A high school student in Starkville, Miss., was arrested in February and faces criminal charges of having a gun on school property. An eighth-grader in Clarion County, Pa., who had a gun and repeated a threat to kill teachers was arrested at Union High School after a fellow student told his mother of threats. A ninth-grade girl in Virginia was suspended when she wrote a note to a fellow student expressing anger about her teacher giving her a D, and the teacher took it as a threat. Calif. But such talk shouldn't be ignored, said Arnette, whose private group now trains 100 schools a year to set up security programs. One of the most widely used safety measures, she said, is an anonymous tip service.
Students can phone in or drop into a secured box any tip, such as a student with a gun.
Deborah Fallon, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Education Association, said each of the state's 176 districts sets its own policy. As the 1997-'98 year showed, violence can erupt even at schools that seem safe to teachers and parents. In March of last year, two boys in Jonesboro, Ark., opened fire on a crowd of students at their middle school, killing four classmates and a teacher. Miss. In the long run, educators argue, schools must address mental health issues. Md. He also blamed access to guns, although Colorado requires handgun permits and bans the possession or use of a gun by minors.