Public education has seen a tragic increase in the amount of school shootings and overall school violence in the last ten years.  Students are no longer just “duking it out” on the playground and then calling a truce.  In today’s society teens are more likely to respond to difficult situations in a more violent fashion than in years past.   Social media and the instant access to violent video games, music lyrics and television programs could be playing a part in this increase, but how do we help students learn better coping mechanisms and how are these violent incidents impacting the school setting?  Join host Kristy Houle as she chats with law enforcement and school resource officer Kip Heinle as they discuss the efforts that other resource officers around the nation are attempting to deal with on a day to day basis.

 

Kip speaking at an event

 

In this episode you’ll hear…

• What it’s like to be a School Resource Officer
• How school safety has changed over time
• What we can do to keep our schools safe

 

 

“As far as arming teachers, I think the best line of defense is getting an armed police officer, SRO inside your school. Teachers are there for a reason, and they’re there to teach our kids and I would feel awful if a teacher was teaching and something happened and a kid got their gun,”

 

“Twenty years ago we had a fight in the parking lot and unless your in the parking lot, you didn’t know about it, probably the school didn’t know about it, unless somebody got hurt.  But now after the fight five minutes later its on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook Live and everybody knows about it so it turns out to be a bigger deal than what it is.”

 

— Kip Heinle, The Classroom Matters Podcast

 

Kip with family

 

Links to…

• The Illinois School Resource Officers Association
• Kip’s bio on the Issues in Education site