Violence Prevention Coordinator Interview

Attachment C
Violence Prevention Coordinator Interview

Violence Prevention Coordinator Interview

I. OBJECTIVES
The main purpose of our interview with the Violence Prevention Coordinator is to gather
information on school-wide policies and programs for violence prevention. Our objectives
include:
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To gather detailed information regarding all of the school’s violence prevention efforts,
including curricula, whole school or policy-based programs, and environmental
approaches (security cameras, etc.)
To learn how well programs are being implemented, with what consistency, and to what
extent, particularly in comparison schools
In intervention schools only, to gather the coordinator’s impressions of the teachers’
response to RiPP and how well RiPP and Best Behavior work together

II. INTRODUCTION
We are interested in gathering information about your school’s policies and programs for
violence prevention. [In intervention schools only: We are also interested in getting your
impressions on the implementation of RiPP and Best Behavior.] We are talking to one
individual at each school who is most knowledgeable about all of the prevention programs and
services at the school. We know you are very busy and we really appreciate your time and
help.
We value the information you will share with us and want to make sure we capture all of it, as
accurately as possible. We will both be taking notes and audiotaping this interview. If at any
time you would like to tell us something in private, we will be happy to turn off the recorder.
Information we collect will be summarized across all schools. We will not use your name or
quote you, or identify your school. Is that all OK with you?
Before we begin, do you have any questions?
III. INTERVIEW TOPICS AND RELATED PROBES
I will begin by asking you to give me a broad overview of your school’s violence prevention
efforts. Then I’d like to talk in more detail about three areas:
1. Environmental strategies, such as the use of cameras or metal detectors
2. Policy-based or whole school strategies
3. Curricula
Along the way I’ll ask about training that teachers and other staff may have received.
[In intervention schools]: I’ll also ask about your perceptions of the Responding in Peaceful and
Positive Ways and the Best Behavior programs.

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A. Violence prevention efforts
1) First, let’s talk about your school’s general approach to preventing violence.
a. To begin, please tell us about your involvement with violence prevention efforts
at this school. What is your role? How long have you worked in this role?
b. Is there a formal team or task force that advises the school on violence
prevention and discipline?
i. If yes, who forms part of this group? Are they parents, teachers, school
administrators, community members, police officers, school board
members, others?
ii. If yes, how regularly does the group meet?
c. Are local law enforcement or police officers involved in your school’s violence
and safety initiatives?
i. If yes, in what ways?
ii. If yes, are they consulted for planning or programming?
d. What approaches, strategies or programs does your school use currently to
prevent and reduce violence and bullying behavior? Please give me a broad
overview of all the approaches used, then we will come back to these later to
discuss them in more detail.
e. Are there plans to implement new programs or strategies for violence prevention
this year or next year?
i. If yes, will particular grades be targeted or is the program for all students?
ii. If yes, will staff be trained to implement this approach? Which staff? How
many? When?
f. Some schools evaluate their prevention efforts through student surveys, staff
surveys, classroom observations and other methods. Has your school ever
evaluated its violence prevention efforts? If so, what was done for the
evaluation? How recently was this done? What are some of the overall findings
that you’ve identified from these evaluations?
2) Now, let’s talk about each of the current strategies and programs in more detail.
Interviewer: Use the appropriate probes for the areas mentioned by the respondent in
1c. Then, ask about any areas not mentioned specifically.
a. Environmental approaches
Security cameras or metal detectors
You mentioned your school uses [device] for surveillance purposes.
[Does your school use [device] for surveillance purposes?]
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How long have these been in use?
Are they used consistently, every day?
Who monitors them?
What are the monitors looking for?
How are monitors trained?
What are the consequences for violators?
How well has this approach worked, in your opinion?

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Monitoring by law enforcement officers, security guards, other staff
You mentioned your school uses [personnel] to monitor areas of the school.
[Does your school use [personnel] to monitor different areas of the school?]
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Which personnel are involved in monitoring activities?
What areas of the school are regularly monitored and at what times of the
day?
If security guards or law enforcement staff are used, are they on school
grounds on a regular basis?
Is there controlled access to school buildings during the day?
Are visitors required to sign in or check in?
How do students or staff report problems to school authorities?
In your opinion, has the monitoring been done consistently?

Other environmental approaches: use of uniforms or strict dress code, clear book
bags or banned book bags, use of IDs by students and/or staff, random locker
searches, restrict cell phone use by students
You mentioned your school uses [approach] as part of your efforts to maintain
security and discipline.
[Does your school use [approaches] as part of the school’s efforts to maintain
security and discipline?]
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How strictly is this enforced?
Who monitors this?
What are the consequences for violators?
What are the advantages of this approach?

CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design)
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Has your school been through a CPTED assessment?
Has anyone in your school received CPTED training? If yes, who?
If yes, when?

b. Policy-based or whole school strategies
One of the violence prevention approaches you mentioned involved the school’s
discipline policies and procedures.
[Does your school use discipline policies and other whole-school strategies as
part of the violence prevention efforts?]
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Do you currently implement a formal program for reviewing discipline policies
and assessing student misconduct? If yes, what is the program? How long
has it been in place? To what extent has this program been implemented?
Does your school have written policies for students and staff?
How is information about policies and procedures communicated to
teachers? to students and parents?
Does the school provide any training for staff in implementing the school’s
discipline policies?

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•
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In general, how strictly would you say the school’s discipline policies are
enforced?
Are school policies reviewed regularly? Who is involved in this review?
What about rewards or incentives for positive or good behavior? Are these
part of your discipline plan? [If yes], is this a school-wide policy or something
left up to teachers to decide and implement?

c. Curricula
You mentioned your school was implementing a violence prevention curriculum
this year.
[Is your school implementing any violence prevention curricula this year?]
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Which violence prevention curricula are being used actively [In
intervention schools: …other than RiPP or Best Behavior.]. ?
Which of these involve teaching students in the classroom?
Do you have other programs that involve students but not in the
classroom, for example, conflict resolution, peer mediation, or student
court programs?

For each curriculum, ask:
• In which grades and classes is this taught or for which groups of students
is the program available?
• Who teaches or leads it?
• What kind of training is required for teachers or leaders?
• What proportion of the intended participants or recipients have actually
participated or received delivery?
• How often are sessions held and for what duration?
• How much of the program would you say is being delivered? In other
words, is the program being fully delivered or only partially delivered? [If
partially delivered] In what sense is it partially delivered?
• How long has the school been using this program?
• What would you say are the benefits of using this program?
• What do you think are the challenges of using this program?
d. Other Programs or Strategies
Are there any other programs or strategies used at this school to prevent or
reduce violence that we did not discuss?
For example, does your school have interventions for high risk students involving
behavior modification, counseling, or case management?
• If yes, are services provided in school or outside of school?
• How are students referred for services?
• How many students are served?
Does your school implement a classroom management program to manage
behavior?
• If yes, what is the name of the program?
• How many grades and classes are using this program?
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•
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How long has the program been in use at this school?
What training do teachers receive?

Does your school have a coordinated crisis intervention plan for emergencies?
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If yes, does your local law enforcement/fire/EMS have blueprints to your
building?
Does your school offer school-based mental health services?
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If yes, are services provided in school or outside of school?
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How are students referred for services?

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(Intervention schools only)
B.

Perceptions of RiPP and Best Behavior Implementation

In the last part of this interview, I would like to talk with you about your impressions of the RiPP
and Best Behavior programs and their implementation.
1.

First, I would like to ask you about RiPP.
a. Overall, how well do you think implementation of the RiPP program has
gone?
b. Have there been any major challenges or problems in implementing
RiPP? How have these been addressed and by whom?
c. Are there any challenges that have not yet been resolved? What is being
considered to address these challenges?
d. What has been the staff’s response to the RiPP program so far? How
comfortable do they seem to be with the curriculum and materials? Have
there been any issues raised with teaching the curriculum?
e. How would you describe teacher commitment and support for RiPP?
f. How do you think implementation of RiPP could be improved?

2.

Now, I would like to ask you about Best Behavior.
a. Overall, how well do you think implementation of Best Behavior has
gone?
b. Has the school management team met with any challenges or problems
in implementing Best Behavior? Is so, how have these been addressed
and by whom?
c. How supportive have staff been of the Best Behavior program?
d. What changes do you think should be made to improve implementation of
the Best Behavior program through the school management team?

3.

Do you believe the training and technical assistance provided to staff has been
adequate for either of these programs? Is there additional assistance or support
you think they need? If yes, what type of support or assistance?
To what extent do the RiPP and Best Behavior programs work together? Have
there been any challenges in coordinating both? If so, how have these
coordination challenges been addressed?
Have you received any feedback related to the RiPP and Best Behavior
programs from students or parents?
Have you seen any benefits resulting from implementation of the RiPP and Best
Behavior programs?

4.

5.
6.

IV.

Debriefing

I really appreciate the time you have given us today. Is there anything we have not talked about
that you would like to mention?

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