The unfounded active shooter and bomb threats at schools across Colorado on Wednesday was yet another reminder of the fear that’s stoked every time violence threatens young people in schools.
The St. Vrain Valley School District has developed extensive safety protocols, implemented many security measures and secured funding to keep schools safe; however, there are societal problems local schools can’t fix, said Dr. Don Haddad, the district’s superintendent.
“I do believe our children are being subjected to a daily dose of issues around civility, anger, personal attacks and violence,” he said. “And I believe it’s exacerbated by the fact that all of this information is on social media — which is at their fingertips. They’re able to read about all the stuff happening around the country instantly, which when I was growing up, we were sheltered from some of that. We didn’t know necessarily what was going on, you know, 10 states away.”
In St. Vrain’s latest student wellness and safety survey, 85% of high school students said they feel safe at school; however, 15% of respondents — more than 1,000 students — said they didn’t feel safe.
“We take school safety as the most important factor in every decision we make, period,” Haddad said. “But I don’t think it’s a good thing to identify false solutions and false realities, and avoid the bigger picture … we’re getting fed a daily dose of gun violence, and you can’t help but have it on your mind. I know people have said to me, they’re concerned when they go in the grocery store, or they’re concerned when they go to the movie theater or the shopping mall.”
Some of the district’s latest statistics show climbing graduation rates, declining discipline rates, high grade point averages and increasing involvement in extracurricular activities. But students don’t ignore mass shootings and what’s going on around the world, and that can impact their mental health, Haddad said.
“They’re watching what’s happening in Ukraine, and wondering if it’s going to escalate. I’ve got students asking, ‘do you think that will escalate into something that will affect us?’”
The superintendent believes political rhetoric is also stoking fear among students, with adults across the nation continually expressing anger.
“Our society has moved a lot of political agendas, social issues, differences of opinions on world view — and created a stage for that in our schools,” he said. “We saw it with masks, we’ve seen it with all kinds of different topics, and schools happen to be a convenient place where people try to go to fix issues in society.”
There’s a large focus on bullying in schools, and many bullying initiatives have been implemented in St. Vrain, but little has been done to remedy bullying in society, the superintendent said.
“If you watch our people at the highest levels of leadership and the way they attack each other and threaten each other, and then you watch in society if somebody doesn’t agree with something, it becomes personal instead of just a rational, civil conversation,” he said.
“And our children are watching all of this.”
