Gary, Indiana. El Cajón, California. Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Recent school shootings in these cities have once again brought school violence to the forefront.
How can school violence be prevented? The Durham Public Schools system is asking itself this question and coming up with a variety of answers.
One promising new initiative centers on student-based programs like Students Against Violence Everywhere, a nationwide club that works to prevent violence in schools.
Another initiative supplies high schools with student resource officers who serve as peacemakers and informal counselors.
At the same time, the school board includes character education programs in its curriculum.
Boasting over 100 members, the SAVE program at Northern High School boasts comprehensive mediation and conflict resolution programs. The national organization, based at North Carolina State University, recently named Northern's club Chapter of the Year.
"A lot of people want to solve [school violence] but don't want to 'fess up and say it's a problem," said Wes Blalock, a Northern sophomore and vice president of SAVE. "[The key] is using positive pressure rather than negative peer pressure.... It can work for you rather than against you."
The atmosphere created at Northern has provided senior Roba Ghanayem, who is co-president of SAVE, with a feeling of safety, even in light of recent school shootings.
"It was really scary," Ghanayem said in reaction to the recent school shootings, "but in a way it made me happy because at our school we're doing so much to prevent it. I feel like our school is not even close to that point because of the atmosphere and the influence of SAVE."
No Northern student has been arrested for bringing a firearm to school this year, said Principal Isaac Thomas. However, other local high schools have had to deal with this problem.
L.W. Cox, a student resource officer at Jordan High School, has had to deal with two incidents of students bringing loaded weapons to school during this school year. He described the concern and fear that surrounded each incident but explained that the students were bringing weapons for protection in their own neighborhoods after school.
"There should never be a weapon on campus," Cox said, "but I'd rather have them bring it because they were fearing for their own life than trying to take the life of another."
Working from inside the classroom, the character education component of Durham Public Schools is based on a particular set of traits including honesty, citizenship and self-discipline. The schools integrate those ideas within the existing curriculum.
If a student brings a firearm into school, state law requires the student be suspended for a full year. While other long-term suspended students have the option of attending Lakeview, Durham Public Schools' alternative school, students who have brought firearms to school may not attend.
Their only option, if they wish to stay in school, is the New Horizons program at the Edgemont Community Center. The New Horizons program, in its third year, currently serves 16 suspended students.
"Our main goal is that kids will be transferred back into the regular system with a changed mindset, behavior and all the things that got them where they are," said Martina Dunford, the program's director.
New Horizons offers a structured school day as well as vocational classes and group and individualized counseling.
The Durham Public Schools provide one teacher and one teacher's aide to the program, but no additional public funding is provided for New Horizons.
"We are running off of a hair," Dunford said. "It's a vital part of the community. Without it you can see where those kids would be."
The program has seen no repeat offenders but does not have the capacity or personnel for comprehensive long-term follow up.
But by her own efforts, Dunford estimated that 70 percent of students who have completed the program "are doing pretty well."
Meanwhile, the efforts of SAVE and school board initiatives also look encouraging. No numbers have been released so far this year, but last year's annual school violence report released in January indicated that numbers for school violence decreased during that school year. The total number of violent acts was 5.98 acts per 1,000 students, down from 6.237 in the 1998-99 school year and 6.343 in 1997-98.
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