NCJ Number
209123
Journal
Reclaiming Children and Youth Volume: 13 Issue: 3 Dated: Fall 2004 Pages: 169-172
Date Published
2004
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article discusses how a group of school superintendents in southern New Jersey, who first met in April 1999 to discuss the ramifications of the Columbine school tragedy, implemented a concept of safe schools called "Sanctuary," which was developed by psychiatrist Sandra Bloom (1995).
Abstract
Rather than focusing on technological and personnel resources designed to enforce various school regulations, the Sanctuary model aims to identify the causes of student violence and other problem behaviors and develop and implement prevention measures that address these causes. This results in a normative school environment that prevents violence without constant surveillance of students. In an effort to define and implement such a normative school environment, the New Jersey steering committee created three pilot projects, each in a different type of school: a comprehensive high school, a suburban middle school, and a regional school that served severely behaviorally handicapped students. Each project had five phases of implementation. Phase 1 provided an awareness of the program's concepts and goals; phase 2 involved a cultural assessment of the participating schools and identification of key members for the Sanctuary Facilitation Team; phase 3 consisted of training in the cognitive elements of the Sanctuary model and incorporated aspects of change; phase 4 facilitated and integrated cultural change in the schools; and phase 5 established monitoring practices. The Sanctuary Facilitation Team members were trained to provide instruction and leadership in eight units designed by Bloom. These units were based in the fundamentals of creating nonviolent communities, knowledge of trauma theory, and the features of the four-stage recovery framework for assessing school cultures. The units are designed to provide training in self-management under community norms that focus on moral purposes that govern the behavior of all the members. 11 references