71 pupils were killed and 201 severely wounded in schools by handguns during the years 1986-1989, according to the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence. 175 pupils were killed in incidents involving school buses during that same period. While media reports sensationalize violence occurring in U.S. schools, the problem of unintentional injuries in the school setting has gone virtually unpublicized. Almost 22 million children in the United States are injured each year. An estimated 10 to 25 percent of these injuries occur in and around schools.
Injuries are one of the most frequent conditions cared for by school health personnel.
Yet the problem of injuries in the school environment is often unrecognized, and consequently, preventive measures are neglected. Recent government initiatives to improve the health of children and adolescents have not addressed the safety of the school environment. For example, neither the problem statement nor the background papers for the National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives, Healthy People 2000, specifically mention injuries in the school setting. And although the National Education Goals call for schools to be free of violence by the year 2000, they do not recognize the importance of preventing unintentional injuries in order to create a safe environment for learning. Most relevant research in the medical and public health literature focuses on the underreporting of school injuries and the poor quality of data collected, rather than possible prevention measures.