Violence has very negative effects on students, the teaching and learning process, the administration and the community. It makes students feel unsafe, in a place where safety should not be an issue. They are there to learn, but instead have to deal with the reality that bullying, fights and weapons in schools are part of their daily educational life. When violence erupts in a school, it can stop the educational process. For example, a couple of weeks ago, a fight broke out in the classroom next to mine. While we didn't hear him immediately, we heard him as he moved down the hall. Yelling and yelling occurred, which immediately interrupted my lesson. It forced my colleague and me to examine whether we, as staff members, needed to step in to help. It also prevented us from teaching our lesson and attracted the attention of our students. This caused discomfort that lasted about five minutes. While the time wasted may not seem important, when our students have fifty-five minutes a day, five minutes equals quite a bit of educational time. Additionally, I noticed my classroom environment going from a focused, relaxed atmosphere to a high-energy bustle. Once the situation was under control, it took a few minutes to get the students to focus and not talk about their experiences of being involved in or watching fights at school. Violence is not limited to our school environment, in fact, it is brought into our schools from outside. Our students are regularly negatively impacted by their communities. When guns are brought into our schools, it ultimately involves the student who brought the gun, staff members, parents, and police officers. This has become so widespread that our school policies are forced to recognize and address it