44th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first special session, 1999

REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE TO STUDY ISSUES RELATED TO SCHOOL VIOLENCE.

WHEREAS, our neighboring state, Colorado, was recently the location of the most lethal school shooting in the nation's history; and

WHEREAS, schools in New Mexico may need to prepare for similar potential incidents of school violence; and

WHEREAS, one of the contributors to the violence in Colorado was the ridicule directed at some students by others, and had this been reported, the violence may have been prevented; and

WHEREAS, school counselors are often required to spend valuable student counseling time filling out routine paperwork instead of assisting their students, a practice that could be eliminated if the paperwork were assigned to secretaries and teachers; and

WHEREAS, the addition of a formal unit on adolescent development dealing with disturbed adolescent behavior to the curriculum for secondary teacher certification would give teachers strategies to recognize and deal with disturbed adolescent behavior when they encounter it in the schools; and

WHEREAS, adding school-sponsored parent education at the schools may provide parents with strategies for dealing with everyday student frustrations and disturbed adolescent behaviors; and

WHEREAS, providing training, additional equipment and proper egress from school buildings for disabled students and staff may assist school security and police officers prepare for and control an emergency situation;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the legislative education study committee study issues surrounding school violence, including requiring school counselors to spend their work hours counseling students rather than completing paperwork or performing any ancillary duties to their jobs as counselors; adding a formal unit to student curriculum for secondary teacher certification relating to disturbed adolescent behavior and strategies one can use to intervene when such behavior occurs; creating peer groups to report when ridicule directed at one or more students on an incessant basis occurs; developing school-sponsored parent education; additional training and equipping of police officers and school security to increase security at schools; and creating an architectural requirement for new school buildings to enable rapid egress of students and staff with disabilities in the event an emergency occurs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the members of the legislative education study committee.