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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 1999

News Release

Schools Initiating Programs to Maintain Safety in NEA Today's October Issue

Washington, D.C. -- The cover story of the October 1999 issue of the National Education Association (NEA) monthly magazine, NEA Today, highlights public school initiatives that prove why classrooms are one of the safest places for children. These outstanding schools in Prince George's County, Maryland, Eugene, Oregon, and Southington, Connecticut demonstrate a commitment to keeping schools safe through conflict resolution and anger management programs, which can make an enormous difference in school safety and quality learning.

At Deerfield Run Elementary school in Prince George's County, Maryland, the student suspension rate dropped 65 percent over the past year. NEA members at Deerfield attribute the decline in the suspension rate to the success of the Second Step program. The program, created by the Seattle-based Committee for Children, offers schools low-cost tools and training to teach kids empathy, impulse control, and anger management.

"To teach the empathy phase of the program to younger kids we use a series of cards showing different facial expressions," explains Holly McKelvey, a guidance counselor at Deerfield Run. "The kids explain what the person is feeling in each picture and learn how to put themselves in another person's shoes." In the anger management section students learn cues to recognize when their anger is getting out of control. The key is recognizing when anger is building and learning to rely on other skills to help students through stressful situations. All classroom teachers teach Second Step lessons as part of the regular curriculum, and parents are invited to a workshop on the program so they can reinforce Second Step skills at home.

Deerfield Run is not the only school that is enjoying benefits from Second Step. At Kennedy Middle School in Eugene, Oregon, referrals to the principal's office fell from 1,400 in 1996 to only 400 the past school year. All school staff - from principals to custodians - are trained to use Second Step. Teachers also conduct Second Step lessons at the start of the school year. "We have created a culture in our school that says we all recognize that some things just aren't accepted," said Cynthia Turley, a seventh and eighth grade language arts teacher at Kennedy Middle School.

At Southington High School in Connecticut, counselors, social workers, teachers, and administrators work as a team to identify brewing trouble and seize opportunities to spark cooperation. "Classroom teachers are on the lookout for signs such as disruptive behavior, declining grades, or isolation," said Laurie Galicia, a social worker at the school. Once troubled students are identified, the teachers make referrals to a social worker or guidance counselor. Social workers like Galicia then meet with parents to help find resources to help the students and their families.

In Olathe, Kansas, NEA members are curbing bullying through an NEA program called BullyProof. NEA member Greg Oborny implemented the program when he was the principal at NorthView Elementary School. The teachers ask the students to map the school and place a red dot on areas where they don't feel safe and smileys in areas they feel protected. The teachers then adjust how and where they supervise. "After BullyProof was integrated into the curriculum, I noticed kids working with problem solving. They used words like respect, responsibility, and integrity," notes Oborny.

With a distribution to NEA's nearly 2.5 million members, NEA Today is the most widely read publication in education.

Other topics and people featured in the October 1999 NEA Today:

• Alongside of Excellence - As veteran paraeducators, NEA members Gwen Andrews of Forsyth County, North Carolina and Joe Ramos of Spokane, Washington know their collaboration with certified staff is as essential to quality as the team work of a paralegal and a lawyer or a paramedic and a physician.

• Can We Talk? - The NEA Public Engagement Project, which helps local affiliates organize public conversations to build community consensus, is responsible for several successes in local affiliates. Clark County Education Association (CCEA) in Clark County, Nevada has co-sponsored public conversations with the Nevada PTA and the Southern Nevada Rotary Clubs and has begun a school safety speakers' bureau with the state attorney general's office. These efforts have earned CCEA the district's respect as the county organization taking the lead on school safety.

• Breaking in Teachers Without Breaking Them - NEA-affiliated United Teachers Los Angeles has joined with the Los Angeles school district to create a New Teachers training Academy which gives new teachers support during the critical first year.

• Public Schools Winning Voucher Battles in Court - Courts have declared vouchers illegal in five states, creating momentum on the side of public schools. The decision bans vouchers in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico. The battle over vouchers continues in many other states.

• Advanced Placement Takes Center Stage - Jack Esformes, a teacher at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia, leads a unique AP class comprised of students planning to take the college-level AP exam and students seeking regular credit for a course needed to graduate. The class is so popular that Esformes had to use a lottery to pick the 35 AP students from among 66 applicants who wanted to take the class.

• Time for a Change - NEA members in Lawrence, Kansas set aside 90 minutes one afternoon a week to plan and discuss opportunities together. "We can come together for the benefit of the students, rather than battling each other," said Lois Orth-Lopes, immediate past-president of Lawrence's NEA local.

• Adult Literacy Helps Parents Help Children - In Escambia County in Pensacola, Florida, the Even Start "Family Intergenerational Literacy Model" gives parents the skills they need to help children learn to read. The program provides about 30 families with childcare, transportation, and early childhood education, and parents in the program also study to earn their GED.

• Computers: The Secrets for Classroom Success - New research suggests that computers in the classroom may be playing a more central role in the learning process.

• Preserving the Past - NEA member Jim Short, a 27-year teaching veteran, decided to lay down $20,000 of his own money to save Olive Hill Elementary in Olive Hill, Kentucky from being demolished.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.