A fifth of high school respondents to a Harvard survey on violence in Boston schools said they felt uncomfortable in their school’s hallways, and more than half said they had witnessed violence at school.

Addressing rising concerns about violence in Boston’s schools, the City Council’s Special Committee on Youth Violent Crime Prevention met at a public meeting at City Hall on Monday to consider community proposals on preventive measures to curb violence.

The hearing, lead by Councilor Michael Ross (Back Bay, Fenway), referred to a report filed by Harvard’s Youth Violence Prevention Center which, in partnership with the City’s Office of Human Services, produced the 2004 Boston Youth Survey that examine the lives of 1,100 students in Boston High Schools.

Committee members suggested smaller class sizes for schools, partially blaming tensions between students unacquainted with one another as a main factor leading to school violence.

“A lot of kids don’t know each other well,” City Council President Michael Flaherty said. “They never met each other, they never played ball together … and when a beef escalates, there’s no mutual friend that can calm the tension down.”

Boston Police Sgt. Detective Christopher Stratton said trivial reasons are also causing disputes to arise.

“A lot of it is relatively minor stuff,” he said. “Girls fighting over boys — ‘he said’ ‘she said’ stuff.”

According to Deputy Director of Community Partnerships Shenandoah Titus, few youth offenders understand the consequences of their actions.

“We’re trying to dispel the notion among young folks that it’s cool to get arrested,” he said. “You should see the look on their faces when we tell them the real consequences of getting in trouble in terms of employment, the military, student loans.”

Boston School Police Chief John Sisco said the study’s findings might have been misleading, speaking positively of Boston Public Schools.

“I think our schools are as safe as any school system in the country,” Sisco said. “Our kids think school is a safe place to be. When something happens, the kids return to school. They consider it a safe haven.”

Sisco added that he thinks the rising statistical incidence of violence in schools is because of an increase in people reporting incidences, rather than to an actual crime boost.

Chief Operating Officer of Boston Public Schools Mike Contompasis agreed with Sisco’s assessment of school safety, adding that extending the school day could be a solution to the problem of teen violence.

“Extending the day … can help socialization,” he said. “One the reasons the superintendent has decided to [divide] large comprehensive schools into smaller autonomous schools is to get at the underlying issues.”

Contompasis also suggested the implementation of all-day kindergarten to foster positive interaction between students from an early age.

The committee discussed programs that have been successful in preventing incidents of violence, including the StopWatch program, in which transit officers are encouraged to get to know teenagers on an individual basis. According to Titus, the program will reduce “anonymity factor” — the feeling of having an insignificant presence — among potential offenders, making them feel more responsible for their actions.

The committee also hailed the Student Threat Assessment Team, which asks student informants to volunteer information about potential incidents. Titus referred to a recent incident in a Boston school in which a student reported having seen a classmate with a firearm.

The special committee also recognized the violence problem may go beyond the schools, extending into a student’s home life.

“At the end of the day, what’s going on at home?” Flaherty asked. “Are there levels of services that aren’t getting into that home?”

Rev. Eugene Rivers testified an eighth grade girl who was slashed in the face with a knife by another girl and said she was acting on the suggestion of her mother.

“There’s a complete evaporation of the distinction between children and adults,” he said. “When a 30-year-old woman encourages the cutting of a 15-year-old girl, something is festering [in] our community.”

In the end however, the committee said the hearing failed to voice the candid concerns of young people.

“We really need to have direct conversations with kids in the room,” said Ross, who proposed a later meeting at night when more youth could attend.

But he remained optimistic about the results of the committee.

“We hope to come up with something meaningful in the next weeks and months,” he said.