School safety panel hears about discipline alternatives

HANOVER, Md. – Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been listening to first-graders share stories about friendship during a field trip by a presidential commission seeking ways to stem a steady stream of school violence.

DeVos toured Hebron Harman Elementary School in Hanover, Maryland, which specializes in fostering positive behaviour as opposed to punitive discipline.

DeVos chairs the Federal Commission on School Safety, formed after the Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. During Thursday’s field trip, the departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services were represented by senior officials, not the secretaries who are members of the commission.

The meeting focused on how to make students kinder and happier at school and prevent disruptive behaviour. Gun control was not discussed.