CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A variety of resources, many offered by Lutherans, are available on the World Wide Web to promote peaceful, safe schools, said the director for schools in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
"We will continue to be in solidarity with all of you in our quest to provide a safe and peaceful environment for children and students in [ELCA] schools [and] centers," said John J. Scibilia, ELCA Division for Higher Education and Schools (DHES). Scibilia's comment was part of a March 5 message to ELCA schools and early childhood education centers.
There are 200 elementary and 30 secondary schools operated by ELCA congregations throughout the United States and the Caribbean. About 2,000 congregations operate early childhood education centers.
The March 5 message followed the highly publicized school shooting at Santana High School, Santee, Calif. Two students were killed; a 15-year-old student at the school is accused in the shootings. The incident is the latest in a series of school shootings, in which students used guns to kill or injure other students. At Columbine High School, Littleton, Colo., 14 students and one teacher were killed in 1999.
"Children are in pain and are killing one another," Scibilia told the DHES board, which met March 9-11 in Kenosha, Wis. Many children were afraid to go to school in the days following the Santee shooting, Scibilia said. He urged board members to pray for the victims and the alleged shooter.
Despite the attention the Santee shootings generated, Scibilia reminded the board that an average of 12 children die violently in the United States every day.
Online resources that may be used to help create and maintain safe havens and safe schools include:
+ DHES Resources for Violence Prevention, http://www.elca.org/dhes/schools/violenceres.html
+ ELCA's Decade for a Culture of Nonviolence, http://www.elca.org/co/decade.html
+ Institute for Peace and Justice, http://www.ipj-ppj.org/
+ Lutheran Peace Fellowship, http://members.tripod.com/~lutheran_peace/index.htm/
+ Peace Center, http://www.salsa.net/peace/
+ Peace Tools for Teachers, http://www.salsa.net/peace/teach/teachers.html
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
