School Safety: The #1 Reason We Have Unsafe Schools …and how to shift it
The U.S. has experienced a dramatic rise in school shootings, with recent years setting new records for the number of incidents.
The number of school shootings in the U.S. has risen significantly over the past 25 years. The 2021-2022 school year had the highest number on record since 2000, with 327 incidents at K-12 schools.
While the number of mass shootings has not increased in parallel, they have become more deadly. The number of fatalities per mass shooting event has nearly doubled in recent years compared to the period between 1997 and 2012.
There has been a serious debate on why these shootings are happening and how to keep our students safe. While no single federal law has fully addressed school shootings, recent legislative activity includes proposed bills, state-level laws, and ongoing grant programs. Approaches vary widely, from gun control measures to school hardening and violence prevention programs.
Recent congressional proposals focus on funding for school security and violence prevention:
School Violence Prevention Act (H.R. 3968)
Introduced in June 2025, this bill seeks to create a grant program to help schools and community organizations fund violence prevention and intervention initiatives for at-risk youth.
Congressman Brian Fitzpatirck's bipartisan proposal was announted in February 2025. It would standardize emergency protocols, require immediate parental notifications during a crisis, reinforce school infrastructure like doors, and authorize $100 million annually in school safety funding.
PLAN for School Safety Act of 2025 (H.R. 2577)
Introduced in April 2025, this bill would establish Regional School Safety Development Centers. These centers would consult with schools to help them improve or develop evidence-based school safety plans.
Office of Gun Violence Prevention Act of 2025 (H.R. 1307)
This bill proposes creating a federal Office of Gun Violence Prevention
The U.S. government has also turned to a Federal Commission on School Safety to take on this challenge. They have recommended the following:
Improving school climate through character education and combating cyberbullying;
Improving school-based access to mental health and counseling services;
Taking steps to improve threat assessment; and
Improving school security plans.
Some believe there’s not enough being recommended on “HOW” to work with the trauma of our youth, and others point out that they are not doing enough about gun control. No matter the reaction to this mounting problem in the U.S. or what their recommendations are, there is only one question in my mind and heart, having worked in the schools for over 3 decades,
”What is the root cause of a child hurting others (from bullying to killing)?”
It is critical that we get to the bottom of this challenge and quit putting a band-aid on it by focusing on what we think is the obvious answers. I was told a story when I was in one of my college health and wellness courses that depicts what I am saying here really well.
There was a medical doctor standing by a river and all of a sudden he sees a person coming down the river drowning. He goes in and pulls the person out and performs CPR and saves her life. Then he sees another person drowning and he pulls him out and does CPR and saves him too. Then, here comes another and he saves her, and then another, and he saves him, and then there are so many he then can’t save them all. A wise person then walks by the doctor as he sits there exhausted and wondering what to do and says, “Hey Doc, why don’t you just go upstream and see who is throwing them in?”
What is upstream to young people's challenges, especially those kids who want to kill their classmates? The root cause has little to do with school security plans and taking steps to improve threat assessment or gun control, although these are great steps in reducing violent crimes ending in massacres, so must also be considered. There is always room for safety improvements and we could discuss gun control for months because there is so much to talk about. (i.e. discussing the research about the other countries who have had sound gun control policies that really work).
However, we must go deeper; we must go upstream to understand that this is a human-being and connection issue. This is a person issue.
What I have found it that the root cause of these challenges stem from something more hidden, -the lack of positive self-worth and the ability to positively connect with and love oneself. People who hurt others and hurt themselves don’t know themselves, believe in themselves, trust themselves, or most importantly, don’t love themselves. This sounds a little “woo-woo” and unscientific to many. Believe me, it has taken me years of study to get to a place of scientifically understanding what humans need to thrive, -to be healthy and to feel happy and successful in life and want to positively contribute to a flourishing society.
There is a plethora of research in Psychology, Neuroscience, Psychoneuroimmunology, Wellness, Epigenetics, and other disciplines that show us that the more we learn how to accept and love ourselves and feel safe to do so in all situations, the more we can give and connect with others and want everyone to be successful too. We can then support each other collaboratively in our goals and dreams.
Although the act of Nikolas Cruz, and other children, who shoot and murder others is considered “evil” by many, we must remember that, he, the boy, is not evil. His actions were undeniably painful and wrong, and anyone who does something like this will need time away from society to get to the root cause, the emotional pain of past developmental trauma. We know now, theoretically, that people just don’t shoot and kill people just to do it. Something very painful had to happened to them that in some way, made them feel not “good enough” or "not worthy to be liked or belong". It is common knowledge now that Nikolas was held back a grade a couple of times, had been expelled, and his mother had died. The traumatic experiences that Nikolas had, without nurturing, positive support to make sense of them and not to blame himself (which would be normal for a child to do), would cause any child to not only act out negatively and be violent, but to also increase their risk of having chronic disease, addictions, ADD/ADHD, suicide, and depression.
It is imperative that adults learn how to connect with all students and make school (and home) more about building and maintaining a child’s positive self-concept and high self-worth by getting to know what they value. Understanding what is important to a young person in any given moment allows them to grow these inner skills.
Empowerment Coaching & Learning is a science-backed, type of communication process that is based on the premise that all children are born totally unique, brilliant, and whole so that what they value and need is worthy of being heard, no matter what. E-Coaching trains the adult show up in positive connection with the young people they work with and offer them a learning environment that brings out their true interests and values. It also provides them with nonjudgmental support in times of emotional and social challenges and mistakes, so that they can understand why they they feel and act the way they do. This provides them with the safe space to help them integrate new healthy beliefs, values, and self-worth as well as naturally be intrinsically motivated to learn the life skills to move them forward successfully in life.
However, implementing these coaching skills is it easier said then done. Our media and other societal outcomes such as competition and looking and being the best, tend to overshadow focusing on one's value just for being human, -and the archaic philosophy of the current education system is not helping either.
Currently, students who come to school and don’t fit into the current prescribed "success mold" are tossed around and made to fit in, which can create more disempowering beliefs about themselves and increase toxic stress and trauma in their brains and bodies. The goal of the conventional education system is to try to fit everyone into one box when we are made up of different shapes, such as circles, triangles, and octagons. When we punish or expel a student who is already feeling “bad” about him/herself, then this just reinforces and deepens their unconscious disempowering beliefs and feelings. I have heard many students say, “Of course I'm being expelled," or "Of course I'm the one in trouble….what’s new!” Punishment only exasperates the internal pain and negative behaviors or makes these young people turn to apathy, and give up, which is the worst place we, as a society would want them to be. The disempowering beliefs and feelings underlying apathy usually means to the young person that there is nothing left, so "why not give up", or "why not hurt others and take my pain out on the people that caused my pain?"
What young people believe about themselves, they will act out.
Theoretically, youth like Nikolas shoot people because their past experiences have caused so much pain and anger that didn't get to be safely expressed, heard and valued. Their painful emotions got bottled up in their nervous system which caused so much shame that they were not aware of, which in turn, caused them to “dislike” themselves so much, that they want to cause major pain on others. In that moment of shooting, Nikolas is more than likely (unconsciously) letting out his pain, anger, and/or apathy in the only way he knew how.
Luckily, there are programs, like Empowerment Education® and Empowerment Coaching & Learning that are beginning to show up that support educators and parents in HOW to connect and treat children and youth with the utmost respect and empathy. Unfortunately, these new ways haven't made their way into the current school system that much, but when they have, we are seeing our youth change their trajectories from violence, suicide, and homicide to empowerment, fulfillment and contribution to society in positive ways. We have a ways to go to convincing school leaders to shift their ways of training educators so that learning is based in a foundation of connection, empowerment, and well-being and not on grades, comparison, standardization and the number of assignments students do.
Imagine an entire school of students and teachers, free to be themselves, free from judgment, learning social and emotional skills, working on their passions and learning pertinent skills in a healthy and stress free environment growing their worth, confidence and skills to be themselves.
I not only can see it clearly, but I have experienced it even in the most challenging neighborhoods. We see many establishments already understanding and applying new-paradigm information effectively and creating learning environments that build the most important thing, the self-worth and confidence of the child, -the freedom to be themselves and learn positively from their challenges from a growth-mindset perspective. This has nothing to do with test scores, achievement, competition, or sitting in desks and doing what the system tells you to do all the time. Having to yell and control a class is not empowering or fun for the teacher! It has everything to do with creating a connected, inspiring learning environment where the inherent needs of our young people and their teachers and administrators are TRULY being met.
Unfortunately, I see it all the time, schools and school districts giving lip-service to what we know children need to thrive. The words "safe-school", “empowerment”, “whole-child”, “mindfulness”, “social-emotional learning", "SEL, "compassion”, “wellness” and “student-centered” are words often stated in a school’s mission and philosophy, but when you participate in the day to day life of the school, they are not actually implementing these concepts, or if they are, they are implemented by a person “telling” the kids something or making that concept an add-on in the curriculum, instead of the students experiencing them as part of the everyday habits and skills being practiced in their school.
I have found that schools are not purposefully ignoring these new ways of being, but that administration and educators have not been trained nor have they been in new-paradigm, thriving environments themselves, in order to know how to apply these concepts into everyday life. In addition, old-paradigm education system rules and guidelines based on standardized curriculum, testing and controlling teaching methodologies, take precedent over the true needs of the student. We are not to blame the school or staff, or parents, but the education system which sets up disempowering and detrimental expectations and trainings that create unrealistic teacher and staff beliefs about what kids need to thrive, and that actually undermine intrinsic motivation, creativity, contribution, partnership, connection and passion.
I see learning environments where all students are intentionally empowered with teachers and administration that are also intentionally empowered. I have been researching in schools, taking risks, talking to students, and determining how to get to this root cause, -how to truly build positive self-worth so that every student knows who they are, moves forward with what they are excited about, takes ownership of how to get there, and works collaboratively in teams to positively support each other’s goals. We know that this creates “internal nervous system resilience” so that they have the ability to handle real world challenges with life skills that employers really want and need. These skills are not what employers are generally getting right now from college graduates. These skills are desperately needing to be integrated into the everyday life of students starting in preschool.
The good news, is that I'm seeing things slowly starting to shift. I see bits and pieces of the new learning and living paradigm all over the world, -healthy and empowering learning environments being brought to life (improving school climate). They all look different, but they all have one thing in common, they are bringing to life the concepts and principles that truly make young people thrive. Part of the system change will be bringing updated, effective practices such as life and well-being coaching into the schools that compliment mental health services that are highly needed in all of our schools right now. Our country should be adding money to mental health and Empowerment Coaching services for our schools. We need, in my opinion, a considerable transformation of education to prevent these horrible acts of violence in schools.
It is embarrassing that we STILL run our education system the way we do in the U.S. knowing what we know. It is like having a cure for cancer, violence, addiction and suicide right in front of us, but no one uses it because people and organizations with power who have false knowledge and mistaken beliefs know it will keep them from controlling the masses, and making money (on standardized testing and core curriculum for example). Although we are making some strides in shifting from the old paradigm to the new paradigm of education, it will be up to the people in the trenches, the students, teachers, administrators and parents to use their voice for change as we all come together to "demand" that our kids and teachers are allowed learning environments that we know will lead to healthy, empowered, connected, creative, supportive and peaceful people which will in turn, (it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand this) will create and maintain a healthy and peaceful world.
When the education system shifts, the whole world will shift.
I truly believe it.
