|
| |
Notes on the book:
Ethical & Legal Issues in School Counseling
Chapter 3
- School officials are
increasingly turning to school counselors for help in identifying and
providing interventions for students who may pose a danger to others.
- School counselors need to
provide violence prevention activities, assess student’s risk of engaging in
violent behavior, and provide appropriate interventions when potential
violence may exist.
- Ethical standards require
school counselors to inform appropriate authorities when a student’s
behavior is indicative of clear and imminent danger to others.
- Ethical standards recommend
that school counselors consult with colleagues when working with students
who may be at risk for violence.
- A “true threat” is a threat
that a reasonable person in the same circumstances would find to be a
serious and unambiguous expression of intent to do harm based on the
language and context of the threat.
- Suicidal behavior is highly
correlated with violent behavior.
- School counselors have a
duty to use reasonable care to attempt to prevent a student’s suicide when
they are on notice of a student’s suicidal intent.
- Courts have found that
students’ writing assignments, such as disturbing entries in students’
journals, could make a student’s suicide reasonably foreseeable.
- School counselors play a
vital role in assessing threats and working with administrators as they
determine whether to remove a student form school because of a violent
threat.
- School counselors are only
exposed to legal liability if they fail to exercise reasonable care in
preventing foreseeable school violence.
- Researchers studying school
violence have consistently found that there is no accurate profile of
students at risk for violence.
- School counselors can avoid
the possibility of litigation related to the use of student profiles by
presenting all students with the opportunity for violence prevention
activities and using means other than profiles to assess whether students
are potentially violent.
- Students’ motivation for
committing violent acts at school has included alienation, disaffection,
powerlessness, and revenge.
- A history of childhood
sexual, physical, or emotional abuse can also increase the risk for violent
behavior.
- The risk of school violence
increases when adult supervision is insufficient, bullying and teasing are
tolerated, special privileges are afforded to identifiable populations such
as athletes or honor students, the faculty is disconnected from the students
and community, students need of care have little access to intervention, and
violent threats are ignored.
- Modifying the school
climate is one of the most effective strategies for preventing school
violence. Early identification and intervention with students is one of the
best means of violence prevention.
|
