions can be difficult to answer. However, we believe if anyone has school age children, or knows someone who does, we have a duty, a responsibility, an obligation to try to answer them. If that involves talking with school administrators, local emergency managers, law enforcement personnel, or whomever, then it needs to get done, if, for no other reason, to give ourselves some semblance of peace of mind that "something" is being done to enhance safety in our schools.

Talking to these types of officials is far different, though, from yelling at them. An "adversarial" mentality won't get anyone anywhere. So, if any of you decide to go ahead with something like this, or you decide to provide this to others who might benefit from it, please consider also how you go about doing it.

I'd be willing to wager schools in Park County and in Jefferson County are farther along in the process than other school district, both in Colorado and nationally. For those districts that are behind the eight ball, so to speak, gotta start somewhere, eh? TEACH PEACE

I'd say something for everyone to consider, not just those listed )))) TEACH PEACE, increase awareness:

Appears to me this isn't even a case of disputing anything about the 2nd Amendment, but, rather, more of a case of a "well-intentioned" law that may need to be revisited in some way. Thoughts, please?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jGvt4B1k3oYa22McRcMZW59i8b0w?docId=c220cf9300364978aaf2b5e9ed3ca1b4

This article in this link is authored by the guy who actually wrote the Florida "Stand Your Ground" law: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/03/21/trayvon-martins-alleged-attacker-not-covered-under-law-wrote/

Another resource on helping to prevent bullying: http://www.community-matters.org/safe-school-ambassadors/

From their website:

The Safe School Ambassadors® (SSA) program empowers leaders from the diverse groups and cliques on campus and equips them with nonviolent communication and intervention skills to stop bullying and violence among their peers.