[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 9, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H3998-H3999]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      SAFETY IN AMERICA'S SCHOOLS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Isakson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise tonight and talk for a 
second about a subject that only a few months ago was on everybody's 
lips but fast wanes away, and that is school safety and the problem 
with violence in our schools.
  In the next few days, or next week, we will consider gun legislation. 
We will hear a lot of rhetoric. We will talk about a lot of things. But 
somehow, with time and space, we forget about the great tragedy that 
has happened in America in the past 2 years.
  This year, when graduation takes place, many students will commence 
to higher education. But in Colorado, 13 students will never go to 
class again. In Georgia, only by the grace of God, our students were 
injured and not killed.
  Does Congress have a role in this? Is there something that we can do? 
Yes, I think there is. But first I think we need to be honest about the 
blame game.
  There is appropriate responsibility in the gun industry, and they 
should accept it. There is appropriate responsibility in the motion 
picture industry, and they should accept it. There is appropriate 
responsibility in the music industry, and they should accept it. And 
every parent in America should understand today that parental 
responsibility must be restored in America if we are ever to solve 
school violence.
  But Congress has a role, too. It is our fault, as well. We stand here 
today in the people's House and appropriate money for the education of 
our children, the defense of our country, exports of our materials and 
facilitating our businesses. Yet our greatest natural resource is the 
generation now being educated in the schools of America.
  Should we run them? No, they should not be federalized. I was a 
school board chairman in Georgia. I know local control is important. 
But I know resources are equally important.

                              {time}  2045

  Next week, I will introduce in the Congress a bill that really does 
address school violence. It does not play the blame game by attacking 
an inanimate object, a motion picture or music, all of which have some 
responsibility, but instead it talks about us being a facilitator for 
resources at the local level through a block grant program that 
institutionalizes in this country an expectation of safety, discipline 
and student assistance.
  When you read behind the sensationalism of the last few instances in 
America, you will find students who were troubled, students who were 
reported by teachers or other parents to have demonstrated tendencies 
that would be violent, and you will find gaps between that report and 
any follow-up. And unfortunately in each and every case, whether it be 
Paducah or Jonesboro or Conyers or Littleton, tragedy ensued and the 
lives of American children were lost.
  This bill would do the following things. It would create a block 
grant program for any system in the country that wishes to apply for us 
to assist in the funding of a director of school safety in every public 
school in America. It would not allow the funds to supplant State or 
local funds. The individual employed would not necessarily have to be a 
certified teacher but could be at the discretion of that system, 
somebody that most importantly met the needs of the demographics of 
those children. If accepted, it would require a school safety plan. And 
further it would exempt from existing law the prohibitions we now place 
on many teachers and administrators from direct referrals of students 
who demonstrated violent tendencies to the appropriate law enforcement, 
mental health or other agency that we fund in our local governments 
around this country.
  Mr. Speaker, I am convinced that children rise to the expectations 
that we set for them. Unfortunately, we have created an environment 
where our expectations in our schools in terms of discipline, in terms 
of zero tolerance for violence, are not as high as they should be. And 
the children, the vast majority, almost 100 percent who are good kids, 
who obey the rules, who go to school, they should not be punished and 
their life should never be taken, because we did not do what we could 
do to facilitate an environment in our schools of safety and discipline 
and, probably most importantly, direct assistance when a child is in 
trouble, to see to it they receive what they need at the most critical 
time in their lives.
  I want to conclude by making a point. I am a parent. Since I have 
been in politics I probably got more credit for raising our three than 
I deserve, but my wife and I raised three wonderful children. We sent 
them all to public schools. I think that is the real world. I think 
that is the world my kids will grow up in. We sent them there and we 
tried our best to be involved in their education, to raise their 
expectations, to do the right thing and to obey the law. There are lots 
of other parents like that. But the biggest problem in America today is 
probably parental deficit disorder, not attention deficit disorder. We 
cannot expect our system to educate our kids and to raise them.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and let us do 
something concrete for the children of America.

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