Learning the hard way
A three-part series
On Sunday, Jan. 31, The Spokesman-Review began a three-day series examining the state of safety in our schools. The series, “Learning the Hard Way,” is an unusual collaboration of newspapers across the state. Reporters surveyed 60 school districts and talked to hundreds of teachers and officials.
Tuesday, February 2, 1999:
Parents make difference
Alice Fritz's life changed forever three years ago today when Barry Loukaitis opened fire in a Moses Lake classroom.
Lessons from tragedy must be shared
The year he died, my son said, "Mom, if one of your children died, you'd lose your mind and we'd have to put you in a hospital."
Knowing danger signs can avert disaster
"Why didn't we see it coming?" That question is being asked by teachers, parents and students in the wake of school shootings in Moses Lake, Wash.; Pomona, Calif.; Edinboro, Pa.; Fayetteville, Tenn.; Jonesboro, Ark.; Paducah, Ky.; Pearl, Miss.; Bethel, Alaska, and Springfield, Ore.
How to get involved
The National School Safety Center's Web site at www.nssc1.org and "Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools," created by the U.S. departments of Education and Justice, offer tips to help parents create safe schools. The guide is available on the Web at www.air-dc.org/cecp/guide or by calling (877) 433-7827.
Resources for parents
Mothers Against Violence in America (MAVIA). Founded in 1994, the nonprofit organization has its headquarters in Seattle and chapters in more than 30 communities. It's dedicated to reducing youth violence through preventive education and grassroots advocacy. Contact 800-897-7697 or www.mavia.org.
Students have legal rights, even at school
Schools have the right to take precautions to ensure safety. But students and parents also have legal rights regarding searches, seizure of property and disciplinary actions.
Monday, February 1, 1999:
Shaping a sense of security
Fort Vancouver High School is beginning to resemble its namesake.
The school that was named for a 19th-century frontier outpost has become a modern-day fortress of electronic surveillance, mandatory ID tags and ever-present security guards.
Assistants get an early start on solutions
Even as a second-grader, the Pasadena Park Elementary boy had anger in his eyes.
The tools of resolution
Stop violence before it starts.
That's the goal of "Get Real About Violence," one of the most popular violence-prevention programs used in Washington public schools. It teaches students to recognize violent acts, to empathize with victims and to realize that their attitudes and behavior can either reduce violence or perpetuate it.
Public pins hopes on parents, counselors
Washington state residents think guns, drugs and violence have made their schools more dangerous in the last 10 years, a new state survey shows.
Bills would set up warning system
Washington lawmakers are searching for ways to detain students who may be on the verge of committing violent acts on school property, but without treading on their constitutional rights.
Sunday, January 31, 1999:
What schools don't know
Somewhere in a Washington classroom is a child raised on violence, isolated from other kids, overlooked by educators and forgotten by lawmakers. This is the student who terrifies teachers.
Life goes on, but so do memories
For the longest time, Jennie Luiten didn't tell a soul she wanted to kill herself.
The student nobody wants
Seventeen years after her youngest child was born, a Spokane Valley mother still wonders whose boy he really is.
Saturday, January 30, 1999:
State's newspapers join in investigation of school safety
In 1996, a child with a gun set the Northwest thinking about the unthinkable.
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