
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 6, 1994                   TAG: 9401060143
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

SCHOOLS HIT BY `EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE'

Drug-sniffing dogs, metal detectors and locker searches are becoming more common in American schools as educators try to curb "an epidemic of violence," the National School Boards Association says.

Eighty-two percent of 729 school districts responding to an association survey said violence in the schools has increased in the past five years. "Clearly, violence is not confined to urban schools, but is increasing in rural and suburban schools as well," a report on the survey said Wednesday.

Though only 5 percent of the nation's school districts participated in the survey, report author Lynne Glassman called the findings "very representative" of America.

A study released last month by Metropolitan Life said more than 10 percent of teachers and nearly one-quarter of their students had been victims of violence in or near their public schools.

Glassman said school districts have developed a "plethora of ways" to deal with violence.

At the same time they are suspending, expelling or disciplining offenders, they are also adopting programs designed to thwart violence, the school boards association survey showed.

Twenty-four percent of the districts send dogs into the schools to search for drugs, most in cooperation with local police departments.

Fifteen percent of the districts responding to the survey said they use metal detectors to screen for weapons - 39 percent of the districts in urban areas, 10 percent suburban and 6 percent rural.

The District of Columbia reported that with the aid of metal detectors, the number of gun incidents at the city's schools dropped to 19 - less than half the total of a year earlier.

Secondary students in Oklahoma City are scanned with metal detectors before entering school in the morning, the survey said. Tacoma, Wash., school officials purchased two hand-held metal detectors to conduct random searches of students during the school day. Everyone attending evening events at the school is subject to a search.

Half the school districts said student lockers are searched.

School districts also are experimenting with what Glassman calls "softer ways" to prevent violence.

Sixty-one percent use conflict resolution and peer mediation programs, 43 percent use mentoring, 39 percent conduct multicultural sensitivity training, and 38 percent provide parent skill training.

Seventy-seven percent cited "changing family situations" as a primary cause of violence. Others cited TV violence and violent song lyrics.

by CNB