Excerpt from: How Safe Is Your School?
By Leann M. Lesperance, M.D., Ph.D.
Boston Children's Hospital
Brigham and Women's Hospital
and Henry H. Bernstein, D.O.
Boston Children's Hospital
We work hard to keep our children safe. For example, we always buckle them into car seats, remind them to look both ways before crossing the street, and keep medicines and other poisons out of their reach. We even worry about their safety while they spend the day at school.
The terrible tragedy at Columbine in 1999 made school shootings a reality for many of us, prompting some schools to increase their efforts to prevent violence. Although this was important, schools actually were already doing a good job in this area. School shootings are extremely uncommon, with children between 12 and 18 years of age twice as likely to be victims of a serious (nonfatal) violent crime when they are away from school as when they are at school.
But safety in schools means more than security cameras and metal detectors to prevent violence. It also means thinking about other potential dangers to our students, such as:
Food allergies -- The number of children noted to have severe food allergies has increased dramatically in recent years, affecting as many as 3 to 4 percent of school-aged children. If your child has this potentially life-threatening condition, it is important that you work with the school nurse to make sure teachers and other staff know how to keep your child safe during school, and also how to treat your child in case of a reaction.