It s the movie Clueless and not Dangerous Minds that best depicts life at most Florida high schools. New safety measures such as identification badges and resource officers are now common sights. But staying safe in school isn t just the responsibility of the principal, says Dr. Ronald D. Stephens, executive director of the California-based National School Safety Center. Students have a significant voice in shaping school policy, he says.
Students get what they tolerate.
It s important that they break the Code of Silence. Each time an assault, theft or safety problem goes unreported, the Code of Silence makes life easier for criminals on campus. The school, as a whole, bears the problem. Sometimes silence has tragic consequences. In 1998, after school shootings in Jonesboro, Ark., and Endinboro, Penn., authorities discovered that the killers had talked about their plans beforehand with friends, who thought they were joking.