How safe is your high school? As a guidance counselor, you have no doubt had to deal with the normal fights and arguments between students. Some schools contend with a lot more due to gang activity, drug use and sale, domestic violence and sexual assault being prevalent on campus. How does your school measure up? Is violence at your school a growing problem, or is it following a national trend of decline?

“One in 20 students was a victim of violence or theft at school in 2003, the government said in a report that shows school crime rates about were half what they were 10 years earlier.”
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Administrators of the ACT recently released the class of 2005 results. According to the report, “average scores on the ACT college entrance exam held steady across all subjects for the high school class of 2005 compared with last year’s seniors, an indication that schools are treading water in their efforts to prepare students for college-level work.”

The ACT is used as an admissions test for about half the states, mostly in the middle part of the country, while the SAT is more popular on the East and West Coasts. Most colleges accept either exam.
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*This article by Jacqueline Stenson, contributing editor for MSNBC, about physical education offers some tips for high school parents, teachers and guidance counselors who might be struggling with balancing an educational environment with phyiscial fitness as childhood obesity escalates. Guidance counselors can share this physical fitness information with the teachers in their buildings, especially if their school has eliminated the physical education department due to funding cuts.

With schools cutting back on physical education classes, and some eliminating them altogether, the prospects for getting exercise during the day aren’t great for many kids heading back to school this fall.

So what’s a parent to do to make sure their children get the exercise they need?

For starters, don’t rely too much on gym class, experts say. While some schools are updating PE to include in-line skating, elliptical trainers, wall climbing and other popular activities, more schools are reducing or stopping their PE programs.
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For many high school students, the summer meant freedom from homework, freedom from rigid schedules and freedom from relying on their parents for transportation. Now, equipped with newly acquired driver’s licenses, these same high school students will head back to school behind the wheel of a car.

Driving is a lot of responsibility and teens tend to overlook safety. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), crashes involving drivers ages 16 through 20 rose 1.3 percent in 2003. Teenage drivers have twice as many fatal car accidents than drivers overall.
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In recent years, there has been a growing trend for middle and high school students to seek alternative ways to get high that are considered “safe.” One such way is the “passing out game” or the “choking game,” but these methods are anything but safe.

The premise is that you can cut off the oxygen supply to the brain to achieve a type of “high.” Though the so-called game is new to many adults, it’s likely something that children have been doing for a long time, said Connecticut-based child psychologist Dr. Lawrence Shapiro, author of “The Secret Language of Children: How to Understand What Your Kids are Really Saying.”

“That’s scary,” Shapiro said.

In addition to talking to kids about drugs and alcohol, parents should discuss other risky behavior, like the pass-out game, Shapiro said.

“Younger kids don’t know that they can die from this, that it’s a very dangerous activity,” Shapiro said.
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It is common knowledge that drug use has been prevalent among teens for decades. But according to a new study by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, the types of drugs used are changing.

Gone are the days when marijuana was the drug of choice for America’s teens. Its users declined to 37 percent from 42 percent just six years earlier. Also down 3 percent is the use of ecstasy and methamphetamine usage is down 4 percent. So what are teens using to get high these days?
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According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, safety must be satisfied in order to experience love, develop high self-esteem and achieve self-actualization. It is, therefore, imperative that high school students feel safe if they are to achieve academically.

As we continue our celebration of National Youth Violence Prevention Campaign Week, Counselor Companion offers high school counselors, administrators and teachers a few suggestions on how to increase the safety of their students on school property. Many of our recommendations come from the Guidance Channel Online.
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A failure to manage anger can lead to violent outbursts in the classroom or hallways of any high school in America.

On the second day of the National Youth Violence Prevention Campaign Week, we will focus on managing your anger. Anger is a normal human emotion. Problems arise when anger is not managed and it turns to violence. While school violence is down overall across the nation, high school counselors are facing a surge in bullying both during school hours and in more technical savvy ways with cyberbullying.
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Tolerance is a word that gets tossed around quite a bit in our diversity-conscious society. We have laws that encourage diversity in schools, work places and housing. But laws can not force tolerance and many high school guidance counselors are faced with increased intolerance due to bullying, racial and religious integration and a number of other factors beyond their control.

In a perfect world, tolerance is a way of life. In reality, we have to work at it. The Guidance Channel Ezine identifies three levels of tolerance. The ultimate level of tolerance is what high school guidance counselors across the country have been actively striving to achieve in the halls of their schools.

“Tolerance is being open and receptive to the beauty of differences. Through understanding, and with a genuine appreciation for the value of diversity, a person demonstrates tolerance in a practical way. A person has no need to endure or make a deal. As a result, relationships bloom and a civil society is the result.”

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When violence strikes at school, students and teachers lose the sense of security that school walls are supposed to provide. Such was the case in 1999 when Columbine High School students and staff came under siege by two outcast students. In the end, 15 people lost their lives.

Another tragedy, this time in Minnesota, has once again turned our attention to the need to have a plan to protect students and staff during school hours. But more important than the plan in case of emergency is a commitment to preventative measures. One school district has taken this step seriously.

The Janesville high schools, like many others, have put in place a three-pronged approach to prevention, based on the advice of experts and experiences of the tragic shootings in recent years.

Read the complete article here.