Hawaii schools
deemed safer than
on mainland

A lack of 'gun culture'
and a greater sense of tolerance
are credited

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

While violence sometimes occurs on Hawaii school campuses, it's not on the same scale as what mainland schools are experiencing, a Department of Education spokesman here said.

"In general, we don't have the gun culture and that depth of violence in Hawaii," he said. "Our schools for the most part are safe environments where students feel secure that that kind of violence should not and will not intrude on campus," said Greg Knudsen, Department of Education spokesman.

In Jonesboro, Ark., this week, two youngsters were accused of opening fire in a schoolyard. Five people were killed and 11 were wounded in the attack. The suspects, aged 11 and 13, were taken into custody after the shootings.

Students and teachers here say they generally consider schools to be safe.

But the Jonesboro incident shows that violence can happen anywhere, said Scott Sato, a junior at Kapaa High School.

Pauoa Elementary teacher Kay Chin was at her school yesterday to prepare for an upcoming carnival.

"Definitely, I feel safe, which is why I can be here on a holiday," Chin said.

The Jonesboro incident shocked Chin and students who were helping her this week.

"The part that surprised them most was an 11-year-old having access to guns," Chin said.

A 1995 Youth Risk Behavior Survey of public school ninth- to 12th-graders showed 18 percent surveyed had carried a weapon of some type -- either a gun, knife or club -- within a given month, Knudsen said. Of that group, 6 percent had carried a firearm, and 8 percent had a weapon on campus.

Knudsen and Sato said those numbers don't seem to reflect what is really happening in Hawaii schools.

In his three years at Kapaa High, Sato has never seen any prohibited weapons brought on campus, and violent incidents appear to be "mellowing out," he said. "Before, we used to hear a lot about fights."

In general, schools appear to be doing an adequate job of providing a safe environment, Sato said.

A greater sense of tolerance toward each other and desire to get along has contributed to a climate of "cooperative learning" in the schools, said Jason Chin, a Roosevelt High junior. "Students are taught that they've got to work with each other to get things done, no matter what."

Federal and state laws are designed to make schools safer.

The Board of Education last May passed a policy that calls for students caught with guns in school to be expelled for a year. The policy complies with the federal 1994 Gun Free Schools Act and state law governing students found in possession of firearms or dangerous drugs.

The federal law also requires schools to report annually on students affected by the law. No one has been expelled in recent years, Knudsen said.

Schools are also working with parents, the community and police to provide more extracurricular activities and support to keep students out of trouble.

Student Council leaders this year are pushing for a bill in the Legislature that provides for better-trained security guards in the intermediate and high schools.

Currently, schools are short 48 security workers, using Department of Education standards of one guard to 500 students. Because of the shortage, guards are mostly in the intermediate and high schools.

The Student Council believes the presence of security guards deters troublemakers and makes students feel more at ease.

Peer mediation programs, which train students to resolve conflict, have proven to be successful in many schools.

Another program that can head off trouble before it starts is the Student CrimeStoppers program at Farrington, Aiea and McKinley high schools.

Students can call a confidential hot line to report incidents on or off campus, or report students who may have brought a weapon to school, without having to identify themselves or risk being caught snitching on classmates.