SUBLETTE, Kan. – PublicSchoolWORKS (PSW) and Southwest Plains Regional Service Center (SWPRSC) recently announced their partnership to help Kansas school districts meet state and federal safety training mandates even with limited staff or budgets.

PublicSchoolWORKS has created a program consisting of 18 different online training courses to specifically address key staff training requirements driven by federal or state mandates, best practices in safety and areas of high liability exposure.

These courses run the gamut from legislation-mandated courses such as Bloodborne Pathogens training and Jason Flatt Act-mandated suicide prevention training courses as well as popular but non-mandated courses such as a Slips, Trips and Falls Prevention training and Ladder Safety training.

The SWPRSC serves 81 districts across Kansas, many of which are extremely rural and experience staff shortages. School districts with less than 100 employees can qualify for the program and receive a discounted rate through PublicSchoolWORKS partnership with SWPRSC. If a district meets this requirement – they can register by contacting Mike Ronen, the CFO of Southwest Plains Regional Service Center, who will in turn direct them to PublicSchoolWORKS for implementation.

“There is great value being provided to help our small districts,” said Ronen. “They can now provide staff with critical training without taking time away from their regular duties and can easily ensure everyone completes training. It is taking a load off of districts because it is managed for them. All they have to do is register for the program, get it set up with PublicSchoolWORKS, and start completing courses. It’s that easy.”

Once the district is enrolled, the PublicSchoolWORKS Staff Training System auto-emails employees to take their training courses, which they can conveniently access at all times and locations.

Additionally, if districts do not finish their training by the deadline, employees are notified with automated reminders to complete their training and designated administrators receive a report of employees who have not completed training so they can follow up directly. All training transcripts are saved online in the PublicSchoolWORKS system, which makes it easy to reference all training.

“We are proud to collaborate with the Southwest Plains Regional Service Center to increase access to quality safety training for small Kansas districts that before might have felt it was cost prohibitive,” said Tom Strasburger, vice president of strategic alliances at PublicSchoolWORKS. “Our vision is to enhance school safety by developing innovative programs that completely address specific safety needs or requirements, and we’re excited to see SWPRSC help its districts on the path toward making these goals a reality.”

Contributions to this report include information from PublicSchoolWORKS.

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PARKLAND, Fla. – In the wake of the February 14^th Parkland school shooting tragedy, the Broward County School District is presenting new security measures as a new school year approaches for students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High (MSDH), site of the mass shooting.

The district initially sought to require students to wear transparent backpacks to school, an idea which was met with both skepticism and criticism of its overall effectiveness.

Presently, the school has made changes by requiring students to wear identification badges, increasing campus security and reducing the amount of entryways. Now, the campus will be introducing their next safety solution.

The district will no longer be pushing the formerly proposed clear backpacks and will instead be installing metal detectors into MSDH to clear all students upon campus entry.

A district spokeswoman, Jaquelyn Calzadilla stated that Miami-Dade County has “a districtwide random weapons search program that is conducted with metal detector wands and is exploring the feasibility of expanding the program based on school size and student population,” adding that the district is also exploring the possibility of stationary metal detectors.

Metal detectors being used as a security tool is nothing new in schools, with the technology frequently implemented in metropolises. Various school districts, including ones in South Florida, have long rejected this solution, putting their focus on mental health and possible warning signs in students.

MSDH will also add four additional security officers, more school resource officers, an extra 52 cameras and more gates and locking mechanisms.

MSDG student, Gabriella Figueroa told CBS Miami that she feels a lot safer since no one is going to bring [weapons] when the schools has metal detectors.

The League of Cities Task force wrote in a June report that it “strongly recommends” that the district consider metal detectors countywide while tackling the challenges of ensuring the fairness and consistency of their use.

“The physical deployment of these must be uniform across the district,” the report says, recommending the district study how the detectors are used in other districts with large schools. The report said the district should create methods to check students, while maintaining respect for their privacy and personal belongings.

Drew said the district will not violate student privacy by requiring all students to go through the metal detectors to ensure efficiency and impartiality.

District officials haven’t yet clarified exactly how the metal detectors would work, including whether students will walk through them or be scanned with portable wands. It’s also uncertain whether the district would begin installing them in other schools.

Photo License: Creative Commons.

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SEATTLE – Realnetworks Inc., a Seattle-based provider of Internet streaming media delivery software has released the Secure Accurate Facial Recognition (SAFR), to K-12 grade schools in the U.S. and Canada for free download on their company website.

SAFR operates as a machine-learning facial recognition platform, designed to economically scale with rapid processing to detect and match millions of faces in real time. The software intends to reduce the recent rise in school shootings.

According to the company’s website, SAFR works with existing IP cameras and readily available hardware to match faces in real-time. Schools can better analyze potential threats such as expelled students, and those who pose a threat from within and outside the school.

It also operates as a multipurpose tool by not only streamlining secure access, but also by simplifying guest check-ins, monitoring halls and common areas, sending instant alerts or customizing to your specific requirements.

It can recognize faces even with the challenge of identifying through angles, poses, partially obscured faces and makeup, and also has the power to detect faces in fluctuating lighting conditions. To utilize SAFR, schools will keep a database with photographs of authorized students and personnel. If the system doesn’t recognize a face, it then notifies a member of the staff.

Although the system is designed to bring safety, the question of whether society wants to choose security over privacy begins to surface.

Realnetworks CEO, Rob Glaser created this software with the knowledge that there would be concerns that have been raised by privacy and civil rights activists regarding facial recognition technology.

The ACLU has previously claimed “facial recognition technology is biased, while misidentifying African Americans and relying on databases built on a history of discrimination in our criminal justice system.”

To address these concerns, Realnetworks released a statement saying it did not program SAFR to identify by ethnicity, but to only pick out faces, ages, genders and sentiment.

After launching the software for schools, Realnetworks looks to introduce itself to commercial markets, presenting premium versions of SAFR this fall, with the technology to be applied to public places such as offices, stadiums, gyms, concert halls, movie theaters and so forth.

Glaser stated that the company is also exploring the idea of launching a premium version for schools, noting that the free version will stay fully functional.

Max Pellegrini, president of Realnetworks, told cnet.com that “this is our launch to get [onto] the map, to get visibility. [At the same time,] we want to tackle something that’s very meaningful.”

Photo License: Creative Commons

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Six years later, the numbers tell a different story about the site, and though they will never and should never eclipse what occurred there, they point to a future that is inherently safer and hopefully happier.

Debuted in time for the 2016-17 school year, the new, 86,800-square-foot Sandy Hook Elementary School accommodates about 450 students from kindergarten through fourth grade. It was two years in the making, following an intensive process on the part of stakeholders, including Svigals + Partners, the New Haven, Conn., firm that designed the new facility under the direction of Managing Partner Jay Brotman, AIA.

“We recognized immediately the importance of an inclusive and open design process,” said Brotman. “Before even the first drawing, we met with community officials and families to hear their concerns, to listen to what they wanted from a new school, to discover what was important to the people there about their town and to hear from them what the original elementary school meant to them.”

In the end, Brotman said his team became intimately involved with the people of Newton and as a consequence, “became very protective of them.”

From the get-go, the firm committed to an inclusive and collaborative process, which included a committee composed of Sandy Hook Elementary School teachers and staff, parents, Newtown School District staff, members of the Board of Education, town staff, community representatives and the design/construction team at its core. This body coalesced as the School Based Building Advisory Committee (SBBAC), and its involvement continued into the construction phase, said Brotman.

“We believed — rightly, I think — this would be the only way to design a school building and campus that would stand as an expression of the needs, aspirations and spirit of Newtown, Sandy Hook in particular,” said Brotman. “Schools must provide a nurturing, welcoming and healthy environment for children to learn, and they must support community activities of all kinds. In order to fulfill this dual mission, our design solutions addressing safety and security had to be seamlessly integrated into an architectural aesthetic that says, ‘Welcome, come on in and join us,’” said Brotman.

To wit, the safety measures were implemented in a manner that rendered them essentially invisible.

“For Sandy Hook Elementary School, we explored how to prevent intruders from gaining access to the building, starting with a campus plan that delineates the separation from the street and surrounding areas while directing traffic flow strategically so that potential threats may be detected early,” Brotman explained. “We also located active public areas near the front of the building towards the arrival area so that they could easily observe approaching visitors and report any unwanted activities.”

Other strategies, according to Brotman, focused on delaying a potential intruder’s progress by locating the classrooms such that they were remote from any likely points of entry. Locks and automatic doors were also engineered to impede progress, and the landscaping was designed to be eco-friendly while driving visitors toward “preferred points of entry.” The surrounding landscape also informed the design as Brotman and his team actively integrated the school into the environment.

“The local ecology and geography of the area are important to the community’s identity. Our team worked to weave inspiration from the site and its surroundings into the design, establishing physical and symbolic connections with nature, in a way that would help organize the site to address security, vehicular access, pedestrian connections and so forth,” said Brotman.

Among the safety features incorporated into the project are impact-resistant laminated glazing on a variety of strategic spots throughout the building as well as hardened interior walls and doors. The hardware on classroom doors is engineered to automatically deadbolt upon closing.

“The school building also includes a number of technological strategies such as security cameras and lighting that are motion-sensitive. But the true strength of the design is in the planning, landscaping and layout that increase the available reaction time for identifying and responding to potential intruders,” said Brotman.

To read the entire article, check out the May/June issue of School Construction News.

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In our efforts to better understand issues facing stakeholders in school safety and security, School Construction News corresponded with campus safety expert Dr. Kathleen L. Kiernan, a 29-year veteran of Federal Law Enforcement and CEO and founder of Kiernan Group Holdings Inc. (KGH), a global consulting firm.

Dr. Kiernan’s curricula vitae speaks to her lifelong commitment to safety in academic settings. She served as the assistant director for the Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), where she was responsible for the design and implementation of an intelligence-led organizational strategy to mine and disseminate data related to explosives, firearms and illegal tobacco diversion as well as the traditional and non-traditional tools of terrorism.

As an educator, Dr. Kiernan completed her doctorate in education at Northern Illinois University, which she complemented with a Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence at the Joint Military Intelligence College in Washington, D.C. In short, Dr. Kiernan’s bona fides represent a comprehensive understanding of the perils faced by our nation’s schools during this period of unparalleled awareness of the problems and possibilities to come.

Moreover, Dr. Kiernan’s company, KGH, innovated the Preparedness Without Paranoia approach to campus safety management, which is intended for use by the average citizen. The program advocates for an “educated, engaged and resilient citizenry that, once trained, will be prepared, confident and capable of reacting appropriately and effective to address any type of active threat that may present itself, whether in the form of an active shooter, terrorism or workplace violence,” explained Kiernan.

We were able to discuss the latest trending topics in school security to get a better idea of what’s next for campus safety.

Q: What kinds of on-campus threats are we likely to see in the future?

Dr. Kiernan: Threats to security on college and university campuses of the future will still include those types of problem sets that have received a lot of attention over time and which can result in grievous injury: mischief, alcohol and drug abuse, sexual assault and hazing incidents. There is also the emergent and growing threat presented by active shooters, especially current or former students and other types of active assailants such as terrorists, who might incorporate multiple weapon systems in their attacks to include vehicle ramming as occurred at Ohio State University in November 2016, autonomous delivery systems (i.e., drones) to introduce contraband and or weapons and cyber-based attacks against a university’s IT infrastructure.

School-based attacks are not an entirely new phenomenon, as history informs with the May 18, 1927 series of attacks at the Bath Consolidated School, in Bath Township, Mich., that killed 38 elementary schoolchildren and six adults, and wounded at least 58 other people. The attacks involved bombings (with dynamite, Pyrotol and firebombs) and shootings (using a Winchester Model 54 rifle). Like other contemporary attackers, such as Adam Lanza (who initially killed his mother prior to attacking Sandy Hook Elementary School), the assailant initially killed his wife and firebombed his farm. He then drove to the school where he detonated an explosive, before committing suicide by detonating the final explosive device in his truck.

No reminder is needed about the Valentine’s Day shooting rampage by a former student at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla. As an example of the use of new tactics, at the initiation of this attack, the assailant activated a fire alarm and began firing into classrooms and at students and teachers responding to the perceived drill. After escaping from the building, he was arrested by a police officer in Coral Springs, Fla., some 2 miles from the school.

The resulting active engagement of students across the United States and throughout the world to attempt to change the threat environment facing them introduces a new level of awareness and dialogue, which is resonating in Congress and throughout the public and private sectors. The focus on firearms is one key component of a broader illumination of mental health issues and resources to identify the behaviors and practices, which signal a potential pathway to violence.

Q: What other trends have you seen emerging in school safety?

Dr. Kiernan: An increased engagement with communities of stakeholders, including the K-12 community in which security awareness and education are key factors. As an educator, and as a business owner, I believe that security is an individual and collective responsibility that should not depend solely on the first responder community. The engagement of the broader school family in the dialogue about safety and security contributes to better decision-making in terms of emergency response planning, and also in the investment of smart technology to provide protection without compromising the freedom of movement or the joy of learning.

Students should have a role in the discussion of school safety expressed through curriculum and incorporating their grade-level knowledge within their participation in activities, which include art, science, math and athleticism. These contributions will not only increase engagement in building a safer environment, but will bring the companion lessons of leadership, collaboration, teaming and, most importantly, the confidence to report potential threats without fear. Schools are also moving towards more integrated security solutions, which involve identity management, access control, alerting and communication strategies, and emergency response plan development, which is exercised and updated regularly. Security sense and preparation is really commonsense and must become as familiar as fastening a seat belt.

Q: Is arming faculty a viable answer?

Dr. Kiernan: Arming a school’s faculty with a preparedness mindset, an emergency operational plan that is inclusive of all stakeholders in a college or university setting (faculty, staff, students and visitors) and the confidence to respond to active threats of all kinds can make a significant difference in the outcome of a violent event. Armed with enhanced situational awareness and the ability to understand and identify pre-incident warning indicators of anomalous behavior by individuals who might be on the pathway to potential violence provides an opportunity to mitigate a progression towards violence and takes the advantage of surprise away from an assailant. Armed with security-based education, which includes familiarity with national level models such as “Run, Hide, Fight” and “Stop The Bleed” are lessons that transcend educational venues and apply where we work, where we serve, where we worship and where we seek recreation. Education, engagement and empowerment are powerful capabilities that both scale and sustain, and do not require trigger locks.

Check out the entire article in the May/June issue of School Construction News.

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WASHINGTON — On June 5, U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said the Federal Commission on School Safety, a commission formed last March in response to the Parkland, Fla., school shooting, won’t be looking into the role of guns in schools.

In March 2018, President Donald J. Trump appointed DeVos to lead the Federal Commission on School Safety for swifty providing substantial and proactive recommendations to reform student safety and security at school. These recommendations include a focus on various issues, such as social emotional support, effective school safety infrastructure, discussion on minimum age for firearms purchases and the impact that video games and the media may have on violence. After the launch of the commission, a White House statement announced that they would study and make recommendations on “age restrictions for certain firearm purchases.”

After Democratic Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy asked DeVos whether the commission would study how firearms relate to gun violence in schools, DeVos stated that the commission wouldn’t be leading that charge, and will instead focus on ensuring safety and security at schools. Sen. Leahy also questioned DeVos on whether she believes that an 18-year-old should be able to procure an AR-15 and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, with her answering that the issue was up for debate.

This response caused a stir in the subcommittee, with senators adamantly underlining that the commission was made to explore all aspects of gun violence in schools, and that pre-emptive measures cannot be accomplished without questioning the role of firearms.

Following the meeting, Sen. Patty Murray, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, expressed her concerns in a letter to DeVos toward the commission’s “failure to act” and asked whether the NRA had influenced the process on June 11.

Education Department spokeswoman, Liz Hill, came to DeVos defense saying that the NRA is absolutely not involved with the commission, stating that it’s important to recognize that the commission cannot create or amend current gun laws — that only lawmakers are responsible for those changes.

Hill maintained last week that the commission will continue to pursue what the President initially ordered the commission to study.

Bob Farrace, a spokesman for the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) went to Twitter to address DeVos’ statements, calling her testimony “farcical.” However, he stated, he hopes that Secretary DeVos will at least no longer push for more guns in school, referring to Trump’s suggestion of allowing professionally trained teachers to be armed at schools.

The formal meetings include Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, as well as subject matter experts. This group of administration officials, DeVos said, is taking their cues from the White House, and remains “focused on making recommendations that the agencies, states and local communities can implement”, as reported by ABCNews.

DeVos promised to release a report from the school safety commission by the end of the year.

Since the beginning of 2018, there have been 23 school shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive Organization. These shootings included nine incidents that involved no deaths and no gunshot injuries, two suicides and three unintentional discharges of a firearm (although one caused injuries), while five were defined as a mass shooting.

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HARTFORD, Conn. — On Feb. 2, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced a new third round of grants approved under the state’s School Security Grant Program to be dispersed to school districts across the state. The grants continue as an effort to enhance school safety and security measures while initial funds spread slim throughout Connecticut schools. The state of Connecticut will receive $10 million to improve security infrastructure at 182 public and private schools in 51 towns and cities across the state.

“Improving school safety is an ongoing effort, one that requires continued commitment and collaboration between all levels of government and our educators,” Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman said in a statement. “These funds will help Connecticut communities keep students and teachers safe, strengthen our schools, and improve response in the event of a crisis.”

Following the Sandy Hook tragedy, the state of Connecticut responded by earmarking millions for funding and implementing school safety laws to be followed by school districts across the state. The Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) administers a School Security Grant Program, established in 2013 as part of a broad legislative package signed into law by the governor focusing on gun violence prevention, mental health and school security issues, according to the government’s website.

When the law was passed, the state set aside $42 million for a security fund, with grants awarded in 2013 and 2014. The grants function by requiring towns to pay a percentage of the total cost of the project, which is determined by the wealth of the community. The law was changed in 2014 to allow private schools access to 10 percent of the grant money. Since adopting this program, the state has made available $53 million to more than 1,200 schools.

With these funds, the schools have begun addressing concerns of how school buildings are accessed, and how to prevent communication failures and coordination breaches between multiple agencies. School districts have also taken preemptive measures by using the funds to add more cameras, install security buzzer systems, laminate all first-story windows and implement key card systems.

One of the laws enacts requirements for schools to put forward a School Security and Safety Plan, a 30-page text developed by the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, at the start of the new school year. Another law required that all districts submit records of all fire drills and crisis management drills by July 1, 2017.

Alas, last July, a mere 52 school districts submitted their records; that’s approximately 25 percent of all school districts in Connecticut. Nearly 100 school districts had not submitted their school and security safety plan as of the 2017 deadline, while almost 70 school districts haven’t submitted a plan in at least two years since 2017, according to the Hartford Courant. This has led to state officials contemplating new penalty laws for schools who do not meet the requirements for safety protocols.

Rep. Andrew Fleishmann, chairman of the legislature’s education committee, told the Hartford Courant that introducing a bill next session that penalizes leaders of school districts or the districts themselves would get the attention of everyone who isn’t complying with the law.

Although a work in progress, the state’s new funds will continue to address school safety concerns and strengthen preventative measures in the hopes to eventually restore a peace of mind to students, staff and parents alike.

“Improving school safety is an ongoing effort, one that requires continued commitment and collaboration between all levels of government and our educators,” Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman said in a statement. “These funds will help Connecticut communities keep students and teachers safe, strengthen our schools and improve response in the event of a crisis.”

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SAINT PAUL, Minn. — On March 6, Rep. Jenifer Loon, R-Minnesota presented her newly sponsored bill before the House Education Finance Committee (HEFC), which would allow school districts to fund and prioritize safety and security upgrades for Minnesota schools. The $28.5 million package would provide funding for both security and safety improvements as well as mental health counseling and resources. Rep. Loon, who chairs the Education Finance Committee, is advocating for the bill to become law this session.

The legislation would develop the use of long-standing facilities maintenance revenue, generating more money and resources available for districts to create safety improvements, including emergency communications, building enhancements and security upgrades.

According to Rep. Loon, the security package is made up of two initiatives she has crafted to fund school-security upgrades. The initial policy expands the scope of a program called Long-Term Facilities Maintenance Revenue, which would allow such funds to be used for necessary security upgrades across districts statewide. The second measure would provide $25 million in the bonding bill to be used for grants used directly by school districts for safety upgrades.

Loon explained that as schools assess their needs, another proposal in her school-safety package would reimburse schools that fulfilled security audits. “We are also increasing the per-pupil funding every school will receive under the current Safe Schools Levy program from the current $36 per student to $54 per student,” Loon said in a statement. “Eden Prairie Schools would receive an additional $172,000 if this Safe Schools increase becomes law.”

The flexible financial stream is slated to fund school resource officers, mental health counseling, other school support personnel, security improvements, crime and drug-abuse prevention or gang-resistance training. Moreover, smaller schools with reduced student populations will be granted a minimum of $30,000 to secure significant resources for school safety.

Expanding mental health services is also a key part of Loon’s safety package this session. Rep. Loon is vehement in addressing this need since becoming chair of the Education Committee in 2015. Since then, they have more than doubled mental health grants — from $5 million to $11 million annually — with the safety package investing an additional $5 million in the program for fiscal year 2019 and on an ongoing basis.

This is all part of her efforts to build what Rep. Loon describes as a “healthy school climate”, an environment in which students treat their peers with respect, nurture a culture of inclusiveness and ensure that children who struggle socially have a school safety net.

“I am dedicated to working for our schools, students and parents, championing changes that positively impact student safety. Fortunately, there is quite a bit of overlap on policy ideas being proposed in the Legislature and by the Governor’s Office, and those complementary ideas make me optimistic we can make significant strides in enhancing students and school safety, continuing to put our kids first,” concluded Loon.

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Germane to an understanding of the findings is the fact that the report is predicated on school violence and safety data culled from 2015. Since then, several shootings in schools and their surrounding communities, as well as other related violent incidents, have occurred.

The upshot is that crime and violence within academic settings brings a plethora of adverse potentialities for student victims — among them a spike in truancy and degraded performances academically. Moreover, school crime victims are more apt to drop out of school.

The entities behind the report include the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which is the primary federal entity deployed for collecting, analyzing and reporting education data regarding the United States. Likewise, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is the nation’s one-stop-shop for collecting, analyzing, publishing, and disseminating statistical information about crime in the U.S. — including, its perpetrators and victims.

“While there are positive trends in the annual report on crime and school safety, we know — and tragically have been reminded in recent weeks — there is much more to be done to keep our nation’s students and teachers safe at school,” said Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in a statement released by the U.S. Department of Education following publication of the report. “The Federal Commission on School Safety is committed to working quickly to identify and highlight best practices and solutions that state and local leaders can implement to improve school safety.”

Among the observations spotlighted in the report is the fact that between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015, a total of 47 student, staff and non-student school-associated violent deaths occurred. This number was comprised of 28 homicides, 17 suicides, and two legal intervention deaths, which are defined as a fatality that results from law enforcement during an arrest or otherwise legal suppression of a disturbance. Naturally, statistics from 2017 to 2018 will likely tell another story due to the sharp increase in school shootings and related events clustered at the beginning of the year. In a related finding, 92 percent of public schools have a school shooting plan in place, which is a 13 percent increase from stats taken during 2003 to 2004.

On a positive note, the increased emphasis on curbing school bullying may be realizing results with the percentage of public schools reporting student bullying (occurring at least once a week) had decreased from 29 percent in 1999 to 2000 to 12 percent in 2015 to 2016, according to the report. Moreover, occurrences of student verbal abuse of instructors at least once a week is trending down — from 13 percent in 1999 to 2000 to five percent in 2015 to 2016.

Another indicator of positive change is the percentage of students, ages 12 to 18, who reported being the target of hate-related words while on campus apparently decreased from 12 percent in 2001 to 7 percent in 2015.

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