Fighting back against school violence

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT BEACH -- Last month, Newport Harbor High student Kaylen Morrison

announced her intention to fight back against the violence that plagues

Newport-Mesa schools.

Today she will meet with two San Juan Capistrano psychologists who want

to help.

Haig Musurlian and Valerie Want have developed a program they call the

“Breakfast Club” in an attempt to diffuse some of the anger in students

today.

“What we do is get members of different cliques at school in a group and

try to break down barriers and get them to see each other as people,”

Musurlian said.

They contacted Morrison after hearing about PALS (Preventing Anger at

Local Schools), the foundation started by Morrison.

Morrison’s crusade is the result of a personal experience with school

violence.

Two years ago, as a sophomore at Newport Harbor High, Morrison went to a

party in Costa Mesa.

It was at that party, she said, that she was attacked and brutally beaten

by an older schoolmate.

She may never know why she was the target of the senseless attack, but

after coming to terms with what happened, Morrison wants to prevent it

from happening to other students.

Since Morrison’s campaign is in line with what Musurlian and Want are

trying to do, the two psychologists felt they should join forces.

While Morrison has been outlining the essentials of what needs to be

taught in an anger-prevention course, the psychologists have been

developing course curriculum designed to teach students conflict

resolution and social skills.

“We’re not teaching social skills on campus,” Musurlian said. “We keep

teaching math and English and not how to get along with each other.”

Morrison said she plans to look over their curriculum to see how it

matches her ideas.

Musurlian and Want ran a prototype group of their “Breakfast Club” at

Mission Viejo High School. The group met only one day, but Musurlian said

the results were astounding.

“Ten percent -- four or five students -- admitted that they had tried or

at least thought about committing suicide, and that is self-reported,” he

said. “Another four or five said they had problems with anger and wanted

to commit violent crimes.”

If a program materializes in the Newport-Mesa district it wouldn’t take

begin until the start of the next school year, Musurlian said.

“If we get the agreement of the administration, we’re looking for

corporate sponsorships,” he said. “I think it’s only a matter of time

before it happens here in Southern California.”