[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 67 (Thursday, May 25, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4443-S4444]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SCHOOL SAFETY

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, earlier this month, the Senate began 
consideration of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a 
reauthorization bill that would determine our national education 
policy. We spent a few days on that bill, offering and debating 
amendments, to reduce class size and reward teachers who improve 
student achievement, among other things.
  On May 9, 2000, the Majority Leader withdrew the education bill from 
consideration, and the Senate moved on to other business. At the time, 
the Majority Leader indicated his intent to come back to the education 
bill, either later in that same week, or the week after.
  It is now more than three weeks later and Congress is preparing to 
adjourn for the Memorial Day recess without addressing a critical 
component of our national education policy: school safety.
  The education bill was likely withdrawn from the Senate because of 
the possibility of a school safety amendment aimed at curbing gun 
violence. Unfortunately, education and gun violence are now inseparable 
issues. The wave of school shootings--in Jonesboro, Arkansas, 
Littleton, Colorado, and recently, in Mt. Morris Township, Michigan--
has changed America's perception of safety in school.
  Over the last few years, we have made some gains. Over the four year 
period, from 1993 to 1997, the percentage of high school students who 
carried a weapon to school declined from 12% to 9%; the rate of crime 
against students ages 12 to 18 fell one-third; and 90 percent of 
schools reported no incidents of serious violent crime in 1996-1997.
  Despite these gains, students feel less safe at school, and access to 
guns is a primary reason why. School violence, or even the threat of 
school violence, instills fear in our students, and limits their 
ability to learn. School violence also threatens and intimidates 
teachers--making instruction more difficult.
  The learning environment is in jeopardy, and unless we address the 
vulnerabilities of our schools, many of our other efforts to improve 
the education system will be undermined.
  I'm sure all of us agree that any act of violence--whether it's as 
common as a fist fight in the locker room or as extreme as a shoot out 
in the cafeteria--interferes with the educational process. Ron Astor, 
an assistant professor of social work and education at the University 
of Michigan in Ann Arbor, has said: ``Violence in schools . . . 
interferes with children's physical well being, academic functioning, 
social relations, and emotional and cognitive development.''
  School violence has always posed a threat to students and teachers, 
but the advent of gun violence in schools has escalated the problem. 
Gun violence, not only affects students at a particular school, it has 
a rippling effect on students at schools in the same county, state, and 
in some cases, the entire country.
  I have a letter from Professor Astor, who wrote to me earlier this 
month, when the Senate was debating education policy. Professor Astor 
has been researching the topic of school violence for over 17 years, 
and has produced 23 publications on the topic. His research gives us a 
clear understanding of how gun violence, and the fear of gun violence, 
impacts schools in Michigan, and in the  United States.

  Professor Astor writes:

       Dear Senator Levin,
       I am pleased that the Senate is debating the topic of 
     education in our nation. As a professor of education, I hope 
     that you will include in your discussions the issue of school 
     safety. As you know, the general public is seriously 
     concerned with the safety of our schools. Polls taken over 
     the past seven years indicated that the public considers 
     school violence to be the top problem facing U.S. schools. 
     Hopefully, the Senate's efforts will result in policy and 
     legislation that make our schools safer for our children.

  He continues:

       Clearly, teachers, students, and school staff are most 
     concerned about the presence of firearms and weapons in our 
     schools. In the context of a discussion on guns and mass 
     shootings, consider the fear described by this middle school 
     teacher who participated in one of our studies: ``A lot of us 
     are afraid. You come in the morning and you're just afraid to 
     even go to work. You're just so stressed out, because you're 
     all tensed up, you can't feel happy and teach like you want 
     to because you've got to spend all of your time trying to 
     discipline. You're scared somebody's going to walk in. We 
     keep our doors locked. We have to keep our doors locked.'' 
     Middle school teacher. (Meyer, Astor & Behre, 2000).

  Professor Astor goes on:

       In our studies, students and school staff often mention 
     fear from the threat of guns and other lethal weapons. 
     Without a doubt, the knowledge or rumor of a gun in a school 
     instills fear in the school community. Teachers and students 
     are well aware that the shocking mass murders recently 
     perpetrated in schools are exclusively associated with 
     firearms. Our country has a long history of lethal acts in 
     schools (see Kachur et al, 1996 in the Journal of the 
     American Medical Association), however, the use of guns as a 
     weapon of choice, has made multiple murders a more common 
     occurrence. This, in turn, has promoted a high level of fear 
     within schools. Obviously, the fear of death or potential 
     catastrophe is not conducive with a positive learning 
     environment. Consequently, I urge you and your colleagues to 
     take a strong stance on the issue of firearms.

  Professor Astor quotes a middle school teacher frightened by the 
thought of a school shooting, and she is not alone. Teachers and 
students across this nation fear what may happen to them in the 
classroom. Those of us who feel strongly about education and school 
safety must do something to ease their fears. Congress must curb young 
people's access to guns. We must pass legislation designed to reduce 
the level of gun violence, and the fear of such violence, in our 
communities.
  Gun violence is certainly not the only cause of fear in school. 
Professor Astor explains, that in addition to concerns about firearms, 
teachers and students fear more common forms of violence, such as fist 
fights, sexual harassment, teasing and bullying. All violence in school 
is unacceptable and we should continue to work toward curbing any and 
all student harm. But gun

[[Page S4444]]

violence is a dominant cause of fear among teachers and students in our 
schools
  We have the opportunity to take the first step toward establishing a 
safer and more secure school environment, by among other things, 
passing the juvenile justice bill which would ban juvenile possession 
of assault weapons and close the gun show loophole. But if we can not 
pass the juvenile justice bill, we will use other means to prevent the 
gun violence that has plagued too many American schools and 
communities.
  I hope this Senate will continue its debate on this country's long-
term education needs and at the same time, work toward finding a long-
term solution for reducing the shootings in American schools. Students 
around the country may be off for the summer, but Congress will have to 
keep working until we can make the grade on school safety.
  I ask unanimous consent to submit the full text of Professor Astor's 
letter in the Record.
  There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                       University of Michigan,

                                       Ann Arbor, MI, May 2, 2000.
     Senator Levin,
     Russell Building,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Levin, I am pleased that the Senate is 
     debating the topic of education in our nation. As a professor 
     of education, I hope that you will include in your 
     discussions the issue of school safety. As you know, the 
     general public is seriously concerned with the safety of our 
     schools. Polls taken over the past seven years indicated that 
     the public considers school violence to be the top problem 
     facing U.S. schools. Hopefully, the Senate's efforts will 
     result in policy and legislation that make our schools safer 
     for our children.
       I have been researching school violence for over 17 years. 
     I have 23 publications on the topic of school violence in the 
     U.S.A. and abroad. In addition, I teach courses on school 
     violence to teachers, psychologists and social workers who 
     will be creating and administering school violence programs 
     in U.S. schools. Consequently, I have a perspective on this 
     issue that spans both research and practice.
       Based on my research, I would like to encourage you and 
     your colleagues to pass legislation that addresses children's 
     perceptions of safety in school. Our research shows that both 
     children and teachers (in elementary, middle, and high 
     school) are reluctant to categorize their entire setting as 
     unsafe. However, when students and their teachers are asked 
     to identify specific locations in their school (e.g., the 
     bathrooms, playgrounds, hallways, areas immediately 
     surrounding the school), most identify dangerous areas that 
     they fear or avoid. Therefore feelings of danger are far more 
     common experiences for students than the data in federal 
     studies suggest. For example, in recent studies (enclosed 
     Astor, Meyer & Behre, 1999; Astor, Meyer & Pitner, in press), 
     we mapped violence-prone school locations within schools and 
     then conducted in-depth interviews with students, teachers, 
     and principals in Michigan elementary, middle and high 
     schools. In these studies we found students and teachers very 
     reluctant to categorize their entire school as being unsafe 
     even though the vast majority of students identified areas 
     that they avoid due to school safety issues. Furthermore, 
     girls consistently identify more areas than boys that they 
     feared or avoided. One study found that over a third of 
     school territory was considered unsafe by girls.
       The teachers are also aware of danger in their work-
     settings (e.g., enclosed Meyer, Astor, & Behre, 2000). For 
     example, 75% of the teachers in our sample, identified at 
     least one area in or around their school that they considered 
     unsafe or dangerous. Female middle and high school 
     teachers identified more areas than their male colleagues 
     that they perceived to be unsafe (e.g., 58% vs. 87% of 
     males and females respectively). Teachers are very brave. 
     Although they sense danger in specific school locations 
     the vast majority of teachers claimed they would intervene 
     even though they may be placing themselves in harms way. 
     Teachers continually mentioned the need for protection 
     against physical harm, legal issues, and policies that 
     support their actions to make school safer. Contrary, to 
     the current trend in zero tolerance policies, most of the 
     students and teachers in our studies advocate for a 
     relationship oriented approach that focuses on building a 
     caring school community. Neither students nor teachers 
     feel that security oriented measures (video cameras, 
     security guards, police officers, alarm systems, 
     expulsions) are conducive to a healthy learning 
     environment. Furthermore, the findings in our studies show 
     that interventions designed to encourage teacher/student 
     relationships are perceived to be the most effective and 
     consistent with the educational goals of our nation's 
     schools.
       Clearly, teachers, students, and school staff are most 
     concerned about the presence of firearms and weapons in our 
     schools. In the context of a discussion on guns and mass 
     shootings, consider the fear described by this middle school 
     teacher who participated in one of our studies:
       ``But I'm telling you, there's so much violence and in 
     different areas and in different districts and different 
     states where teachers are being killed every day. And don't 
     look to me as a teacher to solve the violence in the school. 
     It was there before I got there. It is getting worse. I'm 
     here to tell you. I will--a lot of us are afraid. You come in 
     the morning and you're just afraid to even go to work. You're 
     just so stressed out, because you're all tensed up, you can't 
     feel happy and teach like you want to because you've got to 
     spend all of your time trying to discipline. You're scared 
     somebody's going to walk in. We keep our doors locked. We 
     have to keep our doors locked.'' Middle school teacher. 
     (Meyer, Astor & Behre, 2000).
       In our studies, students and school staff often mention 
     fear from the threat of guns and other lethal weapons. 
     Without a doubt, the knowledge or rumor of a gun in a school 
     instills fear in the school community. Teachers and students 
     are well aware that the shocking mass murders recently 
     perpetrated in schools are exclusively associated with 
     firearms. Our country has a long history of lethal acts in 
     schools (see Kachur et al, 1996 in the Journal of the 
     American Medical Association), however, the use of guns as a 
     weapon of choice, has made multiple murders a more common 
     occurrence. This, in turn, has promoted a high level of fear 
     within school. Obviously, the fear of death or potential 
     catastrophe is no conducive with a positive learning 
     environment. Consequently, I urge you and your colleagues to 
     take a strong stance on the issue of firearms.
       Our findings demonstrate that in addition a focus on 
     weapons in schools, national legislation should be focusing 
     on most common forms of student harm such as school beatings, 
     sexual harassment, relentless humiliation/teasing, bullying, 
     and other forms of victimization. These kinds of events have 
     a very large impact on students overall sense of school 
     safety. We just conducted a large scale (16,000 students) 
     international study that shows these more common forms of 
     violence account for many students nonattendance of school 
     due to fear/humiliation. Creating on overall climate of 
     safety in the school is essential. Draconian security 
     measures used in the name of school safety (expulsion, 
     police, metal detectors), may actually increase students 
     fear of school violence and interfere with their learning.
       Finally, the Columbine shootings have qualitatively changed 
     our countries perceptions of school violence. Based on my 
     contacts with hundreds of teachers, school principals, and 
     school district superintendents in Michigan and across the 
     country, I can confidently say that school districts are now 
     more punitive, frightened, and authoritarian, surrounding 
     issues of school violence. Consequently, it appears that 
     schools harsh responses (usually suspension and expulsions) 
     are now extended to innuendo's, nasty stares, verbal threats, 
     and rude behaviors. Rather than creating a safer school 
     climate, students, teachers, and principals claim that these 
     security measures are fostering an oppressive environment 
     which may be equally detrimental to learning. From a public 
     policy perspective, expelling our most aggressive children is 
     a social disaster because it increases the likelihood that 
     these children will commit serious violent acts in the 
     community. Being banished from school at a young age 
     increased the chances of a ``dead end'' life, prison, 
     welfare, being at the periphery of our economy, and a life of 
     crime. Positive relationshps created in schools may actually 
     serve as a protective factor for many of our most aggressive 
     children. Therefore, I'd like to encourage you and your 
     esteemed colleagues to carefully consider policies that 
     mirror a democratic, caring, community-oriented, and 
     relationship-oriented school environment. These empirically 
     supported virtues would accomplish the dual goals of 
     fostering academic excellence within the context of safe 
     feeling environments. Students, teachers, principals and 
     parents do not want their schools turned into prison-like 
     environments. This would not benefit our children's education 
     or our democracy. Finally, they do not increase children's 
     sense of safety. The facts suggested that the opposite is 
     true.
       I have enclosed a series of articles published or in press 
     (in scientific peer reviewed journals). Please feel free to 
     contact me if you have any questions.
       With respect,
           Sincerely,
                                             Ron Avi Astor, Ph.D.,
     Associate Professor of Education and Social Work.

                          ____________________