When Teens Threaten Violence, A Community Responds With Compassion [npr.org]

Alicia Doktor 2/15/194:00 AM

Psychologist John Van Dreal has spent almost 30 years working with troubled kids. Still, it's always unsettling to get the kind of phone call he received one morning eight years ago as he was on his way to a meeting.

"I got a call from the assistant principal at North [Salem] High, reporting that a student had made some threats on the Internet," remembers Van Dreal, the director of safety and risk management for Salem-Keizer Public Schools in Salem, Ore.

Threats of violence in a Facebook post

"There were a number of statements about hitting people with pipes, breaking knees, bashing heads with pipes and looking for help in doing so," Van Dreal says.

[For more on this story by RHITU CHATTERJEE & REBECCA DAVIS, go to https://www.npr.org/sections/h...onds-with-compassion]

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Rich FeatherlyMember

Wow, that article was a real education. I grew up in a rural area and now Iive in a rural area where my wife and I raised our kids, so we didn't see any of the kind of violence Mishka and his friends experienced. No wonder some kids just decide to not go to school. Real trauma informed schools would probably be a lot safer.

2/15/198:10 AM

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