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School climate鈥檚 role in school safety

Today鈥檚 schools have anti-bullying programs, active shooter drills, training on how to handle the aftermath of a trauma and Safe2Tell, an anonymous reporting program that allows anyone to report concerning behavior relating to school safety.

But there鈥檚 a missing piece, says Cheryl Spittler, a 国产AV adjunct faculty member in the School of Special Education.

鈥淲e need to look at school climate and talk about it in light of school safety,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 think of climate itself as being part of safety. But I always say, 鈥楽tinkin鈥� thinkin鈥� always breeds more stinkin鈥� thinkin.鈥欌��

While climate is hard to define, it鈥檚 easily discerned, Spittler says.

鈥淪ome schools you can just feel have a good or bad climate,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t has a lot to do with trust 鈥� students trusting teachers, teachers trusting administration. It鈥檚 about relationships. Do teachers know how to connect and ask students, 鈥業s everything OK?鈥欌��

In the report on the shootings, Goodman and fellow researchers found that failures in systems thinking, or 鈥済roupthink,鈥� was partly responsible for the shootings, in that students and faculty at the school felt they couldn鈥檛 talk to anyone about their concerns about Pierson. And if they did express concerns, nothing happened.

That 鈥済roupthink鈥� is about climate, says Spittler. 鈥淚t鈥檚 almost a form of bullying in a sense,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 get it. As a teacher you don鈥檛 want to get in trouble for sharing something that isn鈥檛 any of your business. But we have to get rid of this thinking that 鈥榮nitches get stitches.鈥欌��

Training can help, Spittler says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a lecture piece,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 interactive. It鈥檚 teachers and administrators coming together to do some role modeling, go through different scenarios and think through how they ought to handle something.鈥�