In many school districts around the country, there has been increased awareness of the need for physical safety of our students. The news reports of school shootings, teachers being assaulted, 'Zero Tolerance' policies and so on are sobering. But often, in our efforts to secure physical safety,we overlook emotional safety. And as much as we try to keep the troubles of the outside world from crossing over the threshold of our school, we cannot deny that students can not always check their concerns for safety at the door. The reality is there are sometimes very real threats both within and outside the school walls and it is up to us to work with our students to foster a safe environment.

Once immediate threats to our physical safety are abated, we must look even deeper at the often subtle threats to our emotional safety. Are our students afraid to take risks? To reach out? To step up? To share their deeply personal story? Are they building walls? Are they securing their defenses? Are they planning an offensive? Are they cowering and withdrawing? Are they retaliating and attacking?

Have we created an environment where we are able to take the risk and build a community together? Or have we resigned ourselves to accepting a culture of individual self-preservation?

Bullying is one of the areas that there is increased focus as of late. In line with my main premise with regards to classroom management: research has established that many of the root causes for bullying behavior come back to unmet needs. We have learned that many programs only address the victim or only the perpetrator, but there are usually three or more people involved in instances of bullying – the bully, the victim and the bystander(s). By determining the needs that all three have, and adequately addressing those needs, it would eliminated most of the bullying behaviors. One of the major flaws I find however is the resulting dis-empowerment of the victim inherent in many of these programs. We say we have 'zero-tolerance'. We tell the victim and the bystanders that 'we' will take care of it – just let us know. We may even effectively prevent a bully from meeting his or her needs within the school walls, or the view of vigilant adults, however, what happens when the student is no longer protected by the safety of the school walls? Helplessness and powerlessness result, and though they are not productive, that is what many of these programs inadvertanly promote.

In my classroom, my students will learn positive coping strategies. They will have opportunities to better understand why some kids bully. They will be empowered to speak up, and through community building within the classroom, they will discover they have allies that will stand with them in peaceful protest and a helping hand to the bully. They will discover that there is indeed, safety in numbers.

Bottom line: When students are spending the bulk of their energy in fear, there is little left for academic pursuits. Failure and fear, helplessness and victim-hood become their life. That is why creating an environment that supports physical and emotional safety is key to my Comprehensive Classroom Management Plan.