Newswise — Rena Richtig, who has visited several sites of school violence following the initial Columbine tragedy, says the recent shootings at a northern Minnesota Indian reservation are a warning to communities.
"No matter how hard we try to keep schools safe, here we are again," says Richtig. "One of the most important things to remember is to talk about this openly. We need to have strong relationships between children and adults, so that kids can tell kids who can tell someone else who can tell an adult. There were signs. In every case, this is a commonality.
"Kids have to have reliable adults and that means building relationships within the school and community environment.
"Administrators and teachers in these communities are facing one of the biggest challenges of their lives. In some communities, principals left, such as in Kentucky. In others, principals stayed, holed up and tried to keep everything under control. All the teachers ended up leaving those schools. Control is gone. Dr. Frank Ochberg, a psychiatrist who has worked with many of these communities, said that in the military whenever there is a bad situation, they advise moving the leaders at that point. It appears to be good advice."
SOURCE BACKGROUND: Rena Richtig is an experienced elementary school administrator who has served in diverse professional roles, including Title I director, North Central Association chair and school improvement coordinator. She was involved in planning and implementing a school crisis plan for Michigan's Isabella County collaborative agencies, a pilot project that was adapted statewide by other communities. She continues to serve as a consultant to the county crisis response team. She also teaches crisis planning as part of educational administration courses for graduate students who want to be school administrators. Most recently, Richtig is studying bullying at the K-12 level and is closely following a high school program called Teen Victimization Summit to determine its effectiveness in heightened awareness and preventing or minimizing bullying at the high school level.
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