Like 2023, this has been another startling year for students. According to CNN, the school shooting that took place in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday marked the 82nd of 2024 so far — the same as 2023. Since the first year of the pandemic, each year has seen a drastic increase in school shootings, with 2021, 2022, and 2023 all setting records since at least 2008, CNN reports.
On December 16, a teen student opened fire at Madison’s Abundant Life Christian School, which serves about 390 children from kindergarten through 12th grade. The shooter was found shot inside the school and died after police arrived. At least two others were killed and multiple were injured, as of this reporting.
Shon F. Barnes, the Madison police chief, called it a “sad, sad day” for his city and the entire nation
The school asked for prayers in a Facebook post: “Today, we had an active shooter incident at ALCS. We are in the midst of following up. We will share information as we are able.”
While it’s natural to feel helpless at times like these, there are some ways to prevent school shootings, according to Beverly Kingston, the director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado Boulder.
“A term that we talk about in research is a term called collective efficacy. And that term is about being willing to get involved to take action on behalf of your community,” she told Katie Couric Media last year after the shooting at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville. “In communities that have higher rates of collective efficacy, they have lower levels of violence. So the more people stand up and take action, the better off we’re all going to be.”
In a conversation with Katie Couric Media, she outlined three main ways communities and schools can better protect themselves.
How to prevent school shootings
Teach students and adults to report the warning signs of violence
Kingston said there are ways to gauge whether someone could be a potential threat to mass violence. While bullying and a sudden interest in weapons can certainly be warning signs, there are less obvious clues, like if a person is struggling with grades or acting out of character.
“There is such a huge role the community at large can play in addressing the warning signs for violence,” she told us.
Develop and promote around-the-clock anonymous tip lines
There are a number of local anonymous tip lines, like Denver’s Safe2Tell, to report your concerns. Typically, these are passed on to school officials or law enforcement, who then determine whether a report poses a potential threat.
“We want every kid to know what their system is — they’re not everywhere, so there is still a need to make sure everybody has access to an anonymous way to report,” said Kingston. She believes it’s crucial that the schools encourage the use of these systems, however. “The school needs to say, ‘We want you to report any concerns.’”
Empower students to speak up
If a student has any concerns about a threat, Kingston said it’s safer for them to find a trusted adult or make an anonymous report instead of trying to figure it out themselves. And it could make all the difference — she said there were 69 missed opportunities to intervene in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
But kids may need to be convinced that it’s OK to speak up. “Schools also need to reinforce that they want people to report any concerns and say, ‘We want all of us to do that. That’s our culture. It’s not tattletaling, it’s about the safety of us all. We’re not trying to get people in trouble. It’s really about trying to get people help and support at the earliest points possible so it doesn’t go on to be a situation where they do get in trouble.'” She added, “when it gets to the point of mass violence, it harms everybody in such a huge way. So the more we all can work upstream so that doesn’t happen, the better off our society’s gonna be.”
