Create a Supportive, Respectful Environment
At Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., Summers trains school administrators, teachers, custodians, cafeteria workers and bus drivers annually using the school safety and healthy children training curriculum from Human Factor Research Group.
“The training focuses on giving each individual person respect and treating people the way you want to be treated,” Summers says.
First Student similarly focuses on fostering a respectful environment on its buses.
“Our drivers and attendants work very hard to create an environment of trust and respect on the bus by showing or being a role model to the passengers,” Beauchea explains. “If you want to get respect, you need to earn respect. Anytime they observe children mistreating each other or making fun of each other or calling each other names, it’s time to stop. It’s zero tolerance.”
Boardman compares the school bus environment to the classroom environment.
“A teacher’s job is not just to know content — they need to know how to deal with people. I think the teacher … creates the feeling of ‘this is a safe place to be’, both physically and emotionally. The principal does for that school,” he claims. “And I believe that on a bus, a driver sets and creates that same climate.”
Boardman adds that CPI’s training centers on the concept that the behavior of school employees affects student behavior.
“If I take a very strong, authoritative, confrontational, I don’t-want-to-hear-your-side-of-it approach, that will garner a confrontational/challenging response,” he concludes.
When Situations Turn Violent
Sometimes, despite your best efforts to diffuse a situation, violence will erupt. At this point, action must be taken.
Summers says that tactical communication is a great first approach to a potentially violent situation, “However, when it becomes clear the person is not going to respond, or in cases where mutual combatants will not separate or a crowd begins to gather, finding a way to exit the situation and calling for additional help is best,” he says.
CPI’s personal safety training, which has been adapted for both buses and classrooms, provides instruction on how to hold someone “safely and not place them at risk.”
“A paramount aspect of any of the holds that we do is they should only be used as a last resort when there’s an imminent danger to self or others,” Boardman
stresses. “If a fight breaks out, there are ways of dealing with it without jumping in the middle of it and getting yourself hurt.”
In extreme cases, it might become necessary to physically prevent a student from doing something. But, “almost any time that a student is restrained, it’s very likely to become a legal issue,” says Peggy Burns, Esq., of the Education Compliance Group.
Burns strongly suggests that school administrators be familiar with the U.S. Department of Education’s 15 principles for the use of restraint and seclusion that were issued this year. (See sidebar The 15 Principles for the Use of Restraint and Seclusion) “They are certainly going to be referred to by an astute attorney who’s looking to make an issue out of the use of restraint,” she says.
Burns stresses that there is widespread agreement that restraints should never be used as punishment or discipline. In many cases, restraint will be used to ensure the safety of a student with special needs who becomes a danger to him or herself and others. In this type of situation, Burns says, documentation, training and parental notification are crucial.
IEPs Outline Scenarios Where Restraint Is Needed
The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) mandates the use of Individual Education Programs (IEPs), which describe how a student with a disability learns and how education providers can help the student learn more effectively. Burns says these IEPs can also help educators make decisions about the use of restraint.
“The kind of legal issue that may arise if a driver or aide has to physically restrain a child is going to be the excessive use of force,” Burns explains. “Did the IEP reflect the possible need for physical restraint, and was it done in a way that is consistent with that?”
Under these circumstances, school administrators must make sure that relevant information about each student is communicated to campus staff and bus drivers, which can be a challenge because of the confusion surrounding HIPAA. Burns also says that parents should be informed of school policies that make restraint an option and that they should be immediately notified if the use of restraint becomes necessary in dealing with their child.
Training Is Vital
If drivers, teachers and security personnel do not receive the proper training, students could be put at risk and a district could be open to liability.
“If they need additional training and skills sets in that area, I believe that that onus is on the school,” Boardman explains. “[School staff] will respond to difficult, challenging and aggressive behaviors, either based on their training or based on the emotions of the moment. Often, their training may be more successful than an off-the-cuff response based on emotion. Everyone is safer when staff react based on their training.”
Responding to a Violent Adult
Many of the same techniques used to defuse a potentially violent situation involving a child can also apply to an adult — such as a parent or staff member. If an adult displays an aggressive stance or begins using obscene gestures and words, campus staff should use the following tactics:
- Actively listening
- Distracting the person
- Re-focusing the person on something positive
- Changing the subject
- Motivating the person
- Empathizing with the person’s concerns
- Giving choices
- Setting limits
It is also vital to avoid pre-judging, criticizing, arguing and threatening the potentially violent individual.
“You need to let the other person know that you care about them, you care about their situation, you care why they are so angry, and that you are trying to help them,” Bret Brooks, chief operating officer for Gray Ram Tactical, LLC, says.
If you are unable to defuse the situation, it is important to call for help, suggests Gerald Summers, director of safety and security for the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. in Evansville, Ind.
“Exit the area and go to a secure place,” Summers explains. But “if an exit is not possible, defend yourself.”
This article was originally published in 2012. Photo iStock.
