FSU takes the lead
in preventing school violence

A Key Component
The MCPVS was established with the goal of providing a safer school environment for students, staff and educators. The Center is run by a core of four people from FSU's School of Criminal Justice-James Rowell, director; Frank Crowe, manager; Shannon Barton, research analyst, and David Steeno, legal advisor. Crowe expects that the MCPVS will become an important resource for educators, especially with regard to prevention and training, though he is careful to emphasize that the Center is not the whole answer. "The Center is but one component in the overall effort to resolve some of the problems we see in schools," said Crow.

Seminars Feature National Experts
On August 17, the MCPVS held the first of what they hope will be many training seminars for state educators and administrators, "Strategies for Creating Safe Schools." Their impressive line-up of speakers included Greg Cooper, the former FBI Academy instructor who helped develop psychological profiling; Jennifer Granholm, Michigan's State Attorney General, who as a federal prosecutor was able to achieve a 98 percent conviction rate for drug dealers and bank robbers, and MCPVS Director Rowell, a retired Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Officer and a nationally recognized expert on gangs and violence prevention in schools.

A New World for Teachers
Cooper matter-of-factly listed some of the 16 known traits and characteristics of violent offenders, "low frustration tolerance, childhood abuse and/or chemical abuse, ‘loner' or other anti-social behavior, a history of threats of violence, odd or bizarre beliefs, interest in setting fires and cruelty to animals."

He advised teachers to take note of students with body piercings, gothic interests, tattoos, and drawings that expressed violent actions such as knives dripping with blood.

"It's unfortunate that teachers have to learn skills that have nothing to do with teaching," said Rowell, "but in today's world, you never know when a child in a classroom is going to go out of control.
Center administrators also are looking at adding related classes to the University's Education curriculum. "We're in the process of designing a class that will focus on youth violence," said Crowe. "We may have a Teacher Education professor teach a block of it, a Criminal Justice professor another, and perhaps also a psychologist or a biologist, and really put this whole thing together like a community learning class, using various disciplines to address this one issue."

"Our goal is not to be the expert on everything because we can never be that," said Rowell. "But the Center can be a resource for educators and provide them with the best training there is. We cannot ignore the fact that society has some ailments. A well-trained teacher in an individual classroom can make a major difference."