School Services of California, Inc.
December 22, 2012

Picture of Ron Bennett

Ron Bennett

Much has been, and will exist, written most the latest incident of senseless violence on a school campus. But there volition never be a rational caption for what has happened or anything written that can reasonably justify the taking of the lives of our children.

Schools across this state and beyond this country accept very seriously the responsibleness for developing schoolhouse prophylactic plans that protect students and staff during times of crisis or disaster. Our schoolhouse campuses are generally the safest places in our communities. But these plans are non designed to, nor should we expect them to, protect our schools confronting horrific acts of violence.

We think that in a costless society like ours there will always be opportunities for troubled individuals to violate our societal norms and harm our fellow citizens; that is office of the cost of liberty. Merely at the same fourth dimension, nosotros believe that the cardinal to having safer schools is to have a safer society in general.

Picture of Suzanne Speck

Suzanne Speck

A culture that glorifies violence increases its tolerance for and acceptance of violence. Our children grow up assertive that disharmonize and anger are normal; examples range from the highest levels of regime – for example, the lack of resolution of the "fiscal cliff" – to the bear of individuals who lash out against others and use confrontational and violent behavior regularly. In lodge to really break the chain of violence in our communities, we must address the fashion in which conflict and violence is handled in our social club.

We believe that one of the chief roles of public education is to teach and reinforce the cultural norms that make the American experiment unique among all other nations of the world. Our social club gives private freedom, merely demands individual responsibility. And we believe that early on educational experiences play an essential role in the germination of positive, constructive attitudes that will last a lifetime.

As is frequently the case, we believe the key to safer schools is a very long-term proposition and will require a commitment that goes far beyond the fences of the school site. It volition require that as a state and as a nation we teach and model the principles of peace building and diplomacy in our schools and in our communities. Regrettably, with the highest class sizes in the nation and fewer counselors, nurses, administrators and support personnel of all types, schools in California do not take the resource they need to successfully champion this urgent and momentous cause. We hope Governor Jerry Brown and the Legislature will recognize this point as they examine the priority that public education enjoys in our state.

Nosotros promise the lesson in the contempo serial of senseless killings is that we can just elevate our order by elevating everyone in information technology. No one can be left backside. We are all Americans, and an American problem is our personal problem. How we treat the next-door neighbor or the homeless person on the street will be noticed by our children and will discover its fashion into the norms they found for themselves every bit they become adults.

During this holiday season, those of the states fortunate plenty to be with friends and family take an opportunity to strengthen the culture of our nation past modeling the principles of peace, affairs and basic human kindness. An opportunity to influence a child, any kid, in a positive way must exist taken fully. One tin can merely wonder, in the example of recent violence confronting innocent schoolchildren, how many opportunities were lost considering someone didn't recollect it was important to care or to act.

All of us at Schoolhouse Services of California will be engaged in an test of our own opportunities to teach peace, diplomacy and kindness, and we encourage you to do the aforementioned. As educators, we have the power to change our nation one lesson at a fourth dimension. Merely we cannot exercise it lone – the effect of societal violence needs to exist addressed at every level correct now.

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Founded in 1975, School Services of California has served most of California's school districts, county offices and community colleges in meeting their management, governance and fiscal responsibilities. The effective assistants of California's public schools has always been the firm's primary mission and the visitor has played an integral office in the development and implementation of education policy at both the state and local levels.

Ron Bennett is president and CEO of School Services of California. Previously he served as the Chief Business concern Official for Long Beach Unified School District, Fresno Unified Schoolhouse District and ABC Unified School District. He holds an MBA from Michigan State Academy and a BBA from the University of Oklahoma, and is licensed as a CPA (inactive) in the state of Oklahoma.

Suzanne Speck is director, Management Consulting Services, at School Services of California. For more than twenty years, she has served school districts in California as a special education teacher, site administrator and human resources professional. She received two credentials and her chief'due south caste in Educational activity Administration from California Land University, Sacramento.

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