All rights reserved. While the Philadelphia school board mulls a report recommending hiring more officers to patrol city schools, Temple school psychologist Irwin Hyman says there's no proof that adding cops makes schools safer.
Research shows that mental health initiatives are more effective.
Despite intense media coverage of incidents of school violence, statistics show that schools actually are quite safe, says Hyman, adding that having police patrols changes the school climate dramatically. When you keep introducing police tactics in the schools it's easier to turn what used to be educational developmental decisions made by school officials into police issues. In order to make profits in industry, effective teams are required. Today you need eight or nine people to make anything work. Wheelan, who has consulted with work groups from General Motors, Lockheed Martin, health care providers, and even the Peace Corps, says groups succeed when members understand their roles and responsibilities, regardless of how they feel about their teammates and leaders personally.