The department of elementary and secondary education shall identify and, if necessary, adopt an existing program or programs of educational instruction regarding violence prevention to be administered by public school districts pursuant to subsection 2 of this section, and which shall include instructing students of the negative consequences, both to the individual and to society at large, of membership in or association with criminal street gangs or participation in criminal street gang activity, as those phrases are defined in section 578.421 RSMo, and shall include related training for school district employees directly responsible for the education of students concerning violence prevention and early identification of and intervention in violent behavior. The state board of education shall adopt such program or programs by rule as approved for use in Missouri public schools. Beginning no later than the 1998-99 school year and each school year thereafter, all public school districts within this state with the approval of the district's board of education may administer the program or programs of student instruction adopted pursuant to subsection 1 of this section to students within the district starting at the kindergarten level and every year thereafter through the twelfth grade level.
Violence prevention encompasses more than activities at the school.
Therefore, the curriculum development utilized expertise from a larger community than education. It is expected that schools will utilize community resources in designing their detailed curriculum plan and implementing it. Many schools are already doing a credible job of teaching social skills. This curriculum framework was not designed to force school districts to change an already existing successful program. It was expected that school districts will use the curriculum framework presented to evaluate their existing program.