[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 138 (Tuesday, October 6, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11544-S11545]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  SAFE SCHOOLS: A MUST FOR THE NATION

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, with the new school year now in full swing, 
our youngsters are brimming with the excitement of making new friends, 
radiating enthusiasm for new studies, and preparing for the challenges 
that lie ahead of them. Students are tackling new reading assignments 
and committing algebraic formulas to memory. During recess hour, they 
are frolicking in the school playground with new classmates and old 
friends, enjoying the waning days of shirt-sleeve weather. They feel 
safe and secure--free from threatening situations and out of harm's 
way.
  But as our children leave home each morning for the school day, we as 
parents, grandparents, educators, and legislators, must regretfully 
remember that, just a few months ago, some of our nation's schools 
looked more like virtual war zones with bloodshed and the tragic loss 
of life. From Paducah, KY, to Springfield, OR, the notion of schools as 
a safe haven was shattered by the sound of gunfire, and we must now 
begin to face the formidable challenge of rebuilding that serene and 
tranquil school environment that each and every student deserves.
  Today, responding to my concerns about this trend, I am unveiling a 
new branch of my web site which contains the most up-to-date and 
accurate information available from authoritative sources on school 
safety. I have designed this web site to be an electronic resource 
book, complete with descriptions of school safety initiatives underway 
in West Virginia, updates on federal funding available for violence 
prevention efforts, and the latest information on legislation moving 
through the Congress. I hope that this addition to my web site will 
serve as an important tool for parents, students, educators, and 
lawmakers in addressing the issue of school safety in West Virginia and 
in other States.
  In concert with the release of my school safety resources web site, I 
am also introducing companion legislation in the Senate today to 
Representative Bob Wise's recently introduced legislation, H.R. 4515, 
to provide for the establishment of school violence prevention 
hotlines. Often, a potentially harmful student confides in his closest 
friend about his intentions to launch a violent attack on school 
premises. Or perhaps, teachers notice a change in a student's demeanor 
or an action completely uncharacteristic of a happy, well-balanced 
child. Occasionally, the parents of an otherwise cheerful, amicable son 
or daughter detect hostility in their child's voice when talking about 
a particular group of students. All of these scenarios may be just a 
bad day on the surface or semantics misinterpreted, but they also may 
be the first signs of a potentially threatening student.
  My legislation would provide funds to local education agencies and 
schools that have established or proposed to establish school violence 
prevention hotlines. It is essential that parents, students, and 
teachers have an outlet where they can report threatening situations to 
authorities who will watch over the student's behavior and alert school 
officials. School violence hotlines can prevent a disturbed student in 
need of help from taking that next, sometimes fatal, step.
  I have long been concerned about the increasing incidence of violence 
in the classroom and have supported numerous efforts to combat this 
kind of outrageous behavior and strengthen discipline for all students. 
After receiving a disturbing report in 1990 from the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention which stated that nearly twenty-four 
percent of West Virginia's students between grades nine and twelve

[[Page S11545]]

carried a gun, knife, or other weapon to school at least once during 
that year for self-protection or use in a fight, I began looking for 
ways to better address the problem of school violence. In 1994, when 
Congress passed the Improving America's Schools Act in an effort to 
reauthorize and improve the existing Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act, I offered two amendments aimed at reducing the level of school 
violence.
  First, the Congress adopted my proposal directing local school 
districts to refer to the criminal justice system any student who 
brings a weapon to school. Possession of a weapon on school property is 
a crime, and when a crime occurs, the police should be notified. While 
school discipline is an appropriate and essential first step in 
reprimanding a student for such a violation, it is simply not enough. 
Possession of a firearm on school grounds is an outrage and a true 
impediment to the environment that teachers are striving to foster.
  The second amendment that I authored in 1994, which was approved by 
Congress, required the U.S. Secretary of Education to conduct the first 
major study of violence in schools since 1978. In July of this year, 
the National Center for Education Statistics, in concert with the 
Department of Education, released the results of this study, which was 
conducted with a nationally representative sample of 1,234 regular 
public, elementary, middle, and secondary schools in all 50 States and 
the District of Columbia.
  In a snapshot of the 1996-1997 school year, the study revealed that, 
with more than half of U.S. public schools reporting at least one crime 
incident, and one in ten schools reporting at least one serious violent 
crime during that school year, violence continues to beset schools 
across this country, all too often resulting in fatal situations.
  Back in my day, no student would have considered such lawless and 
unruly behavior. We knew right from wrong, as it was instilled in us 
from our parents, sometimes with the aid of a switch that we were made 
to fetch ourselves. We were told that the classroom was a sacred 
precinct. I was told that if I got a whipping at school I would get a 
thrashing at home.
  The classroom was a place where quiet prevailed and where students 
cherished the opportunity they had to learn, and that was the attitude 
we adopted. Unfortunately, today, students, many of them it seems, must 
be threatened by an impending obligation before the criminal justice 
system to make them behave and, often, even that has proven inadequate 
in keeping guns out of the hands of children and off school properties. 
Mr. President, what is it going to take to keep our students safe--
metal detectors in every elementary and secondary school in the nation? 
Is that the direction in which our country is headed?
  In the wake of reports of violence and tragedy at schools across the 
country, Congress is, once again, honing in on the issue of school 
safety. In more recent efforts, as part of the Fiscal Year 1999 
Commerce/Justice/State Appropriations Bill, the Senate approved $210 
million for a new national safe schools initiative to assist community-
level efforts. Of that funding, $175 million is to increase community 
policing in and around schools.
  Just a few weeks ago, as part of the Fiscal Year 1999 Labor/Health 
and Human Services,/Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 
the Senate Appropriations Committee reported out legislation which 
contains more than $150 million for a comprehensive school safety 
initiative to support activities that promote safe learning 
environments for students. Such activities may include targeted 
assistance, training for teachers and school security officers, and 
enhancing the capacity of schools to provide mental health services to 
troubled youth.

  Since the release of the 1990 report from the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, my home state of West Virginia has made great 
strides in addressing school violence, and is setting a true precedent 
for communities around the country in helping to establish safe schools 
which support learning for all children and the professionals who teach 
them. According to the West Virginia Department of Education, incidents 
involving a weapon have decreased by sixty-nine percent during the 
years 1994 through 1997, perhaps, in large part, due to short- and 
long-term initiatives underway in the State of West Virginia.
  Mr. President, our nation has been grappling with the issue of 
improved school safety for years, and I am frankly alarmed that 
American school children continue to face increasing crime and 
violence. It is time to stop wringing our hands over this issue and 
take action.
  We have a school system today run in many instances by hoodlums who 
are converting sacred temples for learning into terror camps with 
innocent children becoming casualties in scholastic ``free fire'' 
zones. We have teachers working in fear, too anxious even to teach 
their students properly. We must get guns out of the schools and put an 
end to this sense of panic which is pervading our nation's elementary 
and secondary education system. I am hopeful that these initiatives we 
have promulgated in the Senate this year will begin the mission of 
setting our nation back on track.
  One of the most important things that we can provide to our children 
is the opportunity for a good education. I was afforded the opportunity 
to obtain a good, solid education back when I was a student attending 
class in a two-room schoolhouse. Today, we have mammoth schools, with 
all kinds of high-tech equipment, computers, and amenities that I never 
had or had never even heard of, or couldn't even imagine in those 
years. Yet our students are not learning. We owe our young people today 
the chance to learn and excel in an environment free from guns, knives, 
and other weapons.
  One of the National Education Goals, as included in the Goals 2000 
legislation enacted in 1994, states ``all schools in America will be 
free of drugs and violence and the unauthorized presence of firearms 
and alcohol, and offer a disciplined environment that is conducive to 
learning by the year 2000.'' To accomplish that goal--it is almost 
going to be impossible--we must send a message loud and clear that we 
will not tolerate weapons in our schools.
  Protecting our children is not simply a matter of public policy. It 
is a matter of basic values, of teaching children right from wrong and 
punishing those who insist on doing wrong, of instilling them with 
respect for the law and providing them with limitations. Students must 
know that they will be punished for doing the wrong thing, or for 
choosing the bad route.
  Mr. President, in the blink of an eye, we have lost the lives of 
precious young children to school violence--children who may have grown 
to be teachers, doctors, businessmen and women, and perhaps even future 
Senators. We in Congress have a responsibility to stop this deadly 
trend from striking other innocent families. The time has long since 
come and gone for decency and sanity to re-enter the schoolhouse door--
let's get moving.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

                          ____________________