Following the recent school attacks in Connecticut, cities around the world are trying to figure out how to protect students. San Diego is in the process of announcing a comprehensive plan to prevent gun violence on district campuses. The Board President John Lee Evans states, “Our mission is to educate the students, but even above that is the safety of our students.” In this program there is a ban on assault weapons in California and across the nation, and more mental health screenings and services for troubled youth. This is important because if we establish early on that these youth have problems maybe we can help prevent or at least stabilize the issue. Not only is San Diego trying have more screenings for the youth, but also to educate the teachers on warning signs. If the teachers are able to recognize that a student has a problem and needs attention that maybe prevent something bad from happening. The San Diego Psychological Association has agreed to office its services, free of charge, to train teachers and counselors on at-risk students. Something like this is extremely beneficial for the schools in San Diego. If schools all around the country participated in programs like this maybe school shootings would not happen or at least not be as prevalent. Almost all school shooters have showed sings of mental health issues but never treated.

School Violence and mental health is not something that is going to be fixed overnight. Cities around the nation need to take action like San Diego and have prevention programs that may stop another mass school shooting from happening. Students, teachers, parents, and the community need to all participate in trying to alleviate this problem. John Evans, the board of the program, “realizes that no system will be 100 percent safe in protecting children at school, but endorsing programs like these are like putting on a seatbelt before getting in the car.” That analogy is perfect because nobody can say something like Connecticut or Columbine wont happen again, but taking precautions is something is something we can all do to help prevent something as horrific as those shootings from ever happening again. San Diego’s system should be a role model for cities around American to help take a stand against school violence.