Organization working to
deter violence in schools

By Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin

What is the recipe for peace?

"Be nice, no fighting, no war, be friends. Stir in a big bowl and pour over Earth," is what one second-grader in Benjamin Parker Elementary cooked last school year.

Six months after the deadly April 20 shooting rampage at a Littleton, Colo., high school, organizers of a symposium here say that Hawaii students are on the verge of learning valuable lessons on the prevention of violence.

But with a lackluster economy, budget cuts to community and educational programs, and increasing exposure to violence, Hawaii still has the potential for a Columbine-like tragedy.

"We already have Columbine here," University of Hawaii College of Education professor Michael D'Andrea said.

The Violence Prevention Consortium, a statewide community-based organization, yesterday held its first-ever symposium in order to exchange ideas on how to increase peace awareness and decrease violence.

"The rising incidence of violence in various forms in our schools and communities is a cause for genuine concern by all responsible persons who live in this great state," said D'Andrea, a consortium board member.

The symposium also highlighted the works of Waiau Elementary, Kohala Elementary on the Big Island and Kapaa High School and Consortium on Kauai. Each received a $33,671 Violence Prevention Curriculum Initiative grant to fund peace awareness programs and training. A school on Maui will be named to receive the fourth and final grant.

These schools yesterday shared with others what they are doing to prevent violence from escalating.

D'Andrea said that if students don't feel safe at school, they will have trouble in the classroom. "It's distracting to learning," he said.

Martha Ross, consortium president, said prevention programs are sometimes targeted for budget cuts first because the benefits of such programs aren't immediately evident.

But Parker Elementary, which was runner-up to Waiau for the grant money, posted positive results after the first year of implementing their curriculum.

Fourth-grade teacher Kim Ah Soon said that during the 1993-94 school year, there were 150 student misconduct referrals. During the 1997-98 school year, that number rose to 492.

After implementing the curriculum in selected grades last school year, it saw a decline in student referrals to 300, Ah Soon said.