GENUINE SECURITY AT SCHOOL

Let's make it clear that our schools are off limits.

We won't tolerate outside instigators who strut up to high school
campuses with mayhem on their minds. We'll act decisively against
rowdies who show little regard for fellow students or authority figures.

We can say, "Not in our schools, you won't" to guns, to knives, to
drugs, to dope. To booze, to fists, to gang wear and graffiti.

And even then will we be able to protect our children from the
predators and misanthropes and lunatics of the world?

Not entirely.

What we can do -- and can't afford not to do -- is make classrooms,
hallways, playgrounds and schoolyards safe for the business that
schools are supposed to be about.

School shootings that traumatized communities in Pennsylvania,
Colorado and Wisconsin in recent weeks sent chills across the country
and reminded us about the vulnerability of schoolchildren and the
adults who work with them every day.

The 15-year-old accused of fatally shooting his principal in tiny
Cazenovia, Wis., seems to have been a deeply troubled young man from
a troubled home. But the gunman who killed five girls and himself at
an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania and the man who sexually abused
six hostages and fatally shot one girl before killing himself in
Bailey, Colo., were deranged opportunists who apparently chose their
victims randomly.

President Bush promised a national summit on school violence, as yet
unscheduled. But is this a problem requiring solutions from
Washington? Or is it a community challenge for which each of us must
take responsibility and initiative?

In reality, the disturbed terrorists who target schools in a perverse
bid for attention are less of a persistent threat than the frequent
mischief and misbehavior that sometimes escalate into physical violence.

The Fort Worth school district, with more than 110 campuses, reported
3,893 "policy violations" during the 2005-2006 school year. Not all
were serious enough that students received citations.

The numbers include a range of rule-breaking, including having
marijuana (378), disrespect/profanity (252), name-calling/slurs
(218), threats (124), gang fights (62), theft (42), assaults on
students (224 without injuries, 100 resulting in injury) and assaults
on staff (44 without injuries, 7 resulting in injury).

It was gang-related incidents near three different high schools that
prompted district officials to consider adding police officers on
campuses and to take other steps to tighten security.

When a Fort Worth police officer and liaison were assaulted Sept. 8
after confronting a group of youths near South Hills High School, the
officer wound up shooting a 15-year-old student. Gang unit Sgt. Bill
Beall said police had identified youths involved in the altercation
as gang members.

Less than two weeks after the shooting, police headed off a fight
between rivals gangs on West Berry Street just east of Paschal High
School. The following week, police stopped another gang clash in the
making outside Arlington Heights High School.

Beall said gangs seem to be getting bolder in the city's schools.
Still, he said, "I think it's just a handful in a school that are the
troublemakers."

District officials now are talking about revising the policy by which
individual high schools decide which students can eat lunch
off-campus. And pressure is building to impose more restrictions
sooner rather than later.

"Last year, we were trying to get them to close some of these
campuses for lunch," Beall said. "We see it as a real security problem."

Limiting lunchtime to campuses, logistical headache though it might
be, at least could reduce the number of students who get into trouble
off-site or bring it back with them. Improving school safety will
involve a hierarchy of increasingly difficult steps.

And requiring students, teachers and authorized visitors at all
schools to wear clear identification any time they're on school
grounds or in the building could help in quickly spotting intruders.

More difficult still will be changing the attitudes that lead to gang
violence, anti-social activity and other misconduct that goes beyond
general teenage rebellion. That will take not only schools but
parents, community groups, adult role models and other students who
are willing to help redirect young people who are bent on disrupting
others' lives as well as their own.

Those young people need to understand that picking fights to settle
perceived scores or to revel in the imaginary dominance of the street
tough is cowardice.

Real power, they need to learn from concerned adults and classmates,
requires finding the motivation to stay in school when distractions
abound. It requires finding the self-discipline to stick with classes
that are demanding and frustrating. It requires persevering even
without family support, caring about the future even when friends are
focused on instant gratification.

We'll all be safer when fewer young people feel they have nothing to
lose in breaking the rules.