“Learning The Hard Way: The State Of Safety In Washington Schools” State’S Newspapers Join In Investigation Of School Safety

In 1996, a child with a gun set the Northwest thinking about the unthinkable.

Two years after Barry Loukaitis killed three people in Moses Lake, another child opened fire in Springfield, Ore., in a year of school violence across the nation.

Today, we are not much further along in ensuring that our schools are safe.

On Sunday, The Spokesman-Review begins a three-day series examining the state of safety in our schools. The series, “Learning the Hard Way,” is an unusual collaboration of newspapers across the state. Reporters surveyed 60 school districts and talked to hundreds of teachers and officials.

We’ll show how the state has no violence prevention plan, spends little on safety programs and collects scant statistics on violence in our schools. But individual school districts do sponsor numerous efforts designed to ensure school safety.

We’ll also provide expert advice on how families can help keep their children safe. Readers will learn what they can do and who they can contact to help schools avoid the unthinkable.

Look for “Learning the Hard Way,” beginning Sunday.