Youth violence, disruptive students and the rise in street gangs have become problems for schools and communities throughout North America over the last decade.  Schools need to engage in a planning process so that these issues can be dealt with in a proactive way.  The first step of this process is to identify probable situations that may occur and effective responses that can be taken by staff.  As well, worst case scenarios, such as violent intruders entering the building, need to be considered and  realistic responses by staff identified.  Also, a way to access an immediate police response should be addressed in cases involving of a large number of violent students and/or intruders.

The process of dealing with disruptive and violent students is a continuum.  A part of this continuum is a skilled team of staff who are trained in verbal de-escalation techniques as well as non-violent physical intervention techniques.  Many of these skills are taught in the non-violent crisis intervention training program developed by the Crisis Prevention Institute in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

To deal with potentially violent students individual educators need to develop skills in the following areas:
· to recognize the stages of anxiety development.
· to use active listening skills and provide empathy.
· to utilize assertive and non-judgmental communication techniques that allow clear limits to be set.
· to acquire the skills to be able to intervene safely with violent acting out students.
· be able to debrief and problem-solve in the aftermath of a violent episode.

Planned intervention by a neutral team of trained staff members is an effective strategy to deal with the dangerous situations that a violent student can precipitate.  A planned response can often encourage violent students to choose a safer and less confrontational type of behavior.  This is reinforced when they see that an organized and skilled team is ready to intervene to keep the school environment free from violence.