THE EDITOR, Sir:
I HAVE been following with interest the school security articles that have been coming out of Jamaica, the latest by Dennie Quill. I am a school safety and security consultant in the United States, and face many of the same issues here, along with having to prepare schools for acts of terrorism.
The root is the community that entrusts the schools to educate their children; you lose that and anarchy rules. Unless the school, community and Government get on the same page to declare the schools off limits to the threats of the community and enforce it, problems will continue to escalate.
We emphasise that the school must be off limits to the crime of the community. My mantra has always been "for learning to occur, we must provide a safe and secure learning environ-ment." Sure, students come into the school with baggage from the community; we try and get them to leave it at the door. The fear of God (or the nuns) used to work well in Catholic schools, but we find they are having the same problems because they tend to be in the worst neighbourhoods.
An anonymous hotline service for reporting trouble in the community that would affect the school could be followed up by the administration and police if necessary.
Several school districts in the U.S. have been offering early intervention programmes for the siblings of troubled children to intercede at ages as low as three. Identifying and working with these children often puts the school off limits to the threats because of family bonds. The word gets back to the original troublemakers that the community wants to help.
I am, etc.,
STEVEN A. BURHOE, Ph.D.
sburhoe@cfl.rr.com
National Safe Schools, Inc.
