The shortage of qualified teachers, particularly in high need areas characterized by high levels of neighborhood violence, necessitates a study into the perceptions and attitudes of teacher candidates (pre-service teachers) and new in-service teachers regarding fear of school violence. Participants were 218 pre-service and in-service teachers who completed both quantitative and qualitative surveys prior to a mandatory workshop on school violence given at a university in New York State. Participants rated their fears of serious acts of violence and provided their definitions, perceptions, and experiences with school violence. Results of qualitative and statistical analyses revealed that teachers’ fears of school violence were guided by media representations of the school violence problem rather than on actual experiences of school violence. The findings also revealed that teachers reported the most fear of guns, other weapons, and other forms of serious violence such as hostage taking. Pre-service teachers reported more fear for their personal safety and personal failure in a crisis while in-service teachers expressed more fear for student safety. Implications for policy and practice are discussed and include the recommendation to adopt a developmental approach to educating teachers about school violence. Future studies should examine longitudinal data to explore for the possible dissipation of fear of school violence as teachers gain more experience. References, appendixes, tables