Review of Violence Prevention at the Cherokee Central Schools

We conducted an inspection of the Cherokee Central Schools, located on the Cherokee Reservation in Cherokee, NC, to determine the quality of safety measures in place to prevent violence against students and staff from internal and external threats. We found Cherokee Central Schools’ safety measures to be adequate.

 

Specifically, the Cherokee Central Schools’ comprehensive emergency plan adequately covered all five topics we chose to review. Training, however, was not provided to staff and students on several violence prevention and emergency preparedness topics we evaluated, including conflict resolution and anger management. We were unable to determine the impact of limited training on the schools’ ability to effectively run evacuations or lock-downs because the schools were closed during our visit as a result of adverse weather.

 

Finally, of the 18 safety measures we checked for, Cherokee Central Schools did not have 2 in place. While no single safety measure is so critical that its absence at an educational facility is cause for immediate concern, we found that the more safety measures not in place, the less prepared schools are to respond to an incident.

 

We provide four recommendations to help Cherokee Central Schools improve their safety measures.