A man called into schools around the country where students have been traumatized by violence is in Iowa today, meeting with teens attending a “safe schools” conference. Five-hundred-50 middle-school students from 125 different schools are attending. Harvey Alston says his goal is to teach the Iowa kids how to made their schools just a little bit safer.Alston, who is 55-years-old, says when he was in school, kids had fistfights to resolve their disagreements.Today, Alston says kids with explosive tempers sometimes have dangerous weapons at their disposal.Alston led seminars in Arkansas and Oregon where school shootings took place. Jack Lashier of the Iowa High School Athletic Association says his group organized the event because it wants to help Iowa kids diffuse conflicts.Just last week, a melee erupted among parents and students attending a sporting event in Florida. Lashier says sports and school conflicts are on the rise, and he hopes students learn some valuable problem-solving skills.One-hundred-30 teachers and administrators are attending today’s conference, too. Some participants traveled five-and-a-half hours this morning to get to the conference in Des Moines.
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