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Free web-based tool helps schools find out how safe they really are SAN FRANCISCO, CA - October 17, 2006 The School Safety Profiler helps schools quickly figure out where their underlying problems are, and head off violence before it erupts. Students and staff can separately assess safety issues, including bullying and availability of weapons, and get an immediate graph summarizing findings. The tool was developed by Alice Ray, CEO of Ripple Effects, a long time leader in youth violence prevention. “Some schools are putting a lot of resources into detecting who's carrying guns to school. That's awfully late in the equation to try to stop violence. With tools like the School Safety Profiler, we're making earlier, more effective prevention, easier," says Ray, whose software tools to address youth behavior problems have garnered wide national acclaim. The School Safety Profiler allows students and adults in any school to fill out an anonymous survey on the web. It covers six areas identified by the Departments of Education and Justice, as well as independent researchers, as early warning signs of potential violence: discipline/school climate; respect for persons (including inclusion of people with perceived differences); presence of drugs or alcohol; presence of, or access to, weapons; students' ability to use social skills to handle challenging situations; and student access to and confidence in community resources for problemsolving. Both students and educators can immediately see the results for their school, and can compare educator and student perceptions. Any school or district can sign up. Unlike many online profiling tools now available, the point of School Safety Profiler isn't to set up a surveillance atmosphere, which can further alienate troubled kids. Rather, it's to help identify what positive actions can be taken to help prevent problems from erupting into violence. Ripple Effects is the nation's leader in software solutions to solve behavior problems. Its suite of multi-award winning training tools are used in hundreds of school districts, after school programs, and juvenile justice settings nationally. The School Safety Profiler is available free of charge at www.rippleeffects.com/needs.For immediate release: |
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