ABSTRACT
Exhaustive media coverage fostered the perception that America's schools had become dangerous places. The National School Safety Center maintains a record of school homicides in its Report on School Associated Violent Deaths (NSSC). The NSSC report includes deaths that were associated with school, but did not necessarily occur at school. The intense publicity given to several school shootings created the false impression that such times were so pervasive that they were likely to occur in one's own community. Columbine High School is often described as the worst act of school violence in United States history, but an even bigger tragedy occurred almost 80 years ago in the small town of Bath, Michigan. School homicides have taken place in other countries, but do not receive much publicity in the United States. The Secret Service further limited its study to incidents in which a student or former student used a lethal weapon and chose a school as the site for the attack.
