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Illinois School Board Journal
March-April 2000

Warning signs of violence

This article is based on tips provided in the Fall, 1999, packet of the IASB School Public Relations Service. Does your district receive your free subscription to SPRS? Call either IASB office, extension 1108.

When a student commits a violent act at school, administrators, staff and parents ask certain questions over and over. Why didn't we see it coming? Did we miss an opportunity to help?

According to the document Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools, available from the U.S. Department of Education, certain behavioral and emotional signs, when viewed in context, can signal a troubled child. Some early warning signs include:

• Social withdrawal.
• Excessive feelings of isolation or rejection.
• Being a victim of violence.
• Feelings of being picked on and persecuted.
• Low interest in school and poor academic performance.
• Expressions of violence in writings and drawings.
• Uncontrolled anger.
• Patterns of impulsive and chronic hitting, intimidating and bullying behaviors.
• History of discipline problems.
• History of violent and aggressive behavior.
• Intolerance for differences and prejudicial attitudes.
• Drug or alcohol use.
• Affiliation with gangs.
• Inappropriate access to, possession of, and use of firearms.

Unlike early warning signs, imminent warning signs indicate that a student is very close to behaving in a way that is potentially dangerous to self and/or to others. Imminent warning signs may include physical fighting with peers or family members; destruction of property; severe rage for seemingly minor reasons; detailed threats of lethal violence; possession and/or use of firearms and other weapons; and self-injurious behaviors or threats of suicide.

Action must be taken immediately by school officials and possibly law enforcement officers if a child:

Has presented a detailed plan (time, place, method) to harm or kill others - particularly if the child has a history of aggression or has attempted to carry out threats in the past.

Is carrying a weapon, particularly a firearm, and has threatened to use it.

It is important to remember that early warning signs (as opposed to imminent danger signs) are simply indicators that a student may need help. Educators and others must avoid inappropriately labeling or stigmatizing individual students because they appear to fit a specific profile or set of early warning indicators. Early Warning, Timely Response offers the following caveats:

• Do no harm. First and foremost, the intent should be to get help for a child early. The early warning signs should not be used as a rationale to exclude, isolate, or punish a child. Nor should they be used as a checklist for formally identifying, mislabeling, or stereotyping children.
• Avoid stereotypes. It is important to be aware of false cues - including race, socioeconomic status, cognitive or academic ability, or physical appearance.
• View warning signs within a developmental context. Children and youth at different levels of development have varying social and emotional capabilities, and may express their needs differently in elementary, middle and high school.
• Understand that troubled children typically exhibit multiple warning signs, and with increasing intensity over time. Thus, it is important not to overreact to single signs, words or actions.

Finally, it is important that school communities use their knowledge of early warning signs to address problems before they escalate into violence. School boards should have policies in place that support training and ongoing consultation so the entire school community knows how to identify early warning signs. School leaders should encourage others to raise concerns about observed early warning signs and to report all observations of imminent danger signs immediately. Schools also should have access to a team of specialists trained in evaluating and addressing serious behavioral and academic concerns.

School communities that encourage staff, families and students to raise concerns about observed warning signs - and that have in place a process for getting help to troubled children once they are identified - are more likely to have effective schools with reduced disruption, bullying, fighting, and other forms of aggression.

Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools offers a wealth of material designed to help school communities identify early warning signs that violence could occur, and develop prevention, intervention and crisis response plans. The guide is supported by the National School Boards Association and more than a dozen other organizations. It includes sections on characteristics of a school that is safe and responsive to all children; early warning signs; getting help for troubled children; developing a prevention and response plan; responding to a crisis; and resources. The full text of this publication is available on-line from the U.S. Department of Education at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP/earlywrn.html.