1. Violence and Bullying in Our Elementary and Middle Schools
A Discussion of Problems and Solutions

2. How Serious Is OUR Problem?
A second-grader in Indiana pulls off his shoe and wields it as a weapon, striking his teacher.
A kindergartner in Philadelphia punches a pregnant teacher in the stomach.

3. An 8-year-old in Maryland threatens to burn down his suburban elementary school, plotting where he’ll pour the gasoline.
Reported USA Today,

4. Some of my most violent kids have been in kindergarten, first and second grade,” an elementary school principal in rural Wisconsin says. “They simply lose control, and it comes out in extremely violent manners.”

5. With few resources to combat the problem--it’s rare that elementary schools have full-time counselors or social workers--schools often resort to stricter discipline to get kids’ and parents’ attention.
-In Philadelphia, the first part of this school year brought the suspensions of 22 kindergartners.

6. Minneapolis schools have suspended more than 500 kindergartners over the past two school years for fighting, indecent exposure, and “persistent lack of cooperation,” among the offenses.
Statewide, Minnesota schols have suspended nearly 4,000 kindergartners, first- and second-graders, mostly for fighting, disorderly conduct and the like.

7. Sept. 26, 2003: A 13-year-old boy fired a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun into the ceiling of a Cleveland County, North Carolina, middle school. He also fired one shot into the closed door of a classroom filled with students. No one was injured.

8. Fights or attacks with a weapon are more common in middle schools - twenty-one percent of middle school/junior high schools reported these incidents for an estimated 7,576 incidents.
(A National Study of School Environment and Problem Behavior: The National Study of Delinquency Prevention in Schools, Gottfredson Associates, Inc., 2000)

9. Almost one in five students reported being threatened after a beating, and again this was a more common experience for middle school students (22% than for high school students (16%).
A National Student of School Environment and Problem Behavior: The National Study of Delinquency Prevention in Schools, Gottfredson Associates, Inc. 2000)

10. Educators blame everything from rising rates of mild disabilities to violent video games to a bad economy.

11. What’s Your Take on the Situation?
Discuss problems you are seeing.
Discuss possible solutions.
Articles are on tables to help you get started if you need them.
You have 15 minutes to chart your problems and solutions.
Choose a reporter to share.

12. How do we teach our kids?