Whenever there's a shooting like this, immediately you'll get the copycat thing and you get a heightened media interest. After the last shooting, Stebbins said, there's been a sense of nervousness in students and parents. Stebbins said an important lesson for students to learn from the shootings is that they shouldn't say anything they don't mean. Conversely, students and parents need to learn to speak up when they are concerned for their safety, Stebbins said. Not telling authority figures about potentially dangerous people, for fear of getting someone in trouble, or blowing something out of proportion, is a big mistake, he said.
Schools are a reflection of what's going on in society.
There has to be a shift of culture. You can't go blaming the schools. Perhaps the peace flag will help to create an environment in which students feel they can break that code of silence. Stebbins said he got the idea of the peace flag from Education Week , a weekly newspaper geared toward educators. So far, students have had positive reactions to the flag, he said.