graffiti BY CIM
Read the writing on the wall
In today’s school environment, violence is any everyday fact of life. Bullying, fights, teacher assaults, bomb threats and hit lists make the news on an increasing basis. According to the US Department of Justice:
- Every day 100,000 children take guns to school. Each day 6,250 teachers are threatened and 260 teachers are assaulted. Some 14,000 young people are attacked on school property every day.
- 160,000 children miss school daily because they are afraid of someone or something.
- In 75% of violence in U.S. schools, someone other than the attacker knew it was going to happen.
While some of the student population is the source of the problem, there remains a large number of students that, many times, are the victims of this violence. However, students, fearful of retaliation, are leery of informing administrators. How can we change this?
By giving students an environment where they feel safe to convey information anonymously.
Email has a return address, phones have caller ID and walking into the principal’s office is tantamount to painting a bulls eye on your shirt...
CIM is pleased to announce the release of Graffiti, a blog-like application that allows students to submit messages using school computers.
These messages are recorded to a centralized database that dynamically updates postings for view by administrative personnel. The message date and time, as well as the machine name from which they are sent stamped on each record.
These records can be marked as having been read so they can be filtered out from subsequent display. Moreover, messages deemed ‘bogus’ can be marked as such.
While this system is not a cure-all to the woes of the K-12 community, it is an alternative method of communication that provides a layer of anonymity and may even keep a violent act from occurring.
CIM Consultants, Inc.
2333 West Darby Road
Havertown, PA 19083
610.449.3270