Snitching Beats Getting Shot
In recent weeks, school officials have uncovered a number of student plots to attack classmates and teachers. In the past week, children have been arrested in four states, including the most recent case involving a 14-year-old boy who threatened to bomb his school.
CBS News Correspondent Tracy Smith reports on the disturbing trend and what's being done about it.
What was once unthinkable has now become unnervingly familiar. Besides Clearwater, Fla., this month has seen school destruction plots uncovered in, among other places, Hoyt, Kan., and Ft. Collins, Colo. - plots similar to the one carried out in Littleton, Colo., nearly two years ago. It's changed the way schools work. At Brewer High School, near Ft. Worth, Texas, police walk the halls full-time, and the principal does his paperwork standing up. Most of the time, he's also on foot patrol.
"We have to be on guard to pick up if a student is coming to school with an attitude - that he's mad at the world and he's gonna get even," said Brewer High School Principal Dale Brock.
Dustin Madden was turned in when it was rumored he threatened a classmate with a gun.
"I'm thinking the reason people turned us in was that I had a gun and I showed it to him. And someone thought I was going to shoot him for anything, for revenge," said Dustin.
The gun turned out to be an air rifle, and the matter was dropped. But even Dustin says you can't be too careful.
"I would have turned 'em in. I would have done the same thing - overreacted to save my family, friends and neighbors," Dustin said.
In fact, researchers found that almost three-fourths of kids who carried out school shootings told someone else about their plans ahead of time - almost always another student. So now, students are reporting anything they hear because, as many of them told me, they're much more afraid of school violence than they are of being called a snitch.
When high school student Ryan Keeton heard that another student brought a gun to school, he acted quickly.
"I immediately stepped out of the room and informed our counselor of the whole situation. It needed a higher level than me, as a student, to be dealt with," said Keeton.
He is one of 16 peer mediators - class leaders who see, hear, and sometimes report things that adults might miss.
"It's kind of like going to a psychiatrist," explained high school student Rick McCormick.
The peer mediators help other students with problems. They talk about issues and try to resolve things. And most of the time, it works.
Other kids tend to trust them because, "Well, they're kids, too," said McCormick.
And as kids, they have a clearer view of why a student would turn against his school.
"Because they're lonely. For whatever reason, they need that attention, and they're not getting it. They feel like this is going to be the way to get that attention," said peer mediator Wendi Anderson.
Part of the peer mediator's job is to pay attention and see to it that no one at the school is left feeling abandoned and ready for revenge.
"I think that's the one thing they need to know. They're not alone," explained Anderson. "There are tons of people out there just like them who are going through the same problems."
Bill Bond was the principal at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kent., when a teen-age gunman killed three students there in 1997. Now he's working to prevent similar tragedies.
What is Bond telling parents and educators about what they can do to minimize their risks?
"Students have to take some responsibility for their own safety," said Bond. "In the past, just like in my shooting, just about always peers know that the kid had a gun at school. They were planning to kill people. And very seldom have they told an adult. Now, I think student realize the consequences and they're starting to step up and inform an adult."
Once the word is passed along, when do the authorities intervene? When it is just a rumor?
"If you have a threat, and there is no action, then the authorities aren't involved. But if there is any action, any planning, any trying to obtain a gun, any detailed plans, then you need to involve the authorities," said Bond.
How important is a show of force, such as having the principal or a police officer walking the halls? Does a show of force work or does it back fire on you?
"I think the most important thing you can do is have the principal in the hall," said Bond. "Students having adults accessible to them, that means more to a student's safety than anything else we can do."
But the evidence suggests that revenge is a motive for most of these kids. When they feel they're on the outside, when they feel they're not welcomed. How do you speak to them?
"I think that every kid should have an adult they can go to in the school and talk to," said Bond. "I think that schools have to work towards this goal to make sure that we have an adult advocate for every student and the students feel comfortable talking to these adults. We need to break down the barrier of communication between adults and students. And that's one of the keys to school safety."
The cases of school shootings - West Paducah, Kent., Pearl, Miss., Hoyt, Kan. - without exception, these are rural areas or suburban areas. Why don't they happen in the big cities? Is it perhaps because big city kids deal with conflict resolution on a daily basis?
Bond says he doesn't know the answer to that question, although "I've thought about that many times."
Is there anything he thinks he could have done to prevented the tragedy at his school?
"There is nothing I could have done unless a student stepped forward and told me something was going to happen. If I had any hint, any indication, and, again, the emphasis is the students knew something wa going to happen."
Bond says that many students saw that Michael Carneal had a gun.
"None of the students stepped forward to tell their mother, their daddy, a teacher, a counselor, another adult," said Bond. "The kids have to take some responsibility…we're getting that message out now that the kids have to step up."
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