ABSTRACT
Many school districts throughout the nation are training their teachers how to recognize and respond to early warning signs. Teachers and school personnel are also receiving instructions on how to react during a school crisis. Each school will need to develop its own management plan to identify the nature and the range of critical incidents to which students and staff may be exposed. Despite prompt law enforcement responses, most attacks were stopped by means other than law enforcement intervention. Most school-based attacks stopped through intervention by school administrators, educators, and students, or by the attacker stopping their own violent behavior. Concern has grown, however, during the last two decades over increased terrorist activities in the Middle East, particularly suicide bombings, and the deep involvement of the United States in Middle East peace negotiations. In addition, researchers from the US Secret Service and the US Department of Education have completed a detailed analysis of 37 school shootings.
