Twenty-seven percent of public school students ages 12 to 17 say that their school has both gangs and drugs (drugs are used, kept or sold on school grounds), according to the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XV: Teens and Parents, the 15th annual back-to-school survey conducted by The National Center on Addiction […]
Category Archive: Gangs and Schools
Making Gang Training for Educators Practical and Useful
Gangs can be a scary subject for many educators. Gang violence can be “ugly” and something some educators would prefer not to envision as having a possibility of occurring in their schools. Talking about gangs in schools can also make school administrators uncomfortable due to image and school-community relations concerns. My colleague, Chuck Hibbert, and I were fortunate […]
Tips for Managing Gangs in Schools and Communities
Gang incidents impact school safety differently than non-gang incidents. Two of the biggest differences: Gang incidents are typically higher-risk for rapidly escalating violence and the use of weapons. I spoke at the California Gang Investigators Association (CGIA) national conference in Anaheim on June 29th. My topic was on gangs and school emergency preparedness. The workshops […]
Managing Gangs and School Safety: Denial or Determination?
An uptick in gang activity in many communities has forced schools around the nation to grapple with school security issues in and around campuses. Just since the beginning of this school year last August: A 16-year-old female high school honors student in Long Beach, CA, was shot and killed while leaving a high school homecoming game. Police reported the […]