PEACE IN THE CLASSROOM

Halifax District PTA
November 20, 1995

While recent incidents tend to draw our focus to violence, many people prefer to focus their attention on "Peace in the Classroom", rather than "Violence in our Schools".

"Peace in the Classroom" reflects the desire of parents that their children should have the opportunity to learn in a safe environment.

There is a very great concern over our children's safety, but even when we consider that our children are safe, there are concerns that disruption in the classroom interferes with their learning.

While many issues were addressed at this meeting, the following themes emerged:
• Dealing with the fear of violence, and concerns over disruption of the learning environment, is a top priority with parents.

• Parents whose children have been subjected to violence have a sense of helplessness. They must return their child to the environment where the violence occurred, without being able to be there to protect them, and fear retaliation against their child should they pursue any action in response to the violence, particularly if the consequences for the offender are trivial.

• Our environment is changing, and we need to respond. More children stay in school who might have dropped out in the past, placing additional demands on the system, while resources for dealing with problems are dwindling.

• Successful solutions will be dependent on the development of effective partnerships among many parts of the community, including:
  • Teachers, principals, and their union representatives, who must be involved in the development of solutions which they believe in, since they will be the primary deliverers of those solutions

  • Students, since they stand to lose the most if these problems are not resolved, and because the majority are good kids who, with a little support, can contribute enormously to improving things. Students are there when problems occur, and with training in conflict resolution techniques, can often prevent serious problems from developing.

  • The police, who should become a positive and welcomed presence in our schools

  • Parents, especially the parents of children experiencing problems, but also parents who are willing and able to help

  • The community at large, which benefits from a peaceful and productive school system, and which has untapped resources to contribute

• Formal programs exist which could be used in our schools (Second Step, Crimestoppers, etc.)
  • One key element to any program is early intervention

  • We do not only need intervention when there are problems, but also education concerning the behaviour expected from children in school, and treating others with respect. This should be given to both parents and children when children first start school and the message should be regularly reinforced.

  • At different ages, different problems emerge, with differing frequencies and intensities -- there are more problems with younger children, but more serious ones with older children.
    • Different types of programs and interventions are needed for different age groups

    • Programs which depend on volunteers -- parents, peers, community members -- can be very effective in dealing with mild, early problems where a supportive and non-threatening intervention might prevent the development of more serious problems

    • Any programs which do use volunteers must provide for proper screening and training of those volunteers, including evaluation of the suitability of the volunteer for such work

    • Professional interventions, and special off site programs, are needed for more serious problems

    • There is a lack of knowledge of what programs exist and are in use in our schools. Information and training for parents are needed.

• While special, supportive programs and interventions are a positive and constructive response to the problem, there is also a need to review the discipline policy
  • There are concerns that there is no deterrent effect to current discipline remedies. There must be a logical link between the seriousness of an infraction, and the consequences of that infraction

  • There are concerns that children who do not respond to discipline are simply shifted from school to school to become some else's problem

  • The safety of children, staff, and the community, must be the overriding concern

  • There must be times that we recognise that the system can no longer effectively deal with certain children who must be released from the school system, rather than allowing them to compromise the safety and disrupt the learning of other students

• While we talk of peace in the classroom or violence in our schools, many problems occur off the school grounds, when children are en route to and from school, and this part of the problem tends to be overlooked

• While parents can effectively support and work for initiatives in this area, they do not have the resources or the time to be the driving force behind them.
  • The school board, as the agency responsible for the operation of the schools, needs to take the lead role, but to involve the various partners noted above

  • An umbrella initiative is needed to deal with the whole issue of peace in the classroom, but there needs to be provision for a number of different initiatives and special programs to be pursued within that general initiative

  • The Board needs to communicate to parents what is being done in this area

  • While the establishment of special programs may require a diversion of resources from other purposes, there should be a significant payback from programs focusing on early intervention, in reduced demand for resource-intensive remedial programs with little hope of success at a later date.

We'd like to be better informed about what resources are already available, what programs are already in use and to what extent.

We'd like to know what the people who work in the system think about these problems, and what they view the solutions to be.

We would like to know that there is a commitment to move ahead with initiatives in this area.