From the desk of ... Mary Robinson Reynolds, M.S. Educational Psychologist
Re: Calm down or do something about it?!

Latest Headlines:

"Two killings do not a trend make; homicides remain rare in schools"

"Do We Need to Calm Down About School Violence?"

"Despite Ohio shooting, school violent deaths down"... NBC News 10/24/13

Danvers, Massachusetts - a 14-year old student charged with the murder of his high school teacher is just the latest incident to shatter the expectation that America's schools are safe havens. Rehema Ellis, NBC News Chief Education Correspondent, takes a look at the facts about school violence:

Since Sandy Hook, there have been 16 more incidents of school shootings. News Headlines suggest that these kind of violent and often fatal events are occurring with increased frequency.

These events do tend to come in clusters, because there is a type of copy cat element to them so they do come in waves, but so do near misses. So often when kids hear about these horrible things they come forward when they hear about plots.

Beyond the headlines, the numbers tell a different story. The CDC reports that the rates of youth homicides nationwide is actually declined substantially since the mid 90's, and that less than 2% of those killings occur at schools, where gun violence is just part of the problem.

About 7% of teachers report being threatened or physically attacked by a student, and when it comes to students, about 6% report missing at least one day of school because they felt unsafe. 5% of students say that they carried a weapon to school.

Schools are taking steps to improve school safety. In many states, wireless panic alarms are being installed, and in Oklahoma, computers are being programmed allowing teachers to send emergency messages to patrol cars in the area.

In California, some schools are even monitoring students' social media messages, hoping to detect any sign of potential threats. It's a controversial move that some say is necessary to protect everyone in schools.

Do We Need to Calm Down About School Violence?

It's been a bad week for violence in the schools, and it's only Thursday.

Just four days ago, a NV teacher lost his life at the hands of a middle schooler before the student turned the gun on himself, and late Tuesday, the body of a MA math teacher was discovered behind a high school with a 14-year-old student charged in her murder.

With haunting memories of Sandy Hook and Columbine on our collective consciousness, it's hard to accept the fact that violence in the schools is actually pretty rare.

According to NBC News, "An average of 23 youths per year were the victims of homicides at elementary or secondary schools or on the way to a school event, over the years 1992 to 2011, according to the most complete federal study. And those 23 deaths include all kinds of homicides - drug deals gone bad, fights over a girl - in a nation with 130,000 schools and more than 50 million students in grades K-12."

While logic assures us that an unlawful death statistic of far less than 1 percent is comforting, heavy hearts tell us otherwise. Twenty-three young victims are still too many, and once student suicides and teachers and staff are included, the statistic jumps to 45 brutal deaths per year in U.S. schools, according to the same study.

With two incidents of school homicide in less than a week, we're all asking the same question: is school violence a growing epidemic?

NBC reports, "Federal surveys suggest that school violence has decreased dramatically over the past thirty years. One school-safety consultant who is often called upon by the media, Ken Trump, says no one can be sure, because schools are not required to report violence. Congress in 1990 required colleges, but not elementary and secondary schools, to report crime statistics." That's not okay. I don't care how "rare" incidents of school violence are, recent history has shown that school violence isn't limited to the Virginia Tech's of the world. Accurate reporting of school violence among K-12 is required if we are to ever really know for sure. Less than a year after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, what has been done to ensure accurate reporting of school violence, effectively increase safety within our schools, or focus on the mental health of our students? Not much.

Trump told NBC News, "Probably the most disappointing, embarrassing thing that's occurred since Sandy Hook is that nothing's occurred. It's become a gun control vs. gun rights argument. Some of the responses have been absurd - telling elementary school kids to bring in a can of soup to throw at a gunman - and not a damn thing has made it to the front line to help principals."

Teachers and school administrators answered the call to educate our children; how absolutely tragic that protecting themselves and their students from school violence without resources has become part of their job.

Do we need to calm down about school violence?
Hell no. We need to make more noise than ever.

Let's not just make noise - let's actually get involved with our schools and do something about kids and families who are hurting themselves and others through violence, drugs, alcohol and suicide.

If your local school district doesn't already have a comprehensive program that deals effectively with social and emotional issues among the students, MDPA is a great beginning point.

Unskillful behaviors come out of our own pain and suffering, because of bottled up emotions that we have not learned how to put into words - in ways that we will be heard and regarded with a degree of humanity and compassion.

Many today still look at unskillful behavior and attack back - to overpower it - as if that is what will work. While it may work for the immediate situation, it never works in psychologically healthy ways for the long term.

Together, let's make our schools a SAFE ZONE for ALL Students by first learning how to get outside ourselves to learn the skill of acknowledging others.

This is just STEP ONE.

There are many steps and many ways to creating a safe community that is conducive for kids to live and learn.

And I have a program which can help this be accomplished...

To put an end to hurtful gossip, backstabbing, prejudice, jealousy, labeling, defiance, belligerence, emotional and psychological escape through drugs, alcohol, food and electronics, we must begin with a NEW conversation.

This NEW conversation can begin with the inspirational movies I've brought into the MDPA program, followed with a series of thought-provoking questions designed to engage students with each other and their teachers to discuss the concepts of the story represented in the movie.

As adults, we need to learn how to listen to what Today's Children have to say about how they feel and think even if their "truth" or view makes us uncomfortable - for the adult it is as simple as slowing down and continuing to ask questions until each point of view has been expressed and/or vented.

MDPA is structured so that adults who get jumpy when things get emotional can stay with the questions provided and simply let a classroom of students share their feelings and thoughts ... and keep it SAFE for them to do so.

MDPA teaches students, faculty and staff how to express thoughts and feelings in a way that keeps them coming back to their most AUTHENTIC selves. THIS is where self-esteem begins.

Kids who are getting addicted to drugs, alcohol, food, bullying and electronics must be given SKILLS to deal with their worlds in effective and empowered ways.

This program begins this process, and - if it's used all the way through - it will make tremendous inroads to opening kids up to USE THEIR WORDs in ways that they can be heard and they can get their emotional needs met and understood.

Click picture to hear what Mary says about Acknowledgment.

MDPA reaches out in the community - to the parents and businesses where parents work and where stuff happens!

Until we address what's really going on emotionally for ALL of our students - collectively and as a compassionate caring campus-wide community - there will still be those students who are NOT being seen, heard or felt until they do something extreme.

UNTIL we deal with the CONNECTION issue - the violence will continue and grow exponentially.

MDPA opens the doors to reaching into what's really going on for kids today.

If not you, then who?

If not now, then when?

When you invest in Make A Difference with the Power of Acknowledgment UTrain® Program, you will receive Mary's 2 hour training "walk through" of the Kick Off Assembly and Lesson plans. You will also learn how you can get this program into schools at NO COST to the district.

By giving you my Train the Trainer overview of MDPA UTrain® Program, I can help you bring the transforming impact of the "Who I am Makes a Difference" Acknowledgment Story into Your Community's classrooms NOW, along with other momentum building stories / movies: The Teddy Stallard Story, The Simple Gesture and more.

The Make a Difference with the Power of Acknowledgment UTrain® Program is designed to inspire and equip educators with a revitalized educational philosophy and practical techniques that will give life to academic performance and requirements.

It is the ONLY program of its kind, because I'm teaching people about the debilitating effect that shaming, condescending Attitudinal Energy has on the kids who are already in pain, AND most importantly, this program teaches a SKILL SET that deals with Attitudinal Energy in a HUMANE MANNER.

Each Lesson in the program comes with discussions and activities to bridge the gap between social emotional issues and their often dramatic, life-altering effects.

So ... I am offering you free training on the delivery of the program, and you can invite whoever will be delivering the program, if that's not you.

In my VIRTUAL training, I will give you my BEST Exercise that gets everyone on the SAME PAGE - AND INVOLVED in delivering the program.

Plus, I will be walking you STEP-BY-STEP through exactly how to deliver this training site-wide for the greatest results possible. It WILL make a self-sustaining and measurable difference to the entire school for the whole year.

MDPA UTrain® Program is specifically designed to:

==> create social connectedness
==> provide concrete support in times of need
==> teach social and emotional competence

I will also teach you how to get Funding...

If you feel as strongly as I do about this, then DO SOMETHING TODAY.

Reaching out to Make A Positive, Transformational Difference ...

Mary Robinson Reynolds
Author & Founder, Heart Productions & Publishing
MakeADifference.com/Acknowledge
UTrain® Program for Business, Churches, Organizations and Schools

PS ... Investing in the wristbands is not required - however, you will receive
85% SAVINGS on them at the time you invest in the MDPA UTrain® Program.

PPS ... AND HERE's THE THING, even if you don't see yourself as someone who can take a program like this into your schools, church, business or organziation YOU CAN invest in "I Make A Difference" Wristbands and have
4 of them on your wrist every day so you are READY in a MOMENTS NOTICE to MAKE A DIFFERENCE in somebody's LIFE TODAY - it just may be the life you save! Watch the movie: www.AcknowledgmentMovie.com

Wristbands only go to: makeadifference.com/Wristbands


Heart Productions & Publishing, Greater Boston Area, 800-639-8191