[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
[October 10, 2006]
[Pages 1800-1807]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks in a Discussion on School Safety in Chevy Chase, Maryland
October 10, 2006
The President. Thank you very much. Thank you all for coming. In
many ways, I'm sorry we're having this meeting. In other ways, I know
how important it is that we're having this meeting. The violence that
has been occurring in our schools is incredibly sad, and it troubles a
lot of folks, and it troubled me and Laura. And
so I asked Margaret and Al to host a gathering of concerned citizens, the
purpose of which is to come up with best practices and just shared
experiences so that others might know how to react--to prevent and react
to inexplicable and--violence that is hard to imagine.
All of us in this country want our classrooms to be gentle places of
learning, places where people not only learn the basics--basic skills
necessary to become productive citizens but learn to relate to one
another. And our parents, I know, want to be able to send their child or
children to schools that are safe places. And the violence we've seen,
this is upsetting to a lot of people, and I know it's upsetting to the
professionals who are with us. But rather than be upset, it's best for
all of us who are responsible for helping folks not only cope but to
prevent action from taking place. It's best to be proactive. And that's
what this meeting is. And so I want to thank you all for joining.
I got a firsthand report on one of the panels from Laura, who said that--I think if I could summarize your words,
it was, like, really interesting and very important. And so I thought
what I would do is ask Al and
Margaret to begin this session and maybe
hear from some of the folks here, and then, if time permitting, hear
from you all out in the audience.
Again, I want to thank Margaret and
Al for setting this up, and really thank
you all for coming and taking an interest. I know we got people from all
around the country, and it's--this is a nationwide effort to help people
who are responsible protect our children.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Thank you. Mr. President, thank you for asking Margaret and I to host
this important conference. We've had some good panel discussions, as
you've already heard already. You've met some of the panelists that
we've invited back. And just for our audience, again, we've asked Dr.
Marleen Wong, Craig Scott, Fred Ellis, and Sheriff Jeff Dawsy to help us
speak with the President about this important issue.
[At this point, Attorney General Gonzales continued his remarks.]
The President. I like the Secret Service too, Art. [Laughter]
[Art Kelly, former police chief, New Bedford, MA, made brief remarks.]
The President. Let me ask you a question, Al--not you, Chief, but--well, I can
ask you too. I presume out of this there will be a series of best
practices that you will share with principals and schools districts that
explain, for example, what people could look for to determine whether or
not there's an early warning sign, and then how to respond.
Attorney General Gonzales. Exactly.
The President. Okay, good. Thanks, Chief.
[Attorney General Gonzales made further remarks, and Jeff Dawsy,
sheriff, Citrus County, FL, made brief remarks.]
The President. Is there an opportunity to share, between sheriffs
around the country, how they're dealing with this issue? Does it make
sense to have the National Sheriffs' Association contact members, ask
for stories, practices, and then condense
[[Page 1801]]
them and send them back out so that people can--who probably aren't
listening to this will be able to----
Sheriff Dawsy. I think it would be a
wonderful initiative. One of the things I learned today was not more
about questions but more of solutions. There was many different speakers
that came up and told us about different resources to use.
The President. Yes, that's my point.
Attorney General Gonzales. Mr.
President, I think that Sheriff Dawsy would say that this program helps
him to do his job, which means that I'm sure all the sheriffs around the
country would like that kind of program as well, to help them do their
job.
The President. That's my point. Yes. So who is responsible for
talking to the head of the Sheriffs' Association or the police chiefs to
make sure that happens?
Audience member. I'm right here, sir, and it will be done.
The President. Thank you, sir. Very good.
[The discussion continued.]
The President. Did you say 81 percent of the students were aware of
a violent act?
Fred Ellis. Some of the data that I had
heard today from the Secret Service and some of their research, that
much information was out there.
The President. It seems like a pretty good opportunity to prevent an
attack if 81 percent of the--there's an 81-percent awareness of a
potential attack, which then, I guess, would lead to making sure
principals explain to students: ``When you hear something, please tell
me.''
[Mr. Ellis, director, Office of Safety & Security, Fairfax County Public
Schools, Centreville, VA, made brief remarks, and the discussion
continued.]
The President. Is it typical of a student that expresses a wish to
die, makes that clear to his or her peers and to--if people are attuned
to what that means, to pay attention to somebody who exhibits the
behavior that says, ``I am depressed, and I want to die''? I mean, is
it--it's a pretty strong statement.
Marleen Wong. It's a wonderful question,
because there are behaviors and there are expressions of hopelessness
that come before that. And so I think we have to do a lot of education
with just folks who say, you know, ``They've changed. They don't have
joy in life,'' and that this is an early warning sign.
The President. But is it easy to define the behavior that would tip
off an adult in a school, or some--a coach or an art teacher that this
is the kind of behavior that ought to say to us, we better pay attention
to this person, this child?
Ms. Wong. Yes. There's a short list, and
actually, the student who sat on the previous panel did an excellent job
of naming all of those things. I was so proud of her. I thought she
ought to come and do some training with our----
The President. And how many educators do you think that can name--
good job, by the way--how many adults do you think around the schools in
America can name the traits that would say, we better pay attention to
this person?
Ms. Wong. Not enough.
The President. And therefore, what can we do to make sure that
people understand what to look for? It seems like to me that a lot of
our focus ought to be on preventing. And no question, we ought to worry
about recovering, but preventing is--makes the recovery not necessary.
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. Chiarasay, you did such a nice job this morning. Why
don't you go to the microphone real quick and tell us the nine signs.
The President. Where are you from, Chiarasay?
Chiarasay Perkins. Mr.
President, I'm from Walton County, Florida.
The President. Good. I know your Governor.
[Laughter]
[[Page 1802]]
[Ms. Perkins, student, Walton Senior High School, DeFuniak Springs, FL,
made brief remarks.]
The President. That's great. Thank you.
Ms. Wong. Thank you.
The President. Let me ask you a question. From your experience,
Marleen, if a teacher were to notice those
traits, is it typical that someone would act on them? In other words,
I'm just trying to make sure I understand. If a student sees--I mean, a
teacher sees a student begin to change clothes and begin to--does a
principal and a teacher tend to say, ``Well, that's really not my
business; it's the parents' business?'' In other words, awareness
requires, by the way, some kind of response.
Ms. Wong. And I think that varies around
the country.
The President. Yes, I'm sure it does.
Ms. Wong. I think that more and more people
are beginning to pay attention just because we have paid such a dear
price for ignoring some of the warning signs.
The President. So maybe an outcome for this is to encourage--for you
to get in touch with the principals' organizations or the teachers'
organizations and help----
Secretary Spellings. ----them be
aware of the warning signs.
The President. And then--I guess there's a certain confidence that
has to come with interfering--not interfering, but interceding in a
child's life. My only question is, is there hesitancy when an adult
says, ``Well, maybe this is just the way it's supposed to be,'' or,
``Maybe it's none of my business''? And the question is, if that's the
case--if you can determine that's the case, how do you get people to
respond differently?
Secretary Spellings. Cathy Paine from
Oregon told us about--where they had an incident there, that there were
dozens of signs of this particular shooter and that the full picture
didn't become clear until after the incident.
The President. Can you--do you mind sharing that? Thanks, Cathy.
[Cathy Paine, special programs administrator, Springfield School
District, Springfield, OR, made brief remarks.]
The President. The whole purpose of this exercise is to help educate
and, if there needs to be cultural change inside schools, for teachers
to become more aware and more active--or principals--is to try to
stimulate these kinds of discussions, obviously, outside of Washington,
at the local level or State levels, in the hopes of preventing these
from happening in the first place.
Thank you for coming to share your experience and appreciate your
sharing your expertise.
Secretary Spellings. One of the
people who's been doing that in a very meaningful way is Craig Scott,
who has talked all over the country to teenagers and teachers and
educators and school leaders. And he has a very powerful story, as you
know. His sister, Rachel, was murdered in Columbine.
So, Craig, why don't you share your thoughts.
[Craig Scott, former student, Columbine High School, Aurora, CO, made
brief remarks.]
The President. Good job. Whew. Which one of us up here can now talk
after that? Thank you. Yes, that's great. You are changing our society.
You may not realize it, but thank you--powerful statement.
I'd be glad to hear from people in the audience. [Laughter] Yes, I
probably won't be able to hear from all of you in the audience.
That was great, Craig. Thank you. Could I
have that?
Mr. Scott. Oh, absolutely.
The President. Thank you. Yes, sir.
[[Page 1803]]
Character Education/Community Involvement in Schools
Q. Mr. President, I haven't had this feeling since I was 17, and
that's the last time that I asked you a question in Herbert, Texas. I've
spoken to hundreds of thousands of people since. Last time I was nervous
was when I was 17 in Herbert, Texas, and you were campaigning in
Herbert, Texas.
The President. Don't tell them I came in second place in a two-man
race. [Laughter]
Q. My name is Pete Vargas. I'm the national director for Rachel's
Challenge, the program----
The President. Oh, fantastic, Pete.
Q. ----that Craig just talked about. And I want to echo something
that's very dear to my heart and Darrel, his father, who is sitting
right here.
The President. Your dad is there? Where is
your dad? Excuse me. Okay, thank you. Raised a good man here.
Q. I talk to thousands of educators every month--our team does--
thousands. And one of the things that disturbs me is there's hundreds
that say, ``Pete, you all have changed the culture of our school.'' But
then there's thousands that say, ``It's so hard for us to fit our--we
want your program so bad, but we have testing and testing and testing
and this and that,'' and it made me think about something, President. It
made me think about growing up--I was going the wrong direction
completely. I was stealing; I was doing everything possibly wrong--
vandalism, beating up kids. And in seventh grade there was a teacher,
Mrs. Muldanado, who touched my heart. In 10th grade, there was a lady
that you know from Herbert, Texas, that touched my heart. And in ninth
grade my tennis coach touched my heart, and those three people changed
my life. And as we--why I believe in what I'm doing so much is Darrel's
motto is that if we touch the heart of the kid, the head will follow. If
we touch their heart, the head will follow, and the hands will make the
difference.
My question to you today is, I don't want us to look at the warning
signs; I want us to eliminate the warning signs.
The President. Right, right.
Q. What can we do--what can we do--and this is echoing Darrel and
what Craig just said--what can we do from the government's standpoint to
go back to touching the heart of the kid, to teaching character
education? Because we hear that all the time about the testing.
The President. I agree. Pete, let me say--
first on the tests. Thanks for coming. It's good to see you again. I was
probably more nervous than you were when you asked the question.
[Laughter]
Q. You look the same. [Laughter]
The President. I like selected memory. [Laughter]
First, in terms of testing, I don't think it's zero sum. I think you
can make sure a child learns, and I think you can instill character at
the same time. I don't think you have to choose. As a matter of fact, I
know we can't say that one doesn't beget the other. I happen to believe
that self-esteem comes when a child realizes he or she can read early,
at grade level. And I think one of the real problems--[applause]--I
think one of the real problems we have, Pete, is
a school system across the country that basically gives up on children
because we don't measure to determine whether or not they have the
skills necessary to read, for example.
And so I'm concerned about a system that socially promotes children,
because I think that at some point in time, that begins to affect a
child's vision of the future, and a grim vision of the future may be
that which triggers a response that is negative.
Character education is--I know we funded quite a bit of it when I
was the Governor of Texas. Let me put the funding issue right on the
table. The Federal Government is a limited funder of education,
[[Page 1804]]
and I happen to believe that's the way it should be. I don't think it's
possible for the people to have expectations that the Government should
fund public schools. This is a local responsibility. It's been that way
throughout our history. I think it makes sense to do so because it tends
to make control of our schools more localized, which I happen to think
is the best way to achieve excellence.
And so therefore, not to try to pass responsibilities--although we
do have character education grants out of Washington, and we've got
school safety grants out of Washington. But the best place to facilitate
that kind of initiative, to make sure that character is taught in
schools, is at the State level.
Secondly, it's really important, Pete, that
people not think government is a loving entity. Government is law and
justice. Love comes from the hearts of people that are able to impart
love. And therefore, what Craig is doing is--he
doesn't realize it--he's a social entrepreneur. He is inspiring others
to continue to reach out to say to somebody who is lonely, ``I love
you.'' And I'm afraid this requires a higher power than the Federal
Government to cause somebody to love somebody. And therefore, it's a--
[applause]--and therefore, one of the things we can do, though, is to
call upon people--we've got the USA Freedom Corps Initiative, for
example, that calls on volunteers to take active participation in their
communities.
You know, Craig said something interesting.
I believe societies change one heart at a time. I don't mean to mimic
what you said, but I was actually praising what you said, because that's
how it works. And the truth of the matter is, if we really think about
it, the primary responsibility, the primary teacher of character is the
parent. That is the frontline of enabling our society to be a
compassionate, decent place. You wouldn't be sitting here if your
mother and father
hadn't instilled in you a--something inside your soul that caused you to
sit here in front of the President of the United States and give an
unbelievably eloquent testimony about compassion.
And the second line of defense in schools is, obviously, teachers.
And the hope is, is that out of this violence and terror comes this
notion that teachers have got to be--and by the way, the teachers have
got an unbelievably hard job--to not only teach but to show concern and
compassion. They've got their own lives to live. They've got their own
families to raise many times, and now they've got to deal with yet
another family situation, Pete. But yet,
nevertheless, that is where the compassion--you notice, you didn't say,
``I went to a program.'' You named three individuals that were heroic in
your lives. And that's the way it works.
Now, teaching character matters--no question about it--and there's
some great curriculum to do it. But the truth of the matter is, all this
need to say, ``I love you,'' comes from your soul. And so hopefully, out
of these tragedies will come the sense of communal obligation all
throughout our country, for people to take an extra effort to comfort
the lonely. That could be a student or a teacher--Pete, in your case, a tennis coach. Still got a backhand?
Anyway, thank you, buddy. It's good to see you again.
Yes, ma'am. Oh, yes, sir.
Voluntarism
Q. My name is John Kavelin. Up until yesterday, I was a Walt Disney
Imagineer for 16 years, but I have quit that activity to commit myself
for the rest of my life to a character education program that my sister,
her husband, and I created 15 years ago, on a little island in the
Pacific Northwest, called The Virtues Project. And it is exactly what I
think many people are looking for because it reaches the heart. It is a
multifaith, multicultural effort to simply teach five strategies that
help people practice virtues in everyday life.
[[Page 1805]]
What we've learned in 85 countries where this is applied is that
values are culture specific; virtues are universal to every sacred
tradition. So simply practicing virtues in the home, in the school, in
the workplace makes a shift in the culture.
And I am offering my love and my admiration for so many good-willed
people in this room for bringing this group of people together. It's so
exciting. And we're simply here to support whatever is going on.
The President. Yes, thanks for doing what you're doing. See, this is
a--our country is blessed by the fact that we have people who stand up
and say, ``I want to contribute,'' like you. Just retired yesterday? You
don't look a day over 60. Anyway--[laughter].
But see, Craig, what you're doing and what
this gentleman is doing will stimulate a lot of--as you said, you've
talked to a million kids, or a million people--same with you, sir. I
believe that there is no single answer, no single program. It's a mosaic
of programs all stimulated because people have decided to do something
about the problem. And it's really the uniqueness of the country.
I like to remind our fellow citizens that de Tocqueville recognized
this in 1832, the fact that voluntary organizations came together to
help solve local problems. And it is--in my judgment, it is this
capacity of citizens to take action to solve problems that defines the
true greatness of America.
And, Pete, to answer your question about
government: Government's role, in many ways, is to stimulate and to
encourage and to thank people who have taken it upon themselves to
either start character education or go into classrooms and to change
society one person at a time.
Yes, sir.
Parent and Community Involvement in Schools
Q. Mr. President, my name is Marvin Nash. I represent the Bullying
Hurts Program and the NASH Foundation, which stands for ``No Adolescent
Should Hurt,'' from Cheyenne, Wyoming. I want to let you know that I
will be traveling back to Nashville, Tennessee, where Storme Warren,
with Great American Country, and Charlie Daniels will be helping me make
PSAs to address this issue. Instead of talking about my program though,
I want to give my time up to this lady right here. She spent seven--she
spent her time with 17 students locked in a closet at Columbine, and she
has a question for you. So we're not going to talk about me; we're going
to talk about her.
The President. Thank you, buddy. Nice-
looking hat.
Q. Mr. President, Madam Secretary of Education, Marleen, Craig, and
everybody else, my name is--[inaudible]--and I'm just a regular person.
I don't have a radio talk show. [Laughter] And I don't--I'm not in
charge of a big, major organization. I am a flight attendant for
Frontier Airlines, and I'm shaking right now because I didn't think I
was going to get up here. And I'm also a proud, retired teacher from
Columbine High School.
And I think everything I was going to say just kind of flew out of
my mind. I'm also a professional volunteer, and I am not here to ask for
money for any program. When I said ``professional volunteer,'' I don't
mean I make money volunteering, but there are a whole group of just
regular people like me out there. Even though I retired from Columbine,
I have a daughter at Columbine right now who is a junior. I volunteer in
the postgrad center there. I volunteer with the cheer squad, the
football team, and it doesn't always take a lot of money to get things
done. It's little people like me--I don't mean in size. I mean, it's
little people like me who get there, little people like us. Like Grand
Daddy Wong used to say, ``Okay, one stick--you break it one at a time,''
but if we stick together, we can get it done.
I'm just saying, unless us volunteers--I always have time to
volunteer, and I know
[[Page 1806]]
other people do too. And it's what Craig was saying, it comes from the
heart. President Bush, it's what you were saying. It's what our parents
taught us, and it's what we need to teach our kids. It's that--I hope I
don't pronounce it wrong--generativity, where we help to make the next
generation better. So I'm sorry I forgot what my question was.
[Laughter]
The President. What matters is your testimony, not your question.
Thank you.
Last question, and I've got to go. Gonzales is also reminding me; actually I'm on a schedule here. I
apologize. I'd like to sit here all day listening, and I am inspired
that so many came to talk about this subject.
Yes, ma'am.
Character Education in State Curricula
Q. Good afternoon, Mr. President, Madam Secretary. My name is--
[inaudible]--and I'm a youth programs director in New York City for a
nonprofit called Art of Living Foundation. And like a lot of these
wonderful people here, we teach a program in human values and stress
management for teenagers and how to handle their negative emotions--
which they just don't learn, I'm finding, nowadays. And what I have
students constantly asking me is, ``Can't this be a class in our school?
Can we learn human values and universal ethics that are found in every
culture?'' But they're not being taught--a lot of times not at home--
they're not being taught. And they're definitely not always being taught
in schools. There's some amazing public school teachers, but there's
also some very stressed-out public school teachers.
The President. Absolutely.
Q. Can this be--is there a way to have a class in public school
where students learn stress management, the ability to deal with their
own anger, frustration, and violent tendencies, and also to learn human
values and actually practice them? Can they receive credit for a class
like this? This is what students are asking, and I have superintendents
coming to me saying, ``What can you do?''--in our suspension centers--
``We'll give credit to students for doing this.'' Is there a way we can
do that?
Secretary Spellings. Well, those are
State curriculum issues, and lots of States have included character
education or programs like that as part of their required curriculum and
give credit for it. But I would commend all those superintendents to
their State board of education and put them to work. We had some of that
in Texas and gave a lot of credit for peer mentoring and those sorts of
things that are so supportive of kids.
The President. I am sorry for those of you standing in line. I know;
I apologize.
Q. Time for one more?
The President. Okay, one final guy--go ahead. [Laughter]
Voluntarism
Q. I wanted to explain why I had on a bright red jacket.
The President. Yes, that's why. [Laughter]
Q. I appreciate it.
The President. Thank you for coming.
Q. My name is Michael Wade Smith, and I'm the national president for
Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America. We are an in-school,
high school, and middle school organization focusing on the family. Our
main mission is to promote family as the basic unit of society.
And I'm happy I got to follow up after your question because we
are--family consumer sciences--its curriculum in high schools and middle
schools is teaching character education, that is teaching youth violence
prevention. We're teaching career exploration. Because of our title,
Family and Consumer Sciences and Family, Career, and Community Leaders
of America, we address every one of the issues that's been presented in
the discussions and in this room. And we are willing and wanting to
partner with every single person in here to help students get this
message out to students. We're about peer-to-peer message
[[Page 1807]]
sharing. We want each and every student in our organization, which
reaches about a quarter of a million students, to be a lot broader than
that. We want to touch every student in America through our programs and
through our mission to promote family as the basic unit of society and
the values thereof.
So I thank you, Mr. President, Mrs. Bush----
The President. Why the red coat? [Laughter] Just so you got called
on? I mean, is there a--[laughter].
Q. I just wanted that. No, our colors in the organization are red
and white.
The President. Fabulous.
Q. So all of the officers wear our red jackets.
The President. I, once again, apologize. I've got to get on an
airplane. But I do want to thank you all for coming. I hope you have
found this interesting. I am a results-oriented person, and I expect
from Margaret and Al to make sure that out of all this effort comes some
concrete action to help people understand what is possible, what is
doable, the programs that are working. And the head of the sheriff's
department readily sprung to his feet to say, ``You can count on me.''
The purpose has got to be more than just hoping somebody is
listening to TV. The purpose has got to be--out of this--that we share
information so that we can save lives, encourage parents, and help
people respond.
And I want to thank you all very much for coming. I'm proud you're
here. God bless you all.
Note: The President spoke at 1:24 p.m. at the National 4-H Conference
Center. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida.
Participating in the event was Marleen Wong, director, Crisis Counseling
and Intervention Services, Los Angeles Unified School District, and
director, Trauma Services Adaptation Center for Schools and Communities,
Los Angeles, CA.