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School Shootings Keynote. This slide show is a compilation of slides and notes used by Tom McIntyre when presenting at a conference in Wisconsin in March 2007. The material may be a bit out of synchronization due to the combining of notes and slides.
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School Shootings Keynote • This slide show is a compilation of slides and notes used by Tom McIntyre when presenting at a conference in Wisconsin in March 2007. • The material may be a bit out of synchronization due to the combining of notes and slides. • Dr. Mac is available to present sessions on school-wide and classroom practices that help to prevent violence within and against schools. • Color code: • A red punctuation mark on a slide indicates that the slide material has stopped developing. Click to expose the next component of the slide. • A green punctuation mark indicates the end of a slide. Click to view the next slide.
Speaker Notes Good day. As opposed to a bad one, like April 20, 1999. That late afternoon through night is indelibly etched in otherwise heavily perforated memory. I was taking a break from some office work brought home, I set my still-steaming microwaved chicken pot pie & my too warm to be called iced tea on the toy-laden coffee table & picked up the TV remote. I always start my viewing with CNN to see if anything important is happening anywhere... You know: - Which celebrity is going into rehab or apologizing for saying something insensitive; - Which muscle-bound athlete is denying the use of steroids; - What’s happening to poor Britney -...Am I STILL on Mr. Blackwell’s worst dressed list…). I quickly realize that a major news story, this one of epic proportions, will be occupying our television screens for several days, maybe weeks. I didn’t know then that the event would emotionally haunt us for years to come.
Speaker Notes That afternoon’s happenings held particular interest for me as an educator. Now, as a parent, it holds an even tighter grasp on certain parts of my psyche: “It” being: Kids killing kids in a school in Littleton, Colorado. I sat aghast through the late afternoon, & into the evening ...& late night watching the non-stop coverage of the astonishing event, & trying to make sense of what had happened. Dumbstruck, I watched the - repeated showings of the same appalling video clips, -the content-empty interviews, - the superficial analysis, & - the uniformed speculation. It was numbingly redundant... yet sadly & enormously gripping.
Speaker Notes In a harrowing short period of time, - 2 high-school seniors, -setting propane tank bombs, & - wielding guns & knives as they walked their school’s hallways with impunity, set out on their horrific mission to kill hundreds… HUNDREDSof their peers. When all was nearing the end, 12 youth & 1 teacher lie lifeless. Self-inflicted gunshot wounds then ended 2 more young lives: Those of the terribly misguided boys whose names… Klebold & Harris, have become - for many, synonymous with evil; - admired icons of validated rage for many other disconnected youth; - and calls for action on the part of some of us.
Speaker Notes The “Columbine Massacre”, as it would come to be known, was & still remains, the greatest loss of life in America’s long & tragic history of kids killing kids in a place where idyllically cognitive & physical challenges are the foci. It happened in a harborage where personal safety is presumed, & the welfare of kids is our life’s mission… A safe port where the schoolhouse doors are supposed to serve as a breakwater from society’s stormy seas that rage beyond. Each new copy-cat episode evokes those same painful - images -memories, - & feelings. Each brings again to the forefront multitudinous questions... for children & the educational professionals who serve them: • Who would do such a thing? - What could drive someone to engage in such a heinous act? - How can I be sure that this horror won't happen to me? - Is anyone really safe anywhere?
Newspaper Caption: “Weston High School students visit the scene of the shooting Friday in Cazenovia, Wis.”
Speaker Notes Recently, the unthinkable happened close to YOUR home: Two days after his Wednesday anger management class, a kid carrying 2 loaded firearms entered his school. I read in large part, the words of a blog reporter, Kathy K.: On Friday, September 29, 2006, 15-year-old Erik Hainstock drove to Weston Schools in Cazenovia, Wisconsin armed with a shotgun and a .22-caliber revolver that he allegedly took from his home. Mr. Dave Thompson, a custodian, observed Hainstock entering the building... and then holding the shotgun to the face of a teacher who questioned what he was doing. Hainstock allegedly replied ‘I’m going to kill someone’. At that point, Mr. Thompson yanked the shotgun out of the boy’s hands. Hainstock broke free. Thompson noticed that Hainstock was going for something in his pocket and told the teacher to run, yelling that he thought the youth had another gun. The teacher ran for the office to call the “code blue” to lock down the school. Thompson ran out the door to call 911. It was then that Principal John Klang confronted Hainstock. That action resulted in the untimely death of, by all accounts, a dedicated & valued mentor & colleague.
Comments regarding Mr. John Klangfrom a USA Today and Wisconsin State Journal articles • "He was really nice," she said, choking back tears. "If we had a problem he'd listen to us. He never raised his voice or anything to any of the students.“ • Resident Laurie Rhea, 42, said Klang spent last weekend at a gas station washing cars for a homecoming fundraiser. "It's horrible. All the kids just loved him," she said. • "I always thought he got along with Mr. Klang. If Eric had trouble they would talk, and things would get better.“ (Eric Schneider, classmate of Eric Hainstock) • . The proposed Klang Memorial
Speaker Notes (continuing from the blog) Mr. Klang rushed to disarm him. In the ensuing struggle Klang was shot three times. Despite being mortally wounded he managed to continue the strugge & eventually disarmed Hainstock, kicking the gun out of reach. Another teacher watching through his classroom door window, and according to some accounts several students, rushed into the hallway and wrestled Hainstock to the ground. They restrained him until taken into custody by law enforcement authorities who arrived on the scene within minutes. (end of blog report) Another more massive plan by 3 boys in Green Bay was foiled only days before its abhorrent implementation, when a fellow student, Matt Atkinson, informed the assistant principal. The school has since set up a scholarship fund in his name, hoping to bring - attention -admiration, - & emulation to those who prevent school shootings. PAUSE
Speaker Notes In the former incident, you folks have experienced, directly or indirectly, the violation of all we hold to be sacred… A tragedy has befallen a colleague, -one of our own, - by a student he was dedicated to serving. These events inevitably bring forth a swirled multitude of emotions that ebb & flow depending on - the day, - the settings, - & the situations in which we find ourselves. PAUSE These situations are often analyzed from a 3 circle perspective:
Speaker Notes Witness to the event . Someone who spends the day in the school . Knowing someone in the school .I would add a 4th concentric circle… (Click) - containing Wisconsin school professionals. - Members of the larger educational clan. .I supposed I’m in the 5th ring…. (Click) ... Educator. - Far removed in geography from the event, but close in spirit & mission. Far removed from the actual situations, but holding a stew pot of feelings, some always intense like compassion & concern (for all kids…even the shooters) Some that I try to subdue like - anger - rage, - …revenge. Sprinkled in is a bit of sadness, fear, disgust, anxiety, & other feelings that are hard for me to identify.
Speaker Notes We all need a productive outlet for feelings such as these. I was so moved by the events in Littleton, CO, that I immersed myself in research & writing regarding the impact of incidents such as these on children & school-based professionals. The result was a web page pertaining to school shootings. I posted it on my web site, hoping that the 1400 teachers a day who visit it could glean something useful & be able to address issues in their schools. There is stays to this day... Poorly presented visually (I’m using circa 1996 software & circa late 1986 understanding of web site design), but I hope the content is helpful to my fellow educators. As one teacher from Greece wrote to me: “There is some wonderful information on your site Dr. Mac, but WHEW, you’ve got the UGLIEST site on the internet!” Any offers of free help in web site design are gratefully accepted. A 6th ring in our model would be the general public…Sometimes supportive of us; Other times not. But in these tragic situations, they too view the recurring heroic actions of educators in these situations to be notable.
Speaker Notes PAUSE I accepted the offer to visit with you today because of my persistent professional pre-occupation with events such as the ones mentioned & my continuing self-imposed assignment to serve my colleagues as I am able. The title…. Emerging From The Fog Bank: Resetting our Course with a Newfound Clarity of Purpose, came to me while I was first thinking of what to say here today. Please allow me to digress a bit. While I think that the similarities to schools will be vaguely evident, when I’m done regaling you with a salty sea yarn, I’ll make a point of connecting the dots & relating it all back to our session’s focus. I recollected a mission ordered to undertake while serving our country in the Coast Guard. - Semper Paratus! It means “Always readyl.” - Sage words for educators too. More recently, I’ve been chanting the Marine Corps motto: “Semper Fidelis”…”Always faithful”. My wife makes me say it before I go out the door. Hoo Rah. Anyway, I was the coxswain, the captain so to speak, of a 30 foot twin-diesel engine utility boatbased in New London CT.
Speaker Notes Our usual daily duty was Port Security; Patrolling by the Navy Submarine facility there. Periodically, we’d escort one of the nuclear attack subs as it negotiated the channel on its way to or from its patrol. Other times we embarked on search & rescue endeavors in stormy seas. More often, we’d find ourselves - Towing a becalmed sailboat back to harbor - Seeking out the source of pollution - or Conducting courtesy safety checks ... Although... the main highlight of a warm summer day was cruising past the local beaches & using our binoculars to search for scantily-clad sun bathers. & you thought Coasties cruising off of your beach on Lake Michigan were on safety patrol! Ah...summmer. *Winter brought a wholly different kind of waterborne duty.
Speaker Notes - This isn’t the boat of which I spoke. Mine was 6 feet shorter! It does, however, give a good idea of what it’s like to be on an open boat in the flow ice. One particular late afternoon on a frigid January day, we were directed to take some large batteries out to the lighthouse station that protruded proudly from an enormous rock outcropping in the Long Island Sound. There, electricians were struggling to bring the darkened beacon back to brilliance. The urgency of the mission was evident...a dense fog shrouded the area. It was nearing dusk by the time we were bundled up (No immersion suits or heated boat cabins in the old days), warmed up the twin diesels, threw off the lines stiffened with ice, & headed our trusty craft southward to push against the incoming brackish tide. Cruising the 2½ miles to the mouth of the river & the entrance to the Sound was a visual, mental, & physical struggle. In the vast, dark, grey blanket that enveloped us, the usual sights were indistinct or absent; sounds were amplified & distorted.
I navigated by chart & compass as best I could while my 2 crew members shined lights into the haze in a mostly futile attempt to stimulate reflective tape on the channel buoys. Recognizing the need to reassure my crew with a brave face, I recollected the telling of a tale of a Captain of an 3-masted privateer, who when he heard from the crow’s nest that an enemy ship had been sited off the starboard quarter, said to the cabin boy “Bring me my red shirt.” The young man was perplexed, but fetched the bright red garment. After the captain brilliantly directed his men to victory, he was asked by the boy why he wore a red shirt. The captain replied: “If I were wounded in battle, my blood would not show, & the crew would continue to fight.” While in reality, I was attired totally in Coast Guard blue & black, in my mind that cold night I was wearing scarlet!
On nights such as this, it was standard procedure to use the radar scope to negotiate the buoy-marked course. Not that night though…The upper right quadrant of the round screen was totally blank! It had been non-functional for a couple of weeks as we waited for the Navy to send a technician to make the necessary electronic repairs. Realizing the danger of cruising into the unknown, I periodically bought the boat to a halt, and spun it around slowly so that whatever existed in front of us & to the right (from 12 o’clock to 3 o’clock if imagine a clock face) was now revealed in a working section of the circular scope That stationary feat, while necessary for navigational precision & safety, also placed us at risk for sucked up gathering ice chunks into the tubes that brought water to the jacket that surrounded our engines & kept them cool. If the tubes became blocked, no water would reach the cooling jackets. A “diesel runaway” was then a definite possibility… An uncontrollable escalation of engine RPM’s until the darn thing blows up.
Motivated by self preservation, my crew diligently pushed the ice chunks away as best they could with the boat hooks. Anyway, unbeknownst to us at that moment, the remaining ¾ of the damaged radar screen was showing small buoys as being large, resembling the blips indicating tanker ships; & large objects as being small, like marker buoys. Distances were also inaccurately calibrated. We adjusted our course to what we thought was the next buoy, & crawled along with a crewman sitting on the bow. He alternated between placing a wet newspaper page over a hand-held search light in order to create a yellowish glow that cut the fog better than the white light that got reflected back into our eyes, & exposing that white light in an attempt to excite the buoys’ reflective tape. As we neared the marker buoy, my right ear received my radar man’s terrified shout: “Holy sh…COW! It’s coming at us. It’s not the buoy. It’s the ferry!” He was not referring to Tinkerbell… Nor was he speaking of my fairy Godmother whose wings must have frosted up, or maybe she got lost in the haze… because she wasn’t with me that night at that moment.
He was referring to the imminent arrival into our port bow of the massive, car carrying Long Island to New London Ferry. There’s a 2nd part to the story about the captain who wore the red shirt... A few days later, upon hearing from the crow’s nest that 20 enemy ships had been sighted off the starboard quarter, the cabin boy rushed to the captain’s side anticipating the order to fetch the red shirt. Instead, he received a new command:........ “Bring me my Brown pants.” Reacting to the imminent danger, I yelled to my bow-mounted crewman to “Hold on!”, pulled the wheel hard to starboard, & gunned the engines. We looked back to witness the New London Ferry, enormous in it’s presence, traversing the spot where our boat sat just a few moments earlier. It then vaporized into the night as quickly as it had materialized.
Wobbling wildly on the Ferry’s wake, we closed our gaping mouths & unfixed our wide-eyed stares from that still churning spot. I turned to the crewman next to me, & we shared a befuddled & bewildered exchange of glances. Meanwhile, the fella hanging onto the bow rails was yelling into the darkness…cursing - Several government agencies, - Ferry boat radar operators, … - & Himself… for joining up with the Guard! Anyway, we contacted the ferry’s wheelhouse via short wave radio, & after a rather interesting opening to our static-ridden conversation, they used their radar to give us approximate coordinates & distance to the lighthouse. This sharing of knowledge was a not-so-apparent-at-the-time example of interagency cooperation to reach one’s goal after experiencing a near catastrophe.
New London Ledge Light • Light pattern: • Three white flashes (followed by) • One red flash • Repeating every 30 seconds • Fog horn: • Two blasts every 20 seconds
To make a long story short (Too late?): • We located the lighthouse, off-loaded our cargo to a couple of life-vested, rope-secured fellow Coasties whenever our boat rose to the top of one of the swells that rushed over the low, thin catwalk upon which they stood as best they could. • The lunging, lurching rise & fall of our bow, slightly out of sync with the swells, sent frigid waves rushing back over the deck toward us, soaking our heavy cotton clothes. • Later, the ice-encrusted lashes of our eyes would lift to see the quickly circulating streams of light approach & brightly flash to our stern before leaving us. • Our frost-nipped ears heard the periodic double belch of the fog horn drown out the chugging of our twin diesels. • PAUSE • Hypothermic & emotionally exhausted, we arrived back at our berth after coming within feet of running headlong into a dock at the sub base • (I wonder what it costs to reimburse the Navy for scratching & denting one of their nuclear-powered attack vessels).
Although untrained & unprepared for the hazards that presented themselves that day, we did what needed to be done in the face of fear. • Mission accomplished: Partly due to • - bravery, • - skill, • -& quick thinking… • Partly due to dumb luck. • Success was also partly due to cooperation with another group of professionals who operated in the same waters as us. • We recounted our story to the Officer of the Watch,& later to a panel of safety officers sent to investigate the incident. • Our report to superiors resulted in positive changes locally & nationwide: • - To standard procedures; • - To our craft • - To our training; • - To crew comfort & safety, • - To cooperation with other agencies concerned with the same issues as us. • It’s rewarding to think that our close encounter with catastrophe was a stimulus for positive changes.
While the comparisons might be strained at times, a summary glance back at the events of that winter night… & nearly all school incidents… reveal several of the same characteristics & implications. Both involved skilled professionals operating in familiar waters, but without the preparation & resources necessary for optimal response in a frightening & unexpected situation. Both point out the need for: - Better systems to handle those possible episodes, - Designated standard procedures - Greater communication with other agencies, - The necessary equipment to safeguard those in “the boat”, - & Better training & treatment for the “crew”.
Weston High School in Cazenovia, to their credit, had already made progress in that direction. According to news reports, “Code Blue” was called over the speakers. Teachers looked at their code sheets & responded by locking doors & hiding the pupils. FINALLY… a valid use of school speakers during class time,… not just office staff taking it upon themselves to summon lost administrators & announce the lunch menu during my World History class.
And if we should ever find ourselves enveloped in the errie & disconcerting world of an educational “thermal inversion”,we’ve got 2 choices: • Get through it or Rise above it. • Then use our experience & newfound clarity to reset our course. • That is where we find ourselves now. • Both my nautical situation & your 2 episodes point to the need to prepare for the worst case scenario, …while still enjoying the calmness (interrupted by few ripples & swells) of a typical school day.
Since the occurrence of your two events, I understand that many well-intentioned changes have been suggested…some more viable & thoughtful than others. • Some suggestions, mostly school security measures, have been implemented. • Many of you have studied up on the issues. However, many of us still operate in an informational fog when it comes to assaults on schools. • Our thinking, & therefore, out planning are often clouded by: • - Mixed & intense emotions, • - Inaccurate perceptions, • - & Non-validated conclusions.
Misconceptions abound about the various aspects of school shootings: • - The shooters, • - Their home life, • - The warning signals, • - The prevalence, • - & How to best protect our kids. • Today, in the remainder of this keynote, I’d like to help dissipate the haze of misinformation surrounding the school-based events. • Acquiring accurate information allows us to engage in productive discussions & leads to better prevention & reaction strategies. • Clear sight can also give us clarity of insight. • It can help us avoid running aground on the misinformation shoals while we navigate directly to our destination of creating safe & welcoming schools.
Yes… Opinions on these matters are spouted everywhere. • Surprisingly, they sometimes differ from my own. • That’s OK. • It’s America, & Constitution grants them the right to voice their opinion… • - even when it is opposed to mine! • As an upstanding citizen of this great country, I respect that right! • They have the right… • To be wrong! • E Pluribus Unum! • Just kidding, of course…I haven’t been elected President yet… • although I’ll be announcing my candidacy from this podium later today… • Just in time for the Wisconsin primary. • Certainly, we’re entitled to our views, but we also have an obligation to make them informed opinions. • Let’s take a look at what we know...
Apparitions in the Fog: Real or Imagined? • Often heard claims: • School attacks are increasing in number and ferocity. • In its 2002 report, the Secret Service (in conjunction with the USDOE) created a typical profile of shooters. • They’re evil, crazy, OR normal kids who just “snapped.” • Most school attacks occur without warning. Usually nobody knew that it was going happen. • “Zero tolerance”, metal detectors, and security guards are necessary parts of today’s educational experience. There’s not much else schools can do to protect those inside. • So…True or False?
T-F: School attacks are increasingin number and ferocity. • School violence (murder, robbery, rape, assault) decreased during the 1990s.(Defoe, et. al. 2002) • Violent crime in schools is now ½ of the 1994 rates. • School Crime is now equivalent to 1980 rates. (Snyder, 2004). • Given domestic violence rates, students are safer in school than at home. (Cornell, 2006). • 12-20 deaths per year since 2000 in school violence • 30 deaths per year(average)in the 1990s • An educator can expect a shooting at his/her school once every 12,804 years.(National School Safety Council, 2002)
Speaker notes for “School attacks are increasing in number” slide(previous to that slide) • - School shootings are significant, but extremely rare happenings. • - Despite hyperbolic reporting in the media, there is no epidemic. • -I certainly am cognizant • that the deaths of 12-20 students & educators a year • are worthy of note, • but I mention the statistic to show that our perception of the number of shootings may be inaccurate. • I suspect some thought the # was less, but… • Less than 1% of child homicides occur from when the student leaves home for school to when he or she returns home. • McIntyre, maybe it’s not so much the numbers… • as it is the nature of the episodes…
T-F: Forget the rates, it’s the randomness and unpredictability of the acts that are scary. Rarely does someone know that a school attack is about to occur. • In Bethel, AK, a crowd of students gathered in the library to watch another carry out his threat to kill himself. When the event was over, one adult and one student (not the shooter) were dead. • In Cazenovia, WI, Erik Hainstock told a friend that the principal would not “Make it through homecoming.” • "I think some kids might have known what was going on,"he said."I'd heard things up at school. There were a lot of rumors.“ James Nowak, Eric Hainstock’s special education teacher As reported in the Wisconsin State Journal3/18/07 • In Green Bay, WI, a student prevented an imminent attack by telling school officials.
Notes accompanying previous slide - Secret Service Report (2002): Previous to 3/4 of shootings other students had specific information or valid suspicions that a shooting was going to happen. - Before vast majority of attacks someone else knew …almost always other kids: - friends - schoolmates - siblings - Given often-found code of silence among adolescents, info rarely reached adults: - parents - school personnel - law enforcement - If we could convince kids to report what they know or suspect, perhaps most school shootings could be prevented… as was the case in last point on the slide. Here’s the Newspaper Report: “Thursday, September 14, 2006 - Matt Atkinson, a 17-year-old senior, told an associate principal at Green Bay East High School on the day after the Montreal college shooting that a Columbine-like plot was being planned by two teens. It was said to be a "suicide-by-cop" plot. Police arrested the boys and then found sawed-off shotguns, automatic weapons, pistols, ammunition, several bombs, bomb-making materials, camouflage clothing, helmets, gas masks, and suicide notes. Brown County District Attorney John Zakowski said: "This was a Columbine waiting to happen."
OK… Then it’s the assailants that are unpredictable. These kids are either Crazy Or evil.
They’re Evil • Whether we believe that human beings are “born evil”, “born good”, or “tabla rosa”, we then become products of our environment. • The home life of shooters is invariably disordered: All shooters.
Notes to accompany previous slide (“Evil”) • When we arrive on this granite planet: • - Evil: As per original sin in Bible, & philosophy of Hobbs & Freud • - Good: As per the teachings from the Koran/Qur'an • - Blank slate: As per the philosophy of Locke, Berkeley, & Hume • - NONE of the shooters was without troubles in family relationships. • - Life may look superficially normal in the homes of shooters, • but one doesn't have to scratch very far below the surface • to find significant problems with the families… • - severe marital discord • - lack of supervision, • & - ineffective, • - distorted, • - &/or hostile child rearing practices (including physical & sexual abuse). • - Shooters have voiced feelings of being disregarded/socially neglected at home. • - They were not valued & welcomed in their own families! • - They were not given warmth in life’s incubator.
He Was “Crazy” From the 2002 USSS/USDOE report: • 1/3 of attackers had been seen by a mental health professional. • 1/5 of attackers had been diagnosed with a psychological condition. • Substance abuse was not prevalent. • Previous to the event, shooters demonstrated a need for mental health assistance, showing some history of: • Extreme depression. • Pronounced desperation, despondency & loss of hope. • Suicidal ideation and/or attempts.
Notes to accompany previous slide (“Crazy”) • - Pejorative term for M.I. • - DSM American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic Criteria • - The words of Sigmund Freud seem apropo here:
Excerpts from Wisconsin State Journal3/18/07 • Officials had been concerned about Hainstock since preschool, interviews and documents revealed. • In a criminal child abuse complaint against Shawn Hainstock, Eric's father, filed five years ago, Sauk County prosecutors said the boy "has a medical condition affecting (his) behavior and that the child's family can no longer afford the medication or counseling (he) needs for his condition." As part of a deferred prosecution agreement, Shawn Hainstock pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of battery. • Years ago, Nowak said, the boy's preschool teacher and a Reedsburg elementary school teacher had been worried about him. "They had concerns way back then" about drawings Hainstock made and other things, Nowak said. • Note: James Nowak was Eric Hainstock’s special education teacher.
Notes to accompany previous slide(“Excerpts”) - Erin Hainstock, long-known for his “acting out” behavior, was an exception to that rule, in that he was receiving services… for a while… until his family couldn’t afford the pharmaceuticals & counseling anymore. - We tend to see depression in kids presenting itself in either - the withdrawn clinical form - an acting out / risky behavior manifestation - Psychologists typically view the introverted, reclusive youngsters to be more emotionally disabled than those who have conduct disorders. • The belief is that acting out is an attempt (however inadequate & distorted) to handle internal stress. • It serves as a pressure relief valve, letting off some of the emotionally overheated steam. - But in Eric Hanstock’s case,the valve was inadequate for the job, & the top blew off.
T-F: Whatever the reason, these kids‘Snap’.In the blink of an eye, they “freak out”. • “Snapping” is rarely an impulsive & sudden act • Typical: • Idea forms • Plan develops • Plan changes • Weapons located and procured • (Regarding school shootings) "People snap when their ability to cope is overwhelmed."Dr. Robert Trestman, director of the Center for Correctional Mental Health Services Research at the University of Connecticut Health Center.
