[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 148 (Wednesday, October 29, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H9630]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                GETTING BUREAUCRACY OUT OF THE CLASSROOM

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, recently a teacher in Camden County, GA 
told me about going to a conference near the State capitol designed to 
tell teachers not to hug kids anymore and not to be in the room alone 
with them anymore, never to touch them. She says, ``You know, it's too 
bad because in the school district that I'm in, a lot of these children 
are from broken homes and they need hugging more than they need A's.''
  Another teacher told me she cannot get parents to participate in the 
PTA programs anymore because when parents come up with good ideas, they 
just cannot get through the red tape. Then another teacher in Darien, 
Georgia told me that she has to spend 2 to 3 hours each week on 
paperwork just to keep up with the bureaucracy.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe we need to have more local control of school 
systems. We are going to vote today on a charter school bill which will 
give local control and get the bureaucracy out of the classroom so that 
the teacher can develop the relationship that is needed to teach Johnny 
how to read without a bunch of busybody bureaucrats from the State 
capitol or Washington, DC, telling them what they have to do and what 
they do not have to do.

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