Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow and legislation

June 5, 2018-- Yesterday, today and tomorrow on the Today Show with Savannah Guthrie, the armed resource officer at the high school in Parkland, Florida is telling his side of the story.   He did say he actually was the one who issued the notice to Cruz (not Tom) about the book bag.  Do you remember one of the early reports in which a teacher talked about an email they had received about Cruz and his book bag in another school year?   He knew about Cruz and so did so many others as had been admitted.  But because of lawsuits, teachers "dummy up".  

In 1998, The Current told me I was yesterday's news--- then they got to know me.  The newspapers published me because I knew then, and I know now, of which I write and pray.  Read through this editorial about statutes and the state law in NJ since 1982.  When did I write this editorial?  The date is at the bottom.

So when the Parkland, Florida students come your way-- send them home.  They need to take care of their own community... and we need to take care of ours.  I still advocate in Pittsburgh- on the street - connecting dots to violence prevention from conception.  This article below is not about abortion in case one won't read because abortion is acceptable to your way of thinking.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Yesterday, I read in the paper of an alleged charge against a champion wrestler from a local high school against a fellow teammate.  Today I read that Savannah, Georgia is mourning the shooting death of a high school student by another high school student.  Will it be your school tomorrow?

As a former public-school teacher and parent, I have studied the issue of school violence very intensely during the last two years.  Some statistics indicate that the level of violence at schools is dropping.  If it is decreasing then the job assigned to us to be decent human beings is getting accomplished.  However, the drop in statistics could be that our idea of violence is so skewed that behavior that was once thought to be inappropriate, is now acceptable.  As a result, we are seeing extreme level of violence playing out in our schools on a regular basis.

Since 1982, the permanent statutes of New Jersey have included a law, which mandates reporting of violent acts in schools.  It also mandates the protection of school district employees who report acts of violence.  In response to the most recent, publicized acts of school violence, the New Jersey State Senate has introduced several resolutions that we as a public need to know about- and urge our representatives to endorse.  The following are summaries of those resolutions:

State Senate Resolution No. 48- urges Department of Education (DOE) to revise procedures used to monitor violent crimes and incidents in schools.

State Senate Resolution No. 391- designates a week in October as “School Violence Awareness Week”

(Through the National School Safety Center, a week of such awareness is recognized already in other states.)

State Senate Resolution No. 816- supplement to chapter 35 of Title 18A makes an appropriation to the Violence Institute of New Jersey to offer violence prevention in the schools.  This bill requires each board of education to offer instruction in the prevention of violence.

State Senate Resolution No. 942- appropriates funds for establishing a county- based safe schools and communities’ violence and response plan.  Under the plan, each county Superintendent would employ a violence prevention specialist.

State Senate Resolution No. 1003- establishes subcommittees of local emergency councils to develop response action plans.

In addition, the legislation which is designed to open up public records, should help in the reporting of violent incidences in our schools.

As we already know, we can not legislate morality.  That is a personal decision.  However, we must do whatever we can to stem the tide of violence, which is destroying our public schools- one school right after the other.  Our public-school employees are legally bound to report acts of violence.  These resolutions should strengthen the law and open the lines of communication.  It is also our responsibility as parents and community members to do whatever we can to protect the integrity of our educational system and the lives of the people in and around our schools.

Marian R.  Carlino

March 12, 2000

Rinse and Repeat-- History does that...

As news continues to break about the deadly school massacre at Parkland, Florida, the students are marching to get people to vote-- their way.  The only school resource officer  to carry a gun at the high school in Parkland, Florida is talking and telling his side.  Frankly, I give him credit.  Others will /would talk for him.  He has regrets- read his story and listen to what he has to say.  He may be the only honest voice coming out of that community.  

I did workshops for teachers when I left teaching-  a few years later.  My family was my main focus right after.   Do you know how difficult it is to give a workshop on school violence to teachers?  I was a teacher, I know we would "rather be in the classroom."  My workshops discussed prevention, not Swat team response mode.

I was a child during the Cuban Missile Crisis.. I know the drills are practice for the real thing, that even as a child- my prayer mantra- was always,  "Please, God - don't let it happen here."  (Along with praying about earthquakes and volcanoes.  I lived in northern NJ, earthquakes were rare and we did not live on top of a volcano.  But, I knew it happened somewhere.  The news told me.)  The Cuban Missile Crisis was real... and people had to do their work in order to prevent another world war. 

So, we practiced, being very thankful we made it through the school year without an attack from another country.  In the meantime, our own country was beginning to experience the unrest of the civil rights era- outside of the South.   Did anyone see it coming?   Those with eyes wide open did.  

So, the upsurge of riots now is because people forget that rioting and mob mentality do nothing to bring about positive change. Out of fires, people are hurt.   History repeats itself.  Now it is Korea with whom we are negotiating about bombs.

I am not sure what the excuse is for the current climate in our schools.  It is not Trump as some would blame.  It is not our representatives' fault.   I have read through many of the letters I wrote in 1998 (and beyond) to our representatives - up to the Attorney General of the United States of America in 1998.  They were on the case of school violence prevention.   And many laws were already in place.   But parents and educators were not doing their jobs.

Do we wait for the practice to be the real thing?  Some do wait... and the community blames everyone but themselves for the ultimate failure to communicate to prevent a massacre.  Guns, bombs (nuclear), cars, knives---   when people don't talk and share--- others may die.  The massacre in the community of Parkland, Florida is a complete failure on their part to do the right thing.  The warning shots had been fired long before the gun shots did.

Do you want your community to be the next Parkland, Florida?  Somebody out there does.  You can be a catalyst for change in your community.   Do the right thing.. before you have to explain why you did not.

Marian R. Carlino

June 5, 2018

Read the following editorial I sent to the Press in 1999.   Deja Vu? 

Letter to the Editor-  Voice of the People- Sunday’s News

The murders happened more than two years ago, but they are still not “yesterday’s news”.  In fact, the headlines in the Press and the Sunday Star Ledger on Sunday, February 21, 1999 described the heartache when someone dies- especially someone young who has died violently and needlessly.  The victims of the crime were children, and sadly, so were the offenders.  All the adults involved are suffering and asking why such tragic events happened.

They are questioning the circumstances, not unlike the families of the victims in the violent incidents that occurred throughout our nation’s schools last year.  In less than one month, it will be one year since Shannon Wright stood between bullets and a child and died so that child could live.  Her husband, in a Ladies Home Journal article, has questions too.  One of them is why the parents of the children who did the shooting never called him to express concern nor regrets.  Another question is why didn’t anyone see the signs?

Our culture teaches our children that people who speak out are often odd or that expressing concern is being a tattle tale or worse, a betrayer of confidence.  Some confidences are down right too dangerous to keep.  Experts across the country agree that the silence regarding the violence in this country has to be stopped.

We all have a part to play.  Feeling sorry for someone with problems will not solve the problems.  Metal detectors alone won’t do it either.  Remember, in Arkansas, the young boys lured their victims outside.

The two most publicized incidents in the Greater Egg Harbor Regional District once again highlight the silence that surrounds a school system when trouble occurs and the ignorance of the belief “it can’t happen here”.  As a public entity, the school system needs to be held accountable.  Part of that accountability is recognizing that the perpetrators and the parents need to take responsibility.  The child’s Constitutional right to a public education does not include the right to be verbally or physically threatening or abusive to anyone.

Public education is a gift (for which we all pay) that we enjoy because we live in a nation based on individual freedoms.  Those freedoms come with responsibilities to self and others.

February 1999

Marian R Carlino