Saftey in Schools: Final Blog Post

The Problem In School Safety

On December 17, 2008 the School District of Philadelphia adopted a new bullying policy in order to increase the safety of Philadelphia schools. The school district stated the following on their website:

Resolved, that the School Reform Commission hereby adopts the attached primary Policy on Bullying and its prevention/intervention in order to ensure compliance with HB 1067 (PA), amending "Article XIII-A Safe Schools" in the Pennsylvania School Code of 1949, that requires each school entity to adopt a policy relating to bullying.

The newly adopted policy covered just about every piece of bullying, to make sure their procures were up to date with all the rules and regulations given by the state. From defining the act as:

Bullying is characterized by the following three (3) criteria:

• It is aggressive behavior or intentional harm doing.

• It is carried out repeatedly over time.

• It occurs within an interpersonal relationship where there is an imbalance of power (e.g. one person is physically larger, stronger, mentally quicker or socially more powerful).

To laying out the coarse of action if a student were ever involved in bullying. So the issue is not that the system is non-existent but the fact that most kids don’t even know that this is around. Many of the problems that are district has faced in the past couple of months could have been handled better if the schools allowed the students to know of these guidelines. Instead of making the student feel as though nothing could be done, they would have known there were many outlets in order to keep them safe.

How to solve the Problem

ENFORCE THE POLICIES!!

Many schools don’t even mention the act of bullying or violence until something drastic happens. Like the incident that happened at South Philly High that made international headlines. Things like this would not have to happen if we were to crack down on the safety in our schools.

Link to the Policy: http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/s/safety/bullying-prevention/bullying-policy3

The future of school safety

If we were to enforce the policies of anit-bullying then the numbers would decrease. Now, that these rules we’re being enforced, and setting up a no tolerance bullying system the safety of our students would take a turn for the better. If students began to understand the effect of what they have done then that would understand the seriousness of the issue, resulting in the drop of bullying.

If things were to stay the same, then the situation would have to choice but to get worse. Students would continue to act the way they do now, and the safety of our schools would never get better. If we continue to let these bullies think that what they are doing are ok, then students will no longer feel safe. It will not only hurt the schools but the future of the students. We have no choice but to enforce these rules, until kids understand.