Last week on Wednesday we here at Eastview experienced a very intense and very real incident that not many school around our area experience. This incident involved the Apple Valley Police and the Dakota County sheriff’s department. And in an interview with school officials they said that at this point in time they cannot directly comment on this event due to the sensitivity of the people involved
The school took swift and decisive action in maintaining the safety of the students and in apprehending those responsible. And while this incident may have left some students angry or scared there are schools in the area that haven’t been so lucky. This incident that the Eastview community is well aware of has been taken care of and students are in no more danger. While this story was to cover this event specifically it is more important that we are all aware of how to prevent this event from occurring again.
Schools even around our area have higher crime statistics than we here at Eastview do. For instance Eagan and Apple Valley High school have higher crime rates per year than Eastview does. This is due in part to the student to teacher ratio.
But in an interview Doug Baird (Apple Valley Police Department) he states that this is also due in part to the socioeconomics of the Eastview High School community. Socioeconomics being the social status of the students and faculty attending and working presently in a given area, in this case a high school. He states that when looking at statistics for high schools around the nation and in Minnesota you have to let quite a few factors be played out in your thought process as well. Things like; socioeconomics, class sizes, community awareness, and many other factors.
Something that is also important is being able to prevent these events from being happening in the future.
In an interview Dr. Randall Peterson (Eastview’s Principle) he stated that even though Eastview is an “outlier” in terms of violence that occurs every year the thing that makes “Eastview the way it is, is due to the open and honest communication we have with our students and with our student’s parents. And that we encourage both parents and students to never hesitate to communicate with the administration here at Eastview”
Also in Doug Baird’s interview he states that our best line of defense against violent behavior is to be aware of the feelings of others. While something may not affect you, you never know how it can affect others and how they will react may not be what you expect. He also said in his interview to “talk to people”
If someone looks sad or upset talk to them about it and try to find out what happened and to encourage them to keep their head up and talk to someone about it. Whether that person is a trusted adult or school administrator, but just talking to someone has proved that violent behavior can be avoided in most cases.
According to the youth violence website crime rates in schools per one thousand students has been progressively going down over the last ten years and that statistic is proven everyday at Eastview. With one of the lowest crime rates in the state the students can walk the halls in peace and know that their school is one of learning and advancement not one of violence and hate. And while serious events do occur like the one last week, they are rare to say the least and an event like that one will be prevented in the future, due to the knowledge gained by this event. Students are the first line of defense against violent behavior in school and students should do their part and report anything that is suspicious in any way.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
