Crisis Intervention and American Schools: Standing Ready

James L. Grimes

CJAD 310

Professor Debra Souza, PhD

February 11, 2012

Crisis Intervention and American Schools: Standing Ready

Introduction

In American school system, violence is very common, which should be reduced. Schools have made communities which are officially working in reducing the rate of violence. They have prepared the best crisis intervention. If the crisis is not controlled, and if there are no contingency plans for the prevention from crisis, it will have an adverse effect on the educational system. For instance crises such as fires or natural disasters can wreak havoc on a school's normal day to day operations (Pitcher, Poland, 1992).

Discussion

The basic aim of crisis interventions is to reinstate a sense of stability by providing counsel, screening, and referral to anyone potentially affected in a traumatic situation. Crisis intervention means bringing services to the victim instead of going out and seeking it on their own. Crisis intervention seeks to restore social emotional effect of a stressful situation. The best way to accomplish this is through a collaborative effort among the affected schools, students, their families, school counsellors, and community agencies (James, 2008).

However most of the schools have been prepared for disasters. For many years there is no such case of fire burn in school has reported this is the evidence of disaster precautions. There are some sort time crises when physical security is at risk, but temporary. These short crises could be generated through a drive by shooting that is dangerous, but it is forgotten by most of the people. Teacher and parents may give their kids advice not to talk to strangers and not to take anything from anyone. They could also advise their children not to join any gang and stay away from those gangs.

High School Massacre

The Columbine School Massacre of the year 1999 went on record as being the deadliest school shootings in United States history leaving 24 students wounded and 12 students and one teacher dead. This did not include the 2 students that were responsible for the carnage whom later killed themselves. On April 16, 2007 that record was more than doubled by a student at Virginia Tech that killed 32 people including him. These two crisis examples of violence within U.S. schools are difficult to hear and it becomes more complex when thinking how to handle the aftermath. It is even more disturbing and serious to think of possible terrorist attacks on a school in America like there was in Russia about 8 years ago.

Terror at Beslan

On September 1, 2004 it was the first day back to school in the town of Beslan, Russia when a group of radical Islamist terrorists from Chechnya took control of a school with over 1,000 hostages including children, mothers, and teachers. At the end of the treacherous three day assault, approximately 300 hostages had been killed mostly consisting of children. The immense and disturbing horror is depicted in the book titled “Terror at Beslan, A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for America's Schools” written ...