[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 21, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H5968-H5969]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SCHOOL VIOLENCE

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to address the very important 
issue of school violence. I was recently pleased to learn that this 
administration will finally hold a national conference on school safety 
sometime in October of this year.

[[Page H5969]]

  Because no community in America is immune to the plague of school 
violence, and because we, as a Nation can no longer sit idly by while 
violence in our schools continue to rise, I sent a letter to the 
President on June 24th encouraging him to listen to the solutions of 
the American people from coast to coast and border to border.
  For America to achieve success in combating school violence in our 
local communities, we must first address three important issues. First, 
the Federal Government must redirect its resources to States to focus 
on this problem at the local level. Secondly, our communities must 
continue to improve cooperative relations among local agencies whose 
job it is to address this problem associated with school violence.
  Finally, it is important that any conference bring together, in a 
round table discussion, several representatives from local and Federal 
law enforcement agencies, courts, city councils, and school boards to 
develop local solutions to a national problem. Mr. Speaker, our 
children deserve no less.

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