With school violence a hot-button topic of concern these days, one Pinecrest school is moving check the problem before it develops.

Palmetto Elementary School will hold a month-long series of activities designed to teach its students about anger management, gun safety and conflict resolution, culminating on May 26 with a Violent Toy Trade In and Peaceful Play Day.

Dade State Attorney and Pinecrest resident Kathryn Fernandez Rundle will address the student body at a school assembly, discussing violence and what the children can do help prevent it.

"Violence is not a big problem at my particular school," said Julie Astuto, a Palmetto Elementary counselor. "But, the feeling behind this is that it's something we see with teenagers and they don't get that way overnight. Children need to learn coping skills and other ways of handling violence and anger when they're young. So, we're starting this program in elementary school with the hope that when they get to be teenagers they have the skills to handle situations better."
Astuto said the school is asking its students to bring in a violent toy they own ­ such as a toy gun, an action figure or a video game -- to trade for a raffle ticket in a drawing for a series of prizes, including bicycles and boom boxes.

"If they don't have a violent toy," she said, "we're asking them to write a little paper about a peaceful toy that they could be playing with instead, because we don't want to keep anybody from participating and we know that some children don't have violent toys. The whole idea is to get them to think about peaceful types of things."

Astuto said that following the toy-trade, the youngsters would leave their classrooms and participate at open tables called Peaceful Play Stations, alternative types of play designed to demonstrate other ways to have fun without resorting violence. Those Peaceful Play Stations will include craft activities, art, non-violent games and building projects.

"Home Depot will have a table helping us out with having the kids build something," she said. "And, we're going to have another table where they're going to do rubber stamping, just all kinds of activities that will give them other options."

Astuto issued a call for community assistance in the Violent Toy Trade In and Peaceful Play Day.

"We'd like to ask the community to help us out with this," she said. "Businesses can donate merchandise in the form of toys, or perhaps a financial donation to help offset some of the costs."

For more information, please call Palmetto Elementary School at 305-238-4306.