Preparedness key to preventing school violence, officials told

FORT DEFIANCE, Aug. 28, 2008

Representatives from a number of schools, fire departments and law enforcement agencies on the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni reservations attended the summit.

The meeting resulted in part from the district's experience with bomb threats in recent years. In the 2006-07 school year, Window Rock schools received 28 bomb threats, said Stewart Calnimptewa, safe schools coordinator for the school district.

A handful of Window Rock school district employees and community members gathered at the Veterans' Memorial Fieldhouse in Fort Defiance. They heard first from Diane Humetewa, U.S. attorney for Arizona.

She noted that there have been bomb threats at schools on Indian reservations in Arizona, including those at Window Rock in 2007, and on the Gila River reservation.

In another incident, a student brandished a gun on a Tohono O'odham school bus. No one was hurt.

"We need to begin a dialogue within our own schools," she said. "If this happens what are we prepared to do?"

Humetewa, Hopi, is the first Native American woman to serve as a U.S. attorney.

Thomas Heffelfinger, U.S. attorney for Minnesota, talked about his experience with the 2005 school shooting on the Red Lake Chippewa Reservation, keying on what he called an "all hazards" approach to preparing schools.

"The bottom line is that a school crisis is inevitable, whether it be an act of violence or a severe storm, and we need to be ready for that," Heffelfinger said.

Perhaps the most moving part of his presentation was his description of the Red Lake shooting itself.

Heffelfinger detailed the actions of the shooter, Jeffrey Weise, a 16-year-old Chippewa who was bullied and had academic problems. He described the sequence of events that lead to the nine deaths and Weise's eventual death by suicide.

He also noted the numerous heroes who helped to avoid even more loss of life, such as a student who slowed the shooter's progress by attacking him with a pencil. The student is alive but suffered permanent brain damage from gunshot wounds he suffered as a result.

"The goal here is to learn from the past," Heffelfinger said. "Acts of violence in schools are preventable crimes."

One way to prevent them is for schools and teachers to be alert to the appearance of risky behavior by students, and stop a crime before it happens.

"Incidents of targeted violence such as on Red Lake are rarely impulsive," Heffelfinger said.

The Red Lake shooter planned his attack for 18 months and used a group of friends as a sounding board for his plans.

"In most cases one or more people know in advance (that a shooting will take place)," Heffelfinger said. "Ninety percent of the time that's a classmate. At Red Lake at least 39 people knew in advance but didn't report it because they thought he wasn't serious.

"Schools have the opportunity to listen," he said.

Heffelfinger also noted that there is no set profile of a school shooter, and that Native American communities are no more susceptible to such violence than the rest of the country.

Humetewa echoed that statement.

"What happened at Red Lake was not an Indian Country crime," she said. "(Violent crimes at schools) are not specifically occurring in Indian Country, but they can. This talk is about preparation, we have to be prepared for if and when they happen."

One issue that needs to be addressed in schools is bullying, said Heffelfinger, noting that both Weise and the Columbine shooters, on whom Weise patterned himself, were targets of bullying.

A display in the fieldhouse foyer seemed to underscore Heffelfinger's point.

It was a collection of items confiscated from students at Window Rock schools and included knives, clubs and a few small handguns in addition to drug paraphernalia.

"Most students have no intent of using these things when they bring them to school," said Dan Smith Jr., a WRSD security guard who has come across his share of contraband weapons.

"Some students bring the weapons because they're being bullied," he said. "They'll say, 'Someone's bothering me at school so I need to take this to be safe.'"

Calnimptewa said the school district tries to get to bullying before it leads to other problems.

"When kids report (bullying) to us we try to deal with the perpetrators as quickly as we can so we can intervene early enough to nip it in the bud," he said.

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