Lessons From the Colorado School Safety Summit – Westword

Report on School Safety and Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals

An analysis of the Colorado School Safety Summit reveals critical challenges to school safety that directly impact the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), notably SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 4 (Quality Education), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions). The findings underscore a need to shift from reactive measures to proactive strategies that address the root causes of violence.

State of School Environments and Teacher Well-being (SDG 3 & SDG 4)

Findings on Violence and Bullying

Research presented by Dr. Dorothy Espelage of the University of North Carolina highlights a crisis within educational settings that undermines the principles of SDG 4, which calls for safe and inclusive learning environments, and SDG 3, which promotes well-being.

• 80% of teachers have reportedly experienced violence or bullying.
• 20% of children report being bullied.
• 50% of teachers are considering leaving the profession due to hostile conditions.
• Parents were identified as the most significant source of threats towards administrative staff.

Institutional Gaps and SDG Implications

The research identified significant institutional failures that prevent schools from being safe and effective learning environments. The lack of formal threat assessment strategies and behavioral models for intervention indicates a systemic weakness. This failure to ensure a secure environment directly compromises SDG 4 (Quality Education) and contributes to poor mental health outcomes for both students and educators, conflicting with the objectives of SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being).

Online Threats to Child Safety and Societal Peace (SDG 16)

Extremist Recruitment and Radicalization

Gina Ligon, Director of the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center, detailed the growing threat of online radicalization, a direct challenge to SDG 16’s goal of promoting peaceful and inclusive societies.

• Extremist Groups: Organizations such as 764, the Com, and the Order-of-nine angels are actively recruiting minors.
• Recruitment Platforms: These groups leverage popular youth-oriented platforms, including Roblox, Minecraft, Discord, Instagram, and Telegram, to establish contact and disseminate extremist ideologies.
• Methodology: Recruitment often begins in gaming chat rooms, where bad actors gradually radicalize children, fostering anger and inciting violence.

This organized effort to radicalize youth undermines national security and the promotion of peace, directly opposing the targets of SDG 16.

Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and Intervention

The summit addressed the issue of online sexual blackmail involving minors, a severe violation of child safety that aligns with the targets of SDG 16.2 (End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against children).

1. The Threat: Children are coerced into sharing explicit images, which are then used for blackmail, leading to severe psychological distress, further exploitation, and suicide.
2. The Intervention: A service, TakeitDown (TakeitDown.ncmec.org), has been established to combat this threat.
3. Function: The platform allows for the reporting of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and works to have it removed from the internet, providing a critical tool for protecting vulnerable children and supporting their well-being (SDG 3).

Current Response Mechanisms and Analysis

The Safe2Tell Program: A Reactive Measure

The Safe2Tell program, an anonymous reporting system in Colorado, serves as a primary response mechanism. While effective in managing immediate threats, its data reveals the scale of the underlying problem.

• The program received 31,177 reports in a single year.
• 96% of these reports were deemed valid and resulted in action.

The high volume of reports demonstrates that while the program is a valuable tool for intervention, it is a reactive measure. It does not address the root causes of conflict and violence, indicating a gap in achieving the preventative goals of SDG 16 and SDG 4.

Analysis of Systemic Gaps

Despite significant research and funding, current government-led efforts are failing to produce effective, preventative solutions. The primary failing is an insufficient focus on the core drivers of school violence.

• Root Causes: The summit’s findings suggest that the principal causes of school violence are bullying, humiliation, and the existence of toxic school climates.
• SDG Alignment: The failure to address these issues directly impedes progress on SDG 4.A, which mandates the provision of “safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all.”

Recommendations for a Proactive, SDG-Aligned Approach

Institutional and School-Level Interventions

To create sustainable and safe learning environments in line with the SDGs, institutions must adopt a preventative framework.

1. Prioritize Anti-Bullying and Anti-Humiliation Policies: Schools must make the elimination of bullying and humiliation a primary strategic goal to prevent violence, directly supporting SDG 16.
2. Foster Inclusive School Climates: Implement comprehensive programs to create positive, welcoming, and inclusive environments for all students, fulfilling the mandate of SDG 4.
3. Strengthen Mental Health Support: Provide accessible mental health resources for both students and staff to promote well-being and resilience, as outlined in SDG 3.

Parental and Community-Level Actions

Parents and the wider community have a crucial role in safeguarding children.

1. Monitor Online Activity: Guardians should actively monitor children’s engagement on digital platforms to protect them from extremist recruitment and exploitation.
2. Utilize Protective Resources: Promote and use tools like the TakeitDown service to combat the distribution of CSAM.
3. Advocate for Systemic Change: Parents and community members should advocate for school policies that address the root causes of violence, ensuring that educational institutions are accountable for creating safe and supportive environments.

Analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in the Article

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

   • SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being: The article touches upon mental health and well-being through its discussion of suicide prevention, the psychological impact of bullying and humiliation, and the trauma caused by online blackmail and exposure to violent content. The stress and violence experienced by teachers, leading 50% to consider quitting, also fall under this goal.
   • SDG 4: Quality Education: The core theme of the article is school safety, which is a fundamental prerequisite for a quality education. The article explicitly discusses how bullying, violence, toxic school environments, and threats from parents disrupt the learning process and create an atmosphere that is not conducive to effective education for children or a sustainable working environment for teachers.
   • SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions: This goal is central to the article’s focus on reducing violence and protecting children. The text details various forms of violence, including bullying, school shootings, and online exploitation. It also examines the effectiveness of institutions like schools and government programs (e.g., Safe2Tell) in preventing and responding to these threats, highlighting a need for stronger, more preventative solutions.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

   SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

   • Target 3.4: By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being. The article directly relates to this target by discussing how online blackmail using naked photos “causes suicides” and how adult intervention is crucial for “suicide prevention” in schools. The entire discussion on the psychological harm of bullying and humiliation links to the promotion of mental health.

   SDG 4: Quality Education

   • Target 4.a: Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all. The article’s main argument is the failure to provide such environments. It describes schools where “80 percent of teachers have experienced violence or bullying” and where programs like Safe2Tell receive “31,177 reports of danger to our schools in one year.” The author’s call to “fix your toxic schools” is a direct plea to achieve this target.

   SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

   • Target 16.1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere. The article is framed by the author’s 25-year involvement in school safety, starting after the Columbine shootings. The entire piece is a call to action to “stop school shootings by taking away the cause,” which directly aligns with reducing violence and related deaths.
   • Target 16.2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children. This target is addressed through multiple points in the article. It discusses bullying (“20 percent of children report bullying”), online exploitation where bad actors “recruit and slowly brainwash your children,” and the sexual exploitation of children through Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), which the “TakeitDown” service aims to combat.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

   For Target 3.4 (Promote mental health and well-being)

   • Implied Indicator: Suicide rate, particularly among youth. The article mentions that blackmail “causes suicides” and highlights the importance of “suicide prevention,” implying that tracking these incidents is a measure of the problem’s severity.

   For Target 4.a (Provide safe and non-violent learning environments)

   • Direct Indicator: Proportion of students and teachers experiencing violence or bullying. The article provides specific statistics: “80 percent of teachers have experienced violence or bullying” and “20 percent of children report bullying.”
   • Direct Indicator: Number of safety-related reports filed. The article states that “Safe2Tell received 31,177 reports last year,” which serves as a direct measure of perceived threats and lack of safety in schools.
   • Implied Indicator: Teacher attrition rate. The statistic that “Fifty percent of teachers want to quit” can be used as an indicator of a poor and unsafe school climate.

   For Target 16.1 (Reduce all forms of violence)

   • Implied Indicator: Number of school shootings or incidents of mass violence. The article’s context, referencing Columbine and the goal to “stop school shootings,” implies that the frequency of these events is the ultimate measure of success or failure.

   For Target 16.2 (End abuse and exploitation of children)

   • Direct Indicator: Proportion of children subjected to physical, psychological or sexual violence. The figure that “20 percent of children report bullying” is a direct indicator of psychological and often physical violence.
   • Implied Indicator: Number of cases of online exploitation and abuse. The mention of the “TakeitDown” service for removing CSAM implies that the number of takedown requests or reports of such material is a key metric for measuring the extent of online child sexual abuse.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators Table

Source: westword.com