Psychologists: Know how to deal with school violence

Benjamin Grove

Friday, Oct. 16, 1998 | 12:32 p.m.

A school psychology "guru" who witnessed the grief and horror that flooded Jonesboro, Ark., after a school shooting there said such events are incredibly rare.

But school districts nationwide should prepare for one just in case, he said.

"The children of Paducah (Ky.) and the children of Arkansas are the children of Las Vegas," Richard Lieberman, a nationally recognized crisis manager, said Thursday.

Lieberman and University of California, Santa Barbara, school psychology professor Michael Furlong spoke Thursday to about 300 school counselors and psychologists from around Nevada. The presentations, aimed at better preparing state psychologists for a crisis, were part of a seminar held at Cashman Field Center.

Lieberman is part of a crisis team called NOVA -- National Organization for Victim Assistance -- a squad of professionals from around the country who drop into crises such as towns struggling with school shootings.

Lieberman was among those immediately summoned to Jonesboro in March after two boys, 11 and 13, loaded with nine guns, ambushed their classmates, killing four students and one teacher.

Lieberman talked of dealing with the tenacious swarm of media, taking a painful walk-through recreation of the shootings and counseling grief-stricken teens.

"They want to know why," Lieberman said. "They are tortured by the 'whys.' It's part of grieving, trying to somehow make sense of it."

The seminar Thursday coincided with a White House conference on school safety. President and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno and Secretary of Education Richard Riley joined more than 100 educators, mayors and police officers in Washington, D.C., to discuss the issue.

The president outlined a series of initiatives to attack school violence, including money for more school police and programs.

A school violence report also was released Thursday, indicating that school shootings are still "extremely rare events." School crimes are down and fewer students are carrying guns to school, the report said.

Lieberman and Furlong praised the Clark County School District's crisis response plan, which has established a crisis response team at each school. A district response team travels to schools where extra counseling is needed.

The 227-school district has 113 school psychologists. Many elementary schools have to share both psychologists and counselors with other schools.

Several local school psychologists said the district team is well-oiled, although school teams could be stronger.

"We could be a little better organized," said Stan Miyahira, a school psychologist at Lied and Robison middle schools. "We need to decide who is in charge of the media, that sort of thing."

Although local psychologists reiterate that schools are among the safest places in society, they say they think regularly about school shootings.

"Every time I grab my pager," said Sue Wedde, a district early childhood psychologist.

School psychologist Sue Thurber said she recently counseled a high school student who showed violent tendencies. The teen's parent had alerted the school about the boy's behavior.

"I shudder to think what would have happened to him if he were left unattended," said Thurber, who works at Rancho High School and Bridger Middle School. "He might have been on the news the next night."