Weapons

Technique: Weapons cannot be tolerated. Students and teachers have the unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Intimidation prevents all three.

Procedures:

1. Detail school policy in the district policy manual.
2. Send notices home to parents requesting signatures.
3. Verbally review the policy with all students.
4. Set up procedures which permit students to alert an adult to the presence of a weapon or the plan to bring or use one without losing face.
5. Enforce every infraction.
6. Do not model use of weapons and force - paddles, etc.

One morning, shortly after beginning class, a student close to the back of the room stood up and called my name. The voice was shaky and unthreatening. I looked up and saw Robert standing in the aisle with a gun in his hand. My immediate response was to panic. I swallowed, looked at Robert closely to pick up non verbal signals and then took a deep breath. His finger was not on the trigger and I could not detect signs of anger. I asked him if I could see what he was holding, intentionally refraining from saying the word ‘gun.’ He nodded and I walked to him. I took the gun from him and walked with him to the classroom door close to the front of the room. Once we were outside of earshot of the other students (I stood in the hall with my foot propping open the door), I asked him about the gun. He told me that his father had shot the mother that morning before school. He couldn’t think if he should call the police or not, but he was certain it was best to get younger brothers and sisters to school and get the gun away from his father. He picked up the gun where the father dropped it, got the other children on the bus, and once he sat down in class, ran out of plan.

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E-mail J'Anne Ellsworth at Janne.Ellsworth@nau.edu

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