Back to School Violent Attack Thwarted

The school year hasn't even begun, but threats of violence are already stalking the hallways of our schools.

Police in Ardmore, Oaklahoma believe they may have thwarted a violent start to the school year in their community. The Huntsville Times is reporting that police have placed a 16-year-old boy into custody following a raid by Ardmore police. Police say the raid turned up a "book of hate" that contained threats to attack teachers and students. The raid also turned up numerous weapons including swords and knives.

The Ardmore police chief described the high school youth behind the plot as a "loner" who was attempting to recruit other students to target teachers, students, the school crossing guard and the school resource officer. A boy who told his parents of the violent plan, turned in the teen plotter.

Statistics show violence in our schools is actually down.

Despite the news of threats of violent crimes in the nations public schools, Government statistics released by the National School Safety Center in 2006 show violent crime in schools has actually been on the decline. In fact, your child is safer at school than they are away from school. And while statistics illustrate that school violence may be on the wane, the percentage of students who reported gang activity in their schools was on the rise.
Keeping your children safe at school.

What can you do to keep your child safe? The school and youth violence prevention program "America's Front Line Against Crime," has some common sense advice for parents and educators worried about school crime and violence. Their 4-step program recommends keeping your kids involved in afterschool activities, providing access to child care programs for all children, identifying troubled and disruptive children at an early age along with providing effective counseling and prevention of child abuse at home paired with counseling for deficient and high-risk parents.

School violence, our national nightmare.

Violence at school in any form is a parent's worst nightmare. Next to survival, protecting our kids from harm is the most basic of all human instincts. Tragedies such as the massacre at Columbine in 1999 or the Virginia Tech shootings last year that left 32 dead will always gnaw and tug at our collective and personal heartstrings. Yet it seems we live in an age where these kinds of atrocities at least seem to happen with more and more frequency.

Now more than ever it's important for parents to talk to their kids, to really listen to their children and be forever watchful and intuitive. Our children need to build more trust so they can talk to us. Thankfully that's exactly what happened in Ardmore, Oklahoma. One child with enough trust in his or her parents averted another potential and very personal tragedy. A tragedy that would have been one more blow to our national soul.

National School Safety Center "NSSC Review of School Safety Research" (pdf)

Fightcrime.org "Fight Crime: Invest in Kids"

CDC "School Violence: Tips For Coping With Stress"