THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 27, 1994 TAG: 9407270601
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ROANOKE LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
The Virginia Youth Aggression and Youth Violence Project is holding its last course of the summer this week, but coordinators said they're just beginning the long-term effort to make schools safer.
Weeklong institutes have been held in Hampton Roads, Richmond, Charlottesville, northern Virginia and Roanoke this summer.
The teachers, counselors, administrators and others attending classes on reducing school violence won't have to turn in a term paper to get their continuing education credits.
Instead, they have to do something to curb violence.
Psychologists, scholars, police officers and a school safety and security consultant have given participants a theoretical understanding of youth aggression and practical strategies for making schools safer.
Hugh Meagher, dean of students at North Cross School in Roanoke, said what he liked best about the classes this week was a constant community theme - ``like the African proverb, `It takes a village to raise a child.'''
Meagher said violent students or bullies are not a new problem. It's just that there are more of them and more of the bullies and their victims are carrying guns and knives. by CNB