Legislative findings; intent

1. Law
2. US Virgin Islands Code
3. Education
4. Conflict Resolution Education
5. Legislative findings; intent

• The Legislature of the United States Virgin Islands hereby finds that school violence is a problem in the territory's schools. The Legislature also finds that there needs to be a reshaping of the approach to combating school violence. The Legislature further finds that the imposition of penalties alone is an insufficient and ultimately unworkable device for curbing school violence. As such, the Legislature finds that there currently exist a need for the insertion of an in-school mechanism for assisting our youngsters with handling inter-personal and inter-group conflicts without resorting to violent behavior. The Legislature proposes to implement a school-based, conflict resolution education program. The intent of conflict resolution education and consequently this chapter is to reduce violence, vandalism, chronic absence, and suspension in Virgin Islands schools. The goals of conflict resolution education are as follows:

  • (1) offer problem-solving processes that can improve the school climate;

  • (2) offer Virgin Islands students an alternative to self-destructive violent behavior when faced with interpersonal and inter-group conflicts;

  • (3) help students and teachers deepen their understanding of themselves and others, thus developing important life skills;

  • (4) provide training in negotiation, mediation, and consensus decision making as a means of encouraging a high level of citizenship activity;

  • (5) shift the responsibility for solving nonviolent conflicts to students so that adults can be free to concentrate more on teaching and less on discipline; and

  • (6) create behavior management systems that are more effective than detention, suspension, or expulsion in order to deal with conflict in the school setting.

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