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CDC Offers School Safety Tips, Resources

While our nation’s schools are expected to be, and usually are, safe havens for learning, unintentional injuries and even violence can occur, disrupting the educational process and negatively affecting the school and surrounding community.

As millions of students return to school this fall, teachers will plan their school supply list, and parents will carefully make sure their child is prepared with each and every item. Safety should also be on everyone’s back-to-school list.

Parents, students, educators and community members can all take action to keep children safe–in and away from school.

The weekly CDC feature available at www.cdc.gov/features/safeschools/index.html offers links to a variety of safety topics, such as:

Walk to School Safely

Children face an increased risk for pedestrian injuries. At this link, you can help by learning more about these risks and steps you can take to promote pedestrian safety in your community.

Child Passenger Safety

Motor vehicle injuries are the greatest public health problem facing children today. In fact, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages birth to 12 years in the United States. This link will teach parents how to keep children safe by using an age- and size-appropriate restraint system.

Teen Driver Safety

Teen drivers are nearly three times more likely than drivers ages 20 and older to be in a fatal crash. Crash risk is particularly high during a teen’s first year of driving. Learn at this link about strategies that help a new driver arrive at school safely, including Graduated Driver Licensing systems and Parent-Teen Driving Agreements.

School Violence

While U.S. schools remain relatively safe, any amount of violence is unacceptable. Parents, teachers and administrators expect schools to be safe havens of learning. Acts of violence can disrupt the learning process and have a negative effect on students, the school itself and the broader community.

Sexual violence begins early in life. Eighty percent of female victims experienced their first rape before the age of 25 and about 40 percent experienced the first rape before age 18. Most victims do not tell friends and family about the abuse and suffer alone. Those who do disclose the violence may be stigmatized by friends, family and their community.

Suicide

Suicide is a serious public health problem that affects all age groups, including youth. It is the second leading cause of death among youth and young adults between the ages of 10 and 24, with nearly 6,000 lives lost among this group, each year.

The CDC offers a “Comprehensive Technical Package for the Prevention of Youth Violence and Associated Risk Behaviors.” This technical package is a collection of strategies that represents the best available evidence to prevent or reduce public health problems like youth violence.

Playground Injuries

Each year in the United States, emergency departments treat more than 200,000 children ages 14 and younger for playground-related injuries. The link will teach parents about risks and how to avoid severe injuries associated with playgrounds, such as making sure that surfaces under equipment are safe, soft and well-maintained.

Heads Up to Schools: Know Your Concussion ABCs

A child can take a spill, knock his/her head, and get a concussion in any number of school settings ranging from the hallway, the playground, the cafeteria, in-school sports activities and beyond. The CDC offers a flexible set of materials developed for professionals working with grades K-12 and helps principals, school nurses, teachers or other school professionals identify and respond to concussions and learn strategies to help support students returning to school after a concussion.

To find all of these links and more, go to www.cdc.gov/features/safeschools/index.html.

Additional Resources

— The Department of Education, www.ed.gov

— National Organizations for Youth Safety, noys.org

— Protect the Ones You Love, www.cdc.gov/safechild/

— Safe Kids Worldwide, www.safekids.org

— The National Center for Safe Routes to Schools, wraw.saferoutesinfo.org

— StopBullying.gov

— STRYVE, or Striving To Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere, www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/STRYVE/index.html

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