FYI from BSF, 03.31.23
With an American school shooting occurring on average every 2-3 school weeks since Columbine, the ubiquity and horror of these events don’t often find their way into our weekly summaries.
This week’s shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, TN (killing three children and three educators) was followed by a now predictable pattern of grim, detailed coverage, obsession with the assailant, advice for families on how to discuss this their kids, public demonstrations and moral outrage from some lawmakers, and indifference from others.
Unfortunately, we have lots of data on the topic of American children and guns.
There is a direct correlation between people dying and gun laws.
There is a clear pattern among the fifty states.
It is good to live in the Bay State. With some of the strictest gun laws in the country, Massachusetts is just behind Hawaii as the safest place in America in respect to firearms.
Recent history provides a near control trial. The periods before, during, and after the American assault weapon ban reveal a clear pattern.
School shootings are just the tip of a larger iceberg.
As difficult as it is to bear the images of Sandy Hook, Parkland, or Uvalde, these tragedies constitute less than 1% of the gun-related deaths of children in America. Multiply anything you have read or seen this week by +100 to truly understand the breadth of the problem.
Oft-repeated recently, but nonetheless worth noting: according to the CDC, guns are the leading cause of death of children in America.
Contemplate the interventions enacted over the past two decades to curb motor vehicle deaths: seat belt mandates, universal safety standards and technology like airbags, greater restrictions on teen driver's licenses, etc.
That line didn't come down without government action.
The rise of shooting deaths in schools is a uniquely American phenomenon.
America is a stark, sad outlier among industrialized nations.
The difference is even more acute in schools. In 1995, a mass shooting in a school in Dunblane, Scotland resulted in 16 deaths. Gun laws immediately followed. Since then, 0 children and 0 adults have been shot and killed in UK schools.
Four years later, America experienced its own modern seminal school violence event with the killing of thirteen children and educators in Littleton, CO. Since then 208 children and educators have been shot and killed in American schools.
There is only one discernible difference.
In a polarized time, facts and analysis can be cast as editorial. Logic shouldn’t be political.
The available evidence is clear: if we want America children to be safe - not just in school, but really everywhere - gun laws have to change.
Notes in the Margin
Boston Indicators released a comprehensive, and sobering, summary of the 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Kids across America and in Boston, particularly those historically marginalized, are struggling right now. Full report here.
The City of Boston is expanding access for free community college.
Long before he was a community and civil rights leader, the now late Mel King was a classroom leader, teaching math at the Boston Trade High School.
A new report on inequitable access to computer science Massachusetts high schools.
Fake calls to police to respond to a school shooter (“swatting”) disrupted schools across Massachusetts this week.
This week Newton provided a new episode in the sound and fury of the school culture wars.
The state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education met Tuesday. Full materials here. For those not as versed in special education, a revised Individualized Education Plan (IEP) form has greater significance than you may think. A slate of charter schools were renewed, including Mystic Valley Regional Charter School. We also learned Massachusetts schools still have $1.4B in federal funds to spend.
A good summary of the pros and cons of legalizing teacher strikes in Massachusetts.
Missouri has achieved impressive principal retention rates.
Other Matters
For readers in Boston schools, a reminder that EdVestors has an open call for its annual School Move on the Prize (so long as a school hasn’t one in the past five years). More info here, and a nomination form.