The League of Iowa Human & Civil Rights Agencies

The Justice Department just issued a new guide for school communities with strategies to help prevent and respond to school violence.  The guide came out just days after a student walked into a class at Northern Virginia Commmunity College at Woodbridge and shot at his teacher--missing because the gun jammed--because of a poor grade. Schools tend to single out students who are bullied or who exhibit mental health problems as potential violent perpetrators, the guide says. The key is focusing on the behaviors the individual is engaging in, not personal characteristics.

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