Recent shootings on high school campuses in the past months have again raised the specter of school violence, but many experts and administrators in the Eugene area say a high amount of concern is unwarranted.
Hill Walker, co-director of the University Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior, said concern for safety is necessary, but eliminating the possibility of shootings is not feasible.
Walker recently gave a speech to the Eugene School District regarding five steps he said are important for schools to take in order to make schools safer.
He said these five steps are securing the schools, addressing the peer culture, involving parents, creating a positive school experience, and writing a school safety and crisis-response program.
“If every school could do these things,” he said, “the likelihood would lessen.”
Larry Soberman, assistant principal at South Eugene High School, said making students feel safe at school is crucial.
“The most important thing is to create a sense of community in the school,” he said.
Soberman said the school has taken steps to curb violence by educating counselors and teachers about the signs students might show if they are planning violence. But he said the school should not put too much effort into stopping the violence.
“If you put too much energy into it, people will realize school is an unsafe place,” he said. “The reality of it is that school is the safest place for children to be.”
Bob O’Brien, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, echoed Soberman’s feelings and said society pays too much attention to the incidents.
“I think it is really important not to overblow the situations,” he said.
He agreed that school is one of the safest places for students to be and said the proportion of students killed in school is small compared to the number of teenagers killed in a year. Because of this, he said, more attention should be paid to the areas that are more encompassed by violence.
John Lynsley, assistant principal of Sheldon High School in Eugene, said society will not allow a completely safe campus.
“Ideally, if you want a safe campus, you build a prison,” he said. “Of course, society will not allow that.”
He said Sheldon has committed to a safe campus and has done so by educating its students on the symptoms a potentially violent student might have. He said a police officer patrols the campus to help eliminate the possibility of violence, and an on-call psychologist counsels students who feel they need help.
Walker said the possibility of students mimicking other incidents is real and shows that the occurrences of violence may be planned.
In his report to the school district, Walker wrote: “Each school tragedy now produces an immediate number of copycat incidents suggesting that these events have been planned and contemplated for some time rather than spontaneously arising in connection with a tragedy.”
He said media images that reinforce violence against others are frightening and help desensitize students to the violence.
Lynsley said the students at his school still pay attention to the events that have occurred, but they are beginning to be less startled at what is happening.
“They’re still worried, but the shock is wearing off,” he said.
O’Brien said he believes the media play a small role in the shootings, and the possibility of students mimicking each other may be purely coincidental.
“I think we all mimic to some extent,” he said.
Walker said the school shootings should never be justified, no matter what the circumstances may be.
“I don’t think there is any justification for anyone to come to school to kill or maim anyone at the school,” he said.