On Wednesday, January 5, 2011, a Millard South High School student entered his high school armed with a gun. The boy had been excluded from school earlier that morning. He registered at the office and went to the assistance director's office. Four minutes later, office staff reported hearing gunshots. The student shot the vice-principal and principal when he tried to intervene. He continued shooting, targeting a school guard and then a security guard as he fled the scene. The school resource officer, hearing the gunshots, responded, but the student was missing. Police found his car in a nearby parking lot. He committed suicide (Lincoln Journal Star.com, 2011). The aforementioned incident has deeply affected students, staff and community members of the school district. This created a feeling of insecurity in a school community that had always felt relatively safe. And yet, as shocking as it may seem, many school districts across the country are facing similar tragedies. Over the past 15 years, acts of violence in schools have become more extreme and often deadly. As violence continues to become unprecedented, school district administrators and staff take on the noble responsibility of providing a safe learning environment in schools for all students and staff. Standard 3 of the Education Leadership Policy Standards states: “An educational leader promotes the success of each student by providing management of the organization, operations, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment. effective” (2002). Although the majority of schools remain relatively safe, districts and communities view any form of violence as unacceptable. The Centers for Disea...... middle of paper ...... summer 2011. 43, 486. doi: 10.1177/0013124510380717Lincoln Journal Star. (2011). The timeline of the Millard South shooting. Lincoln Journal Star.com. Retrieved from http://journalstar.com/news/state-and Regional/nebraska/article_ef16c15d-c67e-54b5-b4fa-0742edc6085d.htmlNational Policy Council for Educational Administration. (2002) Standards for advanced programs in educational leadership. Retrieved from http://npbea.org/ELCC/ELCCStandards%20_5-02.pdfNational Center for Education Statistics U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2010). School Crime and Safety Indicators: 2010 (NCES 2011-002), retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/crimeindicators/crimeindicators2010/National Center for Education Statistics, State Department of Education -United. (2009). School Crime and Safety Indicators: 2009 Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/