[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 135 (Thursday, October 1, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S11291]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ENSURING SAFE SCHOOLS

 Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I am delighted that the Senate has 
approved legislation which I cosponsored to help ensure the safety of 
our nation's schools. Senators Campbell, Jeffords, and Faircloth 
introduced S.2235, ``The School Resource Officers Partnership Grant Act 
of 1998,'' in June. It was approved unanimously by the Judiciary 
Committee and approved by the Senate yesterday.
  The goal of this legislation is to help put a stop to crime and 
violence in our nation's schools. Through this legislation, 
partnerships will be developed between state and local law enforcement 
agencies and the school districts in which they serve. While national 
statistics on violence in schools indicate an overall downward trend, 
the types of violence that have occurred recently, particularly in the 
last school year, are nothing short of traumatic.
  The sight and sound of schoolyard shootings have become all too 
familiar. Americans were shocked, time and time again, by the 
devastating sight on the evening news of youngsters being carried to 
ambulances from school grounds following shooting sprees by other 
youngsters. Looking back at the 1997-1998 school year, several 
particularly alarming incidents occurred:
  In October, a 16-year-old at Pearl High School in Mississippi went to 
school with a hunting rifle. He shot and killed a student and a 
teacher, leaving a second teacher with a bullet wound in the head.
  In December, a student at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky 
used a pistol to kill 3 other students. The shooter was 14-years-old.
  In March, 2 boys in Jonesboro, Arkansas, an eleven year-old and a 
thirteen year-old, pulled the fire alarm in their school. As students 
and teachers left the building, the two boys began shooting. They 
killed five people: four young girls and a teacher.
  In April, a 14-year-old boy in Edinboro, Pennsylvania went to a 
school dance with a gun he apparently removed from his father's bureau 
drawer. He killed a science teacher and injured two students and 
another teacher.
  At Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon a 15-year-old who was 
suspended for carrying a gun to school, returned to school the next day 
and opened fire in a crowded cafeteria. He killed two students and 
wounded 19 others. Police suspect he shot and killed his parents, as 
well.
  It is no secret that I support tougher restrictions on gun ownership. 
Earlier this year, Senator Durbin and I offered an amendment to the 
spending bill for the Departments of Commerce, State and Justice. Our 
amendment would have held adult gun owners responsible if their 
weapon--which had not been stored properly--was used by a child to 
injure himself or someone else. I felt that this was the least we could 
do to help protect children from needless gun violence. Unfortunately, 
the majority of my Senate colleagues didn't agree, and our amendment 
was defeated.
  Despite that setback, I believe that it is Congress' responsibility 
to take steps to assist local communities in their battle against 
school violence. Children bringing weapons to school and drug use among 
youngsters aren't problems of big city schools alone. In my own State 
of Rhode Island during the last school year, there were more than 400 
weapons-related suspensions. To put that number in the proper 
perspective, we have fewer than 450 elementary and secondary schools in 
Rhode Island, including private and religious schools. We should not 
fool ourselves into thinking that the kind of atrocities that all of 
America witnessed in schools last year can't happen in our children's 
schools.
  It is my sincere belief that The School Resource Officers Partnership 
Grant Act is a step in the right direction. This legislation will make 
federal funds available to local law enforcement agencies, working in 
partnership with local school districts, for ``school resource 
officers.'' These SROs, who must be professional law enforcement 
officers, would address gang-related crime and violence, including drug 
use, in and around schools. They would work with students, teachers, 
and administrators on crime prevention and personal safety. And perhaps 
most importantly, they would work directly with students on conflict 
resolution to help avert violent oubursts that can leave innocent 
children dead or injured.
  There are communities throughout our nation whose police officers 
have undertaken these very tasks. In Rhode Island, police officers in 
Newport, Providence, and West Warwick, to name a few, already are 
working within schools on crime prevention, mentoring, and conflict 
resolution. Our bill would allow local law enforcement agencies to use 
a portion of their federal Community Policing funds for these officers.
  I applaud our teachers and administrators for their efforts to 
confront and address violence in schools, but we cannot expect them to 
undertake this battle alone. This bill will make the knowledge and 
resources of professional law enforcement agencies available to our 
schools. I know it will help keep our children safe.




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