As schools opened around the country this week, parents, teachers and administrators may be confused by the conflicting messages from the U.S. Department of Education and their own memories of the horrors that occurred at Columbine High School. Despite the burgeoning concern about violence, the department reports that schools remain far safer places, on average, than just about anywhere else and that they are getting safer.

For instance, during the 1997-1998 school year, 3,930 students were expelled for carrying weapons in school, a 31-percent decline over the previous year. And The National School Safety Center similarly reports just 25 violent deaths (including 15 at Columbine) in schools last year, compared with an average of 50 in the early 1990s. Only a tiny fraction of all homicides involving school-age children occur in or around schools, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

James Alan Fox, dean and professor of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University, argued before the National Press Club in Washington Monday that schools are the safest place for children. “The rate of violence in schools (literally one homicide per 1 million schoolchildren) is lower than anywhere else — the playground, the neighborhood, the mall, even the home,” he said.

Yet schools across the country are taking dramatic steps to reduce the possibility of school violence. Metal detectors have been installed, locks have been removed from lockers, backpacks must be transparent, students are warned that verbal threats are grounds for suspension, among other measures of prevention. Some state of Maine officials believe it’s the wrong approach.

Yellow Breen of the Department of Education, notes that Commissioner Duke Albanese continues to be concerned about overfocusing on what he calls “law and order responses” to school violence and ignoring deeper problems like lack of respect and civility. “We are very conscious about getting a return to normalcy so we can deepen a discussion about more constructive approaches to school discipline,” he said.

The Maine Legislature proposed in the last session that the commissioner appoint a panel to draft standards for ethical and responsible student behavior in Maine schools. The Department plans to announce several high profile members from the fields of Maine education, business and ethics as participants in this group.

Its ironic that after decades of attempting to present value-free curriculum, schools are now using concepts like character and community to reduce the level of rudeness and incivility that may well be more harmful to the development of a productive learning environment than the increasingly rare act of school violence.

While shrill voices from the political extremes have feared their opponents might inject their values into school curriculum, the basic considerations required for any group of people to function together have been lost. Maine people, high profile or not, certainly know what values and behaviors promote living and working together in harmony. It’s wonderful that politicians and school administrators will be listening.