Non-Subscriber Extract
Responding to school shootings
- Article Tools
| 29 April 2002 |
A recently expelled 19-year-old student killed 16 people in the eastern German city of Erfurton on Friday (26 April) before committing suicide. Thirteen teachers, a police officer and two students were shot to death, while six people were injured and many more treated for shock.
Police believe the gunman was acting alone and could not confirm accounts by students that there was a second gunman.
This was the second school shooting in Germany in recent months. In February, a 22-year-old German shot and killed three people, including the headmaster, at his old high school in Freising near Munich.
In schools that have experienced gun violence, many children and adults are afraid to return. School officials routinely report decreased attendance of up to 25-30 per cent of the student population in the weeks following a violent incident.
In the aftermath of a school shooting – even one hundreds of miles away or in a different country – a sense of fear and distrust of fellow students and the environment can prevent students from re-engaging in the life of the school and the learning process. This traumatisation can lead to physical, cognitive and emotional changes in both children and adults and must be understood, recognised and addressed.
The following guidelines are extracted from the Crisis Recovery section of the Jane’s School Safety Handbook. The Handbook (designed for the US school system) is a comprehensive and practical guide to assist teachers, school administrators and other agencies prepare for, respond to and recover from security incidents.
The Jane’s School Safety Handbook includes detailed safe school planning procedures, threat assessment techniques, response procedures for specific incidents including shootings, as well as post-incident recovery measures.
Crisis recovery
Individuals, schools or communities typically go through five recovery phases after an incident:
- Initial impact: shock and disbelief; the social order is disrupted, traumatic stress is widespread and even an incident at a distant school can create fear and insecurity.
- Heroic period: altruistic acts of kindness and patience toward the victims, including community mobilisation of resources and generous outpouring of donations and praise.
- Honeymoon period: past conflicts are forgotten and new relationships are formed; the community or school is open to change not possible prior to the crisis.
- Disillusionment: survivors and others are left with the real impact of trauma and loss; problems that seemed resolved return.
- Reconstruction: based on the newly identified safety needs, the school and community must focus on constructive actions that give hope to and empower the school in the aftermath of tragedy; the operation of the school cannot be viewed as ‘business as usual’.
Children and adolescents can exhibit a wide range of emotional symptoms in response to violence.
- Specific fears triggered by traumatic reminders of the violent act;
- Telling and retelling details of the traumatic event; also traumatic play, re-enacting the incident;
- Fear of being overwhelmed by feelings or shame about their fear and vulnerability;
- Engaging in hostile, aggressive and/or bullying behaviour toward peers;
- Impaired sleep, eating disturbances, somatic complaints;
- Impaired concentration and poor coping skills in the classroom;
- Detachment, denial and/or guilt;
- New or increasing risk-taking, life threatening or pseudo-mature behaviour.
- Abrupt changes in friendship or abandonment of friendships.
- Verbal reassurance and adult behaviours that re-establish physical and emotional safety;
- Clear limits and reinforcement of expected behaviour;
- Quiet rest and comfort food;
- Calm routine at home and at school with consistent caretakers.
- Monitor television-watching and remove traumatic reminders of violence;
- Encourage discussion of the actual event/media coverage, correct distorted fears and give concrete examples of existing safety measures;
- Help children identify ‘fear, anger, sadness’ as normal emotions shared by many adults and children after acts of violence;
- Encourage children to talk about their thoughts and feelings and identify physical symptoms when afraid;
- Act against aggressive, hostile, risk-taking or bullying behaviour toward others;
- Encourage constructive alternatives that promote a renewed sense of control and justice and reduce the sense of helplessness;
- Spend additional time to help with homework, chores, projects and activities;
- Ask for the children’s opinions and ideas;
- Praise them for their efforts and reassure them how much they are cared for.
- Agitation, hyper-vigilance, startled responses (easily startled or surprised, jumpy);
- Hyper-arousal, heart palpitations, high blood pressure;
- Hot or cold flushes, sweating, tightness in the throat or chest;
- Recurrence of childhood allergies such as asthma or eczema;
- Sleep disturbances including insomnia, nightmares, fatigue;
- Appetite disturbances and gastrointestinal distress;
- Isolation and withdrawal, inability to experience pleasure in daily activities.
- Anxiety and generalised fear, increased self-doubt, guilt;
- Irritability, anger or rage;
- Sadness, grief or depression;
- Numbness or blunted affect, hopelessness, helplessness, despair and defeat;
- Decreased ability to cope with daily life, difficulty making decisions;
- Memory loss, frequent confusion, decreased ability to take in new information, decreased ability to do computations;
- Intrusive thoughts and images of the violence or its aftermath;
- Questioning of faith or loss of spiritual beliefs.
- Verbal reassurance and focus on coping behaviours that re-establish physical and emotional safety;
- Identification of constructive coping behaviours and restorative activities;
- Discouragement of coping through the use or abuse of substances;
- Reinforcement of positive health habits and regular exercise;
- Emphasising quiet rest, comfort food and the company of good friends;
- Maintaining a calm routine at home and at work.
The Jane’s School Safety Handbook provides further information on crisis recovery, including crisis intervention, incident debriefing and intervention protocols.
Communication
Clear, concise and prompt communication with staff, students and parents during and after a crisis will calm unnecessary fears and reassure children and adults. Positive communication can control rumours, offer guidelines, identify additional school resources and underscore the importance of school routines.
The following is an example of information that could be sent to parents in the aftermath of a school shooting incident. It is important to remember that information about an incident that has already occurred can change, and that, if the information has not been verified as fact, one should not speculate or make assumptions.
"In the next few weeks we will be struggling to understand the shooting at the school in Germany. To reassure students, parents and teachers the school’s safety procedures are being reviewed and extra attention is being paid to security measures.
The following guidelines, which have been provided to teachers, may help up you deal with your children’s questions or concerns.
- Serve as a role model. In times of crisis, children look to their parents and other important adults for guidance. Children will respond the way similar to that of the adults in their homes, schools and community. If adults conduct themselves with courage and dignity, children will follow their example.
- Limit young children’s exposure to television news; children can be at high risk of psychological trauma if they see continuous scenes of human suffering and violence. Television replays can be especially disturbing because some children cannot separate replays from live action.
- Focus on the facts. Emphasise that information is still being gathered and that everyone is working to find out what happened and to prevent it from happening again. Speculation is not helpful when all the facts have not been established.
- Reassure children that they belong in school every day and that their safety is, as always, the primary concern of their principal/headmaster, teachers and district staff.