This study surveyed New Mexico high school principals on their current state of preparedness for serious school violence. The researcher surveyed 119 public high schools, receiving a 65% return rate from a 25-question survey. Specifically, this study analyzed the relationships of three predictor variables: prevention, response, and building of social and emotional control competence measures with an outcome variable (the reported numbers of students suspended or expelled for school violence). The quantitative examination utilized the computer program Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to test the research hypothesis. Two of the four hypotheses were not supported, while the third hypothesis received partial support. A negative relationship was hypothesized among prevention, response, and building of student emotional and social competence and an indicator of school violence--i.e., numbers of students suspended or expelled for violence. The assumption was that more efforts to prevent school violence would negatively affect numbers of instances of violence. Seeing that relationship brought a realization that the relationship could run in the opposite direction; that is, frequency of violence could positively affect the school's adoption of preventive measures. Schools with low instances of violence would have little motivation to work at prevention. The support for hypothesis four confirmed the conclusion that there would be a positive correlation among the three means used to deal with school violence (i.e., prevention, response, and social/emotional competency). Examining the correlations among the three kinds of efforts revealed that principals who reported taking one of the forms of action against school violence also reported taking the other two forms. Again, this might have been due to the fact that, across the board, a principal's efforts to deal with school violence seemed to depend not only on how much school violence had been experienced, but also upon the variety of those efforts as well. These variables were detailed further by the extent to which they were utilized (low, moderate, and extensive use). Though many actions were in extensive use to prevent school violence and build student social and emotional competence, the survey found that principals did not make adequate use of many other types of efforts questioned by the survey. This meant that principals facing violence issues on their campuses had a wider range of actions to consider than were currently in extensive use. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]