[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10535]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                       COMBATTING SCHOOL VIOLENCE

  (Mr. WISE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, mercifully events in Georgia last week 
produced no deaths in the school shooting. But this shows why it is 
that all of us at every level of government and every part of our 
community have to be working harder to reduce school violence. There 
are things that this Congress can be doing, things that our communities 
can be doing.
  One area that we are working on in West Virginia and which I hope 
might be of benefit in other areas is we are designing a school safety 
report card: What are the elements of a safe school, listing them and 
then giving that to each community so each community can evaluate its 
own school.
  One thing that I have learned following four hearings across our 
State is that there is no one-size-fits-all. We have to tailor our 
responses to each community and to each school. But we also have to 
dedicate ourselves to the proposition that as school ends this year, 
that when it resumes next year the schools will be safer than they have 
been.

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