[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16]
[House]
[Pages 23400-23401]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



H.R. 2982, A BILL CALLING FOR THE HIRING OF 100,000 RESOURCE STAFF FOR 
                                STUDENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Hawaii (Mrs. Mink) is recognized for 5 minutes.

  Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a very 
important piece of legislation, H.R. 2982.

  This bill will provide $15 billion over a five year period 
specifically for states to hire resource staff in our public schools to 
help students cope with the stress and anxieties of adolescence.

  Pearl, Mississippi; West Paducah, Kentucky; Jonesboro, Arkansas; 
Springfield, Oregon; Edinboro, Pennsylvania; Fayetteville, Tennessee; 
Littleton, Colorado--all of these towns should conjure up images of 
small-town American life--quiet neighborhoods, friendly faces, and 
good, safe schools. However, today these towns bring to mind radically 
different images--children with guns, students fleeing schools in 
terror, and kids killing their classmates.

  It is hard to forget the images of Columbine High School. Not because 
this shooting spree was more tragic than any of the others--all of 
these incidents have been undeniably jarring--but because the attackers 
were so calculated and so ruthless in their killings. Why did this 
happen? What could make children from seemingly typical upbringings 
turn so violent? And what can we do to ensure that our children will be 
safe at school?

  I don't know if we will ever find all of the answers, and I am not 
suggesting that Washington is necessarily the place to look for them--I 
think that, ultimately, we must look to our culture and within our own 
families to find the answers--but I do know that this Congress owes it 
to our children to work on policies that can bring about change.

  First, we must look to substantive preventive measures. Security 
guards, metal detectors, and expelling violent students--all have their 
place in addressing this problem, but they do nothing to prevent 
tragedies from occurring. Ultimately, we must work with children to 
ensure they can handle their anger and emotions without resorting to 
violence. Many of our children enter school with emotional, physical, 
and interpersonal barriers to learning. We need more school counselors 
in our schools, not only to help identify these troubled youth, but to 
work on developmental skill building.

  The fact is today we have no real infrastructure of support for our 
kids when it comes to mental health services in our schools. We 
currently have only 90,000 school counselors for approximately 41.4 
million students in our public schools. That is, on average, roughly 1 
counselor for every 513 students. For many schools the ratio is even 
worse. In Hawaii, for instance, we have only 1 counselor for every 525 
students. In California, there is only 1 counselor for more than 1,000 
students. That is simply not enough.

  With current school counselors responsible for such large numbers of 
students, they are unable to address the students' personal needs. 
Instead, their role is more often administrative, scheduling, and job 
and college counseling. The child is forfeited for different goals.

  My legislation will put 100,000 new resource staff in our schools to 
focus on the mental health needs of students. Like the President's

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100,000 new teacher initiative, this will make it easier for children 
to get the attention they need.

  This resource staff assigned to work for and with students will be 
hired to address the personal, family, peer level, emotional, and 
developmental needs of students. By focusing on these personal needs, 
these staff members will pick up early warning signs of troubled youth. 
They will improve student interaction and school safety. In short, they 
can save kids' lives.

  These resource staff can also provide consultation with teachers and 
parents about student learning, behavior and emotional problems. They 
can develop and implement prevention programs. They can deal with 
substance abuse. They can set up peer mediation, and they can enhance 
problem solving in schools. Resource staff will provide important 
support services to students, and to parents and teachers on behalf of 
the students.

  By no means is this the only thing that needs to be addressed to 
prevent youth violence. This should be the cornerstone of a much larger 
proposal. We must also look at the media's impact on violence and the 
easy accessibility of guns. We must strengthen our programs for 
families and early childhood development, and we must develop character 
education programs.

  If we are really serious about addressing school violence, we must 
address prevention. My bill does that, and I urge all of my colleagues 
to support this legislation.

                          ____________________