Wednesday, March 14, 2001
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Wednesday, March 14, 2001 |
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Flat Rock becomes first school in Georgia to implement SAVE SAVE (Students Against Violence Everywhere) is the newest anti-violence program to be implemented in the Fayette County School System. Flat Rock Middle School Friday became the first school in Georgia to implement the national program. SAVE is a student driven program that promotes safety and peace in schools. Students identify problems within their school and then develop ways to solve them. While Flat Rock does not have a problem with student violence, school officials see the implementation of this program as taking a positive steps to help keep violence out of the school. "I have had a lot of teachers tell me that this is the best program they have ever been involved with," says Susan McEwan, counselor at Flat Rock. The new program was kicked off with a rally that took the place of homeroom. Students from Flat Rock Middle, Sandy Creek and McIntosh high schools headed up the event for the student body. Flat Rock student Lauren Kircher opened the ceremony. Joey Summers, a junior at McIntosh High School, served as the master of ceremonies for the morning as well as gave a speech about violence. Sandy Creek student Colay White and Flat Rock students Corderr Childes, Sarah Parmer and Tiel Taylor also gave speeches at the rally. Tiffany Clark, a senior at McIntosh, provided musical entertainment. Before the rally, students at the school were asked to fill out surveys to identify the problems they thought needed to be targeted at the school. Verbal harassment and gossip were the top two issues identified by students. Now, each homeroom is being asked to create a project or incentive that will help eliminate the problems. "We will select the top idea and implement it," says McEwan. "We will test the effectiveness of the implementation by watching office referrals on verbal harassment as well as interviewing students." Before the school year ends, McEwan says the school will take a survey to get feedback from the students about how effective they think SAVE has been at Flat Rock. SAVE got its start in North Carolina in the early 1980s after the death of a popular student. Alex Orange, a senior at a high school in Charlotte, was attending an anti-violence party that was disrupted by students carrying baseball bats. Orange tried to play the role of peace maker, but ended up getting shot in front of 200 students from his school. The next day, his classmates asked their favorite teacher if they could have a meeting to talk about what happened. It was at this meeting that the students decided to create SAVE.
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