Get parents involved in schools
Task force hears some solutions to
problems of violence on campuses
BY JENNIFER RIDDLE
SALISBURY POST |
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Kannapolis--Ten-year-old Shanice Lewis was not embarrassed to talk in front of
the 50 or so adults gathered in the cafeteria of A. L. Brown High School for a town hall
meeting Tuesday night.
She wasn't intimidated by the table of uniformed police officers that sat behind her.
She didn't even seem impressed when she shook hands with Richard H. Moore, the secretary
of Crime Control and Public Safety.
There was only one thing on Shanice's mind, and that was the question she wanted to ask
the Governor's Task Force on Youth Violence and School Safety.
"What programs are there to get parents involved in the schools?' Shanice asked. 'I
don't think that parents are involved enough in their children's schools."
Parent involvement was only one of the many issues raised at Tuesday's meeting.
The meeting was the first of five held across the state in which the task force will
gather information about school violence and ways to prevent it. After the meetings, the
task force will present recommendations to Gov. Jim Hunt.
"Talking to people on a local level enables the task force to get a broad array of
recommendations," said Moore, chairman of the task force.
'We are here tonight to hear what you think the solution might be, 'Moore said. 'I came
here to do very little talking and a lot of listening."
Principals, teachers, guidance counselors and even police officers signed up to speak in
front of the Task Force. Each speaker got three minutes to talk about whatever issues
concerned them most.
'I want you to speak honestly and openly from your perspective and I don't want you to shy
away from tough issues,' said N. C. Rep. Richard L. Moore, a teacher at A. L. Brown and
the meeting facilitator. 'There are no wrong answers here, and we need to know what you
think so we can put your comments on the task force's desk to consider."
While there was some talk about schools preparing safety plans to respond to a crisis,
most speakers talked about preventing violence.
Officials from Cabarrus County and Kannapolis City schools told the task force about
current school programs to prevent violent behavior in students they consider successful.
'At A. L. Brown we have a program called Second Chance that helps students learn how to
function and succeed in the classroom and we recently received a grant to establish a
program that will focus on at-risk ninth graders to help them make a smooth transition
into high school,' said Vicky Wilhelm, director of the program. 'I think our programs have
been very successful at helping students to feel like they are a part of something and
that they belong."
Northwest Cabarrus High School Principal Walter Hart told the task force about the
successful, but expensive, ways his school works to prevent violence.
'I am proud to say that we hired another counselor this year ... and I bought four metal
detectors for the school,' Hart said. 'We now have one counselor for every 375 students.
We need more counselors, resource officers and metal detectors, and folks, it costs money.
'You want to know what you can do -- well I think you should get us more funding because
it is all important and it doesn't come cheap."
While people continue to look at schools for all the answers, they need to realize that
the violence in schools is a reflection of the violence in society, the principal said.
'The kids have to help us to solve these problems because when they are willing, then the
schools have a better chance of being successful,' Hart said.
Andy Farrow, a representative of Cabarrus County Schools, said counselors just have too
many responsibilities.
'Counselors deal with academic issues, college plans, emotional problems, and I estimate
that they spend about a quarter of their time with testing,' Farrow said. 'We need three
of four times the number of counselors we have now."
She also agreed with Hart that students need to play as large a role in the prevention
process as the schools do.
'There will continue to be problems until the kids start owning up to it, and there will
be violence in the schools until the kids decide they don't want it there, 'Farrow said.
'Creating a student task force would empower them and allow them to make significant
contributions to the prevention process."
One sensitive issue raised before the board was the separation of church and state.
Concord Police Chief Robert Cansler discussed the significance of religion when he asked
the task force several questions he said he had no answer to:
"How many TV shows like the Road Runner where people get shot and get back up and run
around have these kids watched by the time they get into school? How many video games
where the way to score points is to kill people have they played? And what can we do
when parents don't teach their kids about a higher authority that is over all of us when
we are prohibited from teaching that in school?"
Richard L. Moore, the Kannapolis teacher and state representative, was adamant about
finding a way to teach students morals and values.
'I am insistent that the task force looks at how churches can get involved in this role of
prevention because I don't think it is a question of prohibition as much as it is a lack
of understanding about what is allowed, 'Richard L. Moore said. 'Schools are not a place
where you check your values in at the door on your way in.'
Others spoke about teacher responsibility and increasing police presence in schools, but
Mike Remkus, a computer specialist employed by Cabarrus County Schools, finally brought
the conversation full circle when he asked the board to consider the role of the parent in
violence prevention.
'One thing that I haven't really heard addressed tonight is the parents' responsibility in
all of this, 'Remkus said. 'I don't understand why so many parents think they can just
send their kids off to school and dump their problems on the professionals there. I am not
a child psychologist, I am only the person the kids call the computer guy."
"Parents may need a place they can turn to and talk about the problems they are
having with their children," Remkus suggested.
'If we had a hotline where parents could call and tell people that they are having
problems controlling their child or are afraid of what their kid might do, it could be
help,' Remkus said. 'Then they could call without being identified and spill their hearts
out. Sometimes people don't have family or clergy they can talk to."
Task force members nodded their heads in agreement.
'I think that is a good idea because we already have an anonymous hotline for people to
report students who carry weapons to school and that has been successful, 'Richard H.
Moore, task force chairman, said.
It would also help parents who work until late and are unable to talk to school officials
during the day, N.C. Rep. Richard L. Moore added.
The only person to speak as a parent at the meeting was Shanice's father, Michael Lewis,
who serves on the task force.
'Parents need to start taking responsibility,' Lewis said. 'They need to start looking at
what is around their children and take responsibility for them." |
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