How Safe is Safe?
Ensuring Job Corps Student Safety
Adolescent Death Statistics
Top 4 leading causes of death among youth 15
to 24 years of age are:
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•
•
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Accidental (10)
Disease (5)
Homicide (4)
Suicide (1)
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How Adolescents Differ
• Often believe that they are invulnerable to
negative consequences
• Experience frequent emotional changes that
adversely affect thinking and behavior
• Frequently overestimate their capacities and
knowledge
• Are more susceptible to peer pressure and
false media representations of peer activity
• Tend to seek high sensation activities
3
Create a Climate of
Center Safety*
• Foster a culture of respect
• Create connections between adults and
students
• Break the “code of silence”
*Threat Assessment in Schools: A Guide to Managing Threatening
Situations and to Creating Safe School Climates, U.S. Secret Service
and U.S. Department of Education
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A Culture of Respect
• Identify staff as positive personal role models
• Include students’ emotional needs as a part of
the educational process
• Emphasize students’ “emotional intelligence”
as well as their educational pursuits
• Identify the value of communication over
ignorance and silence
• Establish “shame-free zones” that prohibit
teasing and bullying
5
Connecting Adults and
Students
• Engage all adult staff members in the
pursuit of effective communications with
students
• Ensure that each student has a positive
connection with at least one adult in
authority who they can turn to for
support without feeling shame or fear of
reprisal
6
Break the “Code of
Silence”
• Eliminate the “code of silence” that prohibits
students from bringing problems to an adult’s
attention
• Discuss the difference between “ratting out” or
“snitching” and identifying a potentially
dangerous situation that can be prevented
• Praise students who identify students in
trouble by recognizing their heroism and
positive citizenship skills
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Major Components to Creating a
Safe School Climate
• Assess the center’s
emotional climate
• Emphasize listening
skills to staff and
students
• Adopt a strong, but
caring stance against
the code of silence
• Prevent and intervene
in bullying situations
• Involve all members of
center staff in planning,
creating, and sustaining
an environment of
safety and respect
• Develop trusting
relationships with each
student and at least one
adult on center
• Create mechanisms for
developing and
sustaining safe school
climates
8
Always Ask the Obvious
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•
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Do you always wear a seatbelt?
Do you let friend’s drive drunk?
Do you have protected sex?
Can you say NO and mean it to
situations that place you at risk?
• Do you think before you act?
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Resources
School Safety Data
Youth99 is an easy-to-use CD-ROM from the Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) that provides access to six
years of Youth Risk Behavior Survey summary data.
Youth99 helps you:
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•
•
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Examine youth risk behaviors in six risk categories: injuries,
tobacco use, alcohol and other drug use, sexual behaviors,
dietary behaviors, and physical activity
Compare national, state, and local data
Examine trends over time
View videos on how state and local agencies are using the data
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School Safety Data
Youth 2001 Online is similar to Youth99 CDROM, but has expanded functions including:
• Detailed results by location(s), question,
demographic variables, and survey year
– Display detailed results as tables and graphs
– Stratify by race/ethnicity, sex, or grade
• Comparisons of overall results by question or
location
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Adolescent Decision
Making
Adolescent Decision Making: Implications for
Prevention Programs is a Board on Children, Youth,
and Families and National Academy Press publication
that:
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•
•
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Identifies the decision making framework for adolescents
Identifies the common aspects of the adolescent experience
Discusses the role of media in adolescent decision making
Identifies techniques used by successful adolescent decision
making programs
13
School Violence Assessment
and Prevention
The Safe School Initiative is implemented through the
U.S. Secret Service (USSS) National Threat
Assessment Center (NTAC) and the U.S. Department of
Education’s (ED) Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program.
The program:
• Uses the USSS's Exceptional Case Study Project to study the
thinking and behavior of adolescents who carried out or
attempted lethal attacks in American schools
• The joint ED-USSS study provides guidance for schools and
others on how to evaluate behaviors to determine if there is a
cause for concern
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School Safety Web Links
Youth99
www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/yrbs/youthcdrom.htm
Youth 2001 Online
www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/yrbs/youth01online.htm
Adolescent Decision Making
http://books.nap.edu/html/adolescent/
Final Report and Findings of the Safe Schools Initiative
www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_final_report.pdf
Threat Assessment Guide
www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_guide.pdf
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Job Corps Safety
Make Your Own Assessment
What Can My Center Do?
View the SIR from the Great Jobs JCC
and assess:
• What types of safety programs or student
interactions could have prevented this incident
• What the center can learn from this incident
for future use
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How Safe is Safe?
Thank You