The Nature of School Violence in North Carolina
and Perceptions of School Violence Among School Officials
Although extremely rare (between 2009-2013,
there was only one mass shooting at a primary or
secondary school in the U.S.), the recent tragic,
widely-publicized mass shooting at Sandy Hook
Elementary has brought active shooter situations
to the forefront of the school security discussion.
School violence in the United States is not a new
phenomenon; one of the first reported acts of school
violence was Pontiac’s Rebellion school massacre
in 1 764, where the school master and 9 to 10 school
children were killed (K2Academics, 2013). However,
all acts of violence regardless of severity occur too
frequently for comfort and create a difficult and
hostile learning environment.
North Carolina is not immune to threats of violence
at school. For example, in 2006, a student opened fire
outside of a high school in Hillsborough, inj uring two
students ( WRAL News, 2006). In 20 1 1 , a student was
shot and critically inj ured at a Fayetteville high school
(WRAL News, 2011). More recently there has been
a rash of students possessing firearms or weapons
at school. In January of 2013, high school students
in Kernersville, Raleigh and Winston-Salem were
arrested and charged with possession of a weapon on
school property after being found to have a firearm.
In the Kernersville event, a separate juvenile was
also arrested for being in possession of a knife (WXII
News, 2013). Statistically speaking however, these
acts occur much less frequently than other crimes
on school grounds, but tend to attract much more
attention from the media and parents. In particular,
the media has been shown to publicize these events
so extensively because this type of coverage gives
people an overly distorted idea of their chances of
being victimized (Lawrence & Mueller, 2003).
While the preceding acts may gain much more media
attention and may incite fear, the majority of violent
acts are affray (fighting) and not murder, rape, sexual
assault, robbery, or aggravated assault. This is not
to say that serious violent acts do not occur, only
that they occur much less frequently than affray or
simple assault. The National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES) and Bureau of Justice Statistics
(BJS) report that in the 2009-2010 school year, 74
percent of public schools in the United States reported
at least one violent incident with 359,000 victims
of violent acts (Robers, Simon, Zhang, Truman &
Snyder, 2012). Regardless, property crimes at school,
such as theft, occur at a higher rate than all violent
acts combined (470,000 thefts compared to 329,000
violent acts). Similarly, country-wide, homicides of
school-aged children at school (which includes travel
to and from school and school events) were extremely
rare (17, or 2% of all youth homicides ages 5-18).
It is important to note that there is no framework
that can accurately identify all individuals capable
or willing to commit acts of violence at our nation’s
schools. No one policy or mechanism is enough to
prevent or otherwise deter a violent act. A position
statement endorsed by nearly 170 organizations and
240 individual researchers and practitioners believes
four things must happen to truly make schools safer
and prevent violence: balance, communication,
North Carolina Department of Public Safety
