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Fisher - Cases: School Safety Anti - Terr Ctr Law Enf. Related Talks
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7
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PAGE 48
68TH STORY of Level 2 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1998 Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.
FDCH Federal Department and Agency Documents
April 30, 1998; Thursday
LENGTH: 488 words
AGENCY: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
SIC-MAJOR-GROUP: 07 - Justice
HEADLINE: ATTORNEY GENERAL JANET RENO TO URGE GREATER USE OF MEDIATION AND
DISPUTE RESOLUTION, ON LAW DAY
CONTACT: (202) 616-2777
BODY:
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- To celebrate Law Day, Attorney General
Janet Reno and Associate Attorney General Ray Fisher will travel
to California Friday to urge lawyers to make greater use of
appropriate dispute resolution as a way to settle disputes. Law
Day, which occurs every May 1, is a time to commemorate the value
of the law and the freedoms that flow from it.
Recognizing that the federal courts are saddled with
hundreds of thousands of cases, Reno will highlight the benefits
of mediation and arbitration over costly, time consuming
litigation. She will also emphasize that dispute resolution can
be used in our classrooms and communities as well.
Reno will conduct a roundtable discussion with children who
have experienced a mediation program at a county courthouse in
Monterey Park, deliver a luncheon address on the role of lawyers
as peacemakers and problemsolvers in Los Angeles, and give
remarks and participate in discussion at California Western
School of Law in San Diego.
Los Angeles County Juvenile Dependency Court
TIME: 11:00 AM - 11:20 AM
PAGE 49
Federal Department and Agency Documents, April 30, 1998
DATE: Friday, May 1, 1998
SITE: L.A. County Juvenile Dependency Court
1st floor
201 Centre Plaza Drive
Monterey Park, California
* The Attorney General and the Associate Attorney General will
participate in a roundtable discussion with two teenagers, who
will discuss their experiences in the "Children's Courthouse."
This will be pool coverage only. CONTACT: Thomas Mrozek (213)
894-6947
Los Angeles County Bar Association Luncheon
TIME: 12:00 PM
DATE: Friday, May 1, 1998
SITE: Hotel Inter-Continental
251 S. Olive Street
Los Angeles, California
* The Attorney General and the Associate Attorney General will
be the featured speakers at a luncheon sponsored by the Los
Angeles Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association. Reno
will deliver a speech entitled, "ADR and the Role of Lawyers as
Peacemakers and Problem Solvers." CONTACT: David Fong (213) 896-6450.
California Western School of Law's McGill Center for Creative
Problem Solving
TIME: 4:30 PM
DATE: Friday, May 1, 1998
SITE: California Western School of Law
350 Cedar Street
PAGE 50
Federal Department and Agency Documents, April 30, 1998
San Diego, California
*
The Attorney General will make remarks and lead a roundtable
discussion on creative problem solving at the McGill Center. The
Center trains its students to seek innovative solutions when they
graduate and are working to serve both their clients and the
broader community. U.S. Attorney Alan Bersin will also be in
attendance. CONTACT: Katherine Curridan (619) 525-7645.
REGION: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals - Virginia, West Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, D.C.
INDUSTRY-CODE: Justice, public order, and safety
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: May 12, 1998
PAGE
24
LEVEL 1 - 14 OF 487 STORIES
The Associated Press State & Local Wire
The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These
materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The
Associated Press.
October 3, 1998, Saturday, AM cycle
SECTION: State and Regional
LENGTH: 424 words
HEADLINE: Kentucky deputy is among first trainees of anti-terrorism center
DATELINE: FORT MCCLELLAN, Ala.
BODY:
Chad Carpenter has a grim job.
As one of 30 people taking the first advanced operations class at the new
Center for Domestic Preparedness at Fort McClellan, he is learning what to do in
case his community - Boone County, Ky., - is attacked by terrorists.
"In the world that we live in today, there are a lot of dangers out there,'
Carpenter said. "If something happens, this is helping give me the training to
be ready."
The training includes walking around in a hot, heavy hazardous materials suit
along with gas mask, rubber boots and gloves. The protective gear is necessary
because the students work with live chemical agents as they learn to investigate
a chemical weapons attack, clean it up and minimize its effects.
The center's first series of classes, attended by more than 450 people, were
"advanced awareness" classes consisting mainly of classroom exercises.
Participants learn how to deal with biological, chemical, nuclear and
conventional attacks, but don't have the hands-on experience with live agents
that the advanced operations class does.
Officials from the Justice Department attended a ceremony inaugurating the
new course on Thursday.
The Center for Domestic Preparedness, which opened in June, is aimed at
teaching local law enforcement and emergency workers like firefighters how to
cope with terrorist attacks. Those trained at the center are supposed to go back
and show others what they have learned.
"In Washington, we approve money, we talk about programs like this," said
Raymond Fisher, associate U.S. attorney general and third-ranking official in
Justice. "Making them happen, making them real is what it's all about.'
The bombings of the World Trade Center in New York and the federal building
in Oklahoma City taught the country an important lesson: that it is vulnerable
to terrorism, domestic or foreign, said Assistant Attorney General Laurie
Robinson. Now there is bipartisan support in Congress to ensure that first
responders have the tools and training to deal with a terrorist incident, she
PAGE 25
The Associated Press State & Local Wire, October 3, 1998
said, and some cities already have programs in place.
"I think you'll find there's a real diversity of preparedness," she said.
But, "there are a number of rural areas and cities that don't yet have the tools
they need. "
Although Congress including funding in this year's budget for $ 12 million to
help state and local governments buy equipment, Ms. Robinson said more money is
needed.
The center, which opened in June, has a $ 15 million budget funded through
the Justice Department.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: October 3, 1998
PAGE
19
LEVEL 1 - 11 OF 487 STORIES
Copyright 1998 U.S. Newswire, Inc.
U.S. Newswire
October 13, 1998 21:56 Eastern Time
SECTION: ASSIGNMENT DESK, DAYBOOK EDITOR
LENGTH: 1267 words
HEADLINE: The President and First Lady to Host White House Conference on School
Safety
CONTACT: White House Press Office, 202-456-7150
BODY:
News Advisory:
President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will host the " White
House Conference on School Safety: Causes and Preventions of Youth Violence" on
Oct. 15. The conference will be a day-long event held in the White House
Conference Center and in the East Room of the White House and will include
participation by Attorney General Janet Reno, Education Secretary Richard Riley,
members of Congress, and state and local elected officials. More than 100
individuals from around the country, including teachers, principals, school
superintendents, members of law enforcement, experts from medical and
psychological fields, clergy and religious leaders and other community
representatives will attend the conference. The conference will be broadcast via
satellite to more than 600 locations nationwide and cybercast on the Internet.
What: The President and First Lady host the White House
Conference on School Safety
Where: The White House
When: All Day, Thursday, Oct. 15
Schedule of Events:
8:30 a.m.
Morning Workshop Sessions
White House Conference Center, Jackson Place
POOL PRESS ONLY (FOR OPENING REMARKS ONLY)
1.) "Education and Safety" -- Chair, Secretary of
Education Richard Riley
2.) "Early Warning Signs, Mental Health
Interventions and Crisis Response" -- Chair,
Margaret Hamburg, assistant secretary of Health
and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation
3.) "School, Community and Law Enforcement
Partnerships" -- Chair, Associate Attorney General
Raymond Fisher
4.) "Causes of Youth Violence in Early Childhood
Development" -- Chair, Attorney General Janet Reno
Note:
Four Separate Pools will be formed for the morning
workshop sessions. Media interested in serving as
pool for these workshops should contact the White
House Press Office at 202-456-7150. These workshops
PAGE
20
U.S. Newswire, October 13, 1998
will not be available via satellite or cybercast.
10:30 a.m.
Morning Plenary Session
East Room, The White House
OPEN PRESS
Opening Session and Conference Overview -- The First
Lady, Attorney General Janet Reno, Secretary of
Education Richard Riley, and panel participants
12:45 p.m. Afternoon Panel I
East Room, The White House
OPEN PRESS
Discussion of the Causes and Prevention of Youth
Violence that Affect our Schools and Communities --
The President, Vice President, First Lady, and panel
participants
---
2:45 p.m.
Afternoon Panel II
East Room, The White House
OPEN PRESS
Discussion of Initiatives and Strategies that Work
to Reduce Youth Violence -- The First Lady, Attorney
General Janet Reno, Secretary of Education Richard
Riley, and panel participants
Note:
Panel participants will be available for interviews
on the White House North Lawn following Afternoon
Panel I and Afternoon Panel II. Media without White
House credentials or needing clearance should
contact the White House Press Office at
202-456-7150. Media wishing to pre-set should gather
in the briefing room at 9 a.m. for escort to the
East Room. Final escort for the morning session will
be at 10: 15 a.m.
---
Satellite Information:
All East Room sessions of the White House Conference
on School Safety will be broadcast via satellite.
Over 600 communities across the country will be
hosting events around this live national satellite
broadcast. Contact the White House Press Office for
locations in your communities. In addition, media can
downlink the satellite broadcast from the following
coordinates:
C-Band Coordinates:
Ku-Band Coordinates:
PAGE
21
U.S. Newswire, October 13, 1998
Satellite: GE2
Satellite: Galaxy 3
Transponder: 1
Transponder: 17
Channel: 1
Channel: 17
Frequency: 3720 MHZ Vertical
Frequency: 12043 MHZ Vertical
---
Cybercast Information:
The White House Conference on School Safety Cybercast
can be accessed at the following World Wide Web
address: www.whitehouse.gov/WH/New/Safety
Panel Participants:
The following are some of the individuals who will
participate in panel discussions during the White
House Conference on School Safety:
-- Paul Kingery, Ph.D., director, Hamilton Fish
National Institute on School and Community Violence,
Rosslyn, Va.
-- Marlene Wong, director, L.A. School of Mental
Health, Valley Branch, Calif.
-- Suzanne Wilson, parent, Jonesboro, Ark.
-- Mayor Deedee Corradini, Salt Lake City, Utah
-- Tony Earles, professor, Harvard University,
Cambridge, Mass.
-- U.S. Rep. Bobby Etheridge, (D-N.C.)
-- Paul Evans, commissioner, Boston Police
Department, Boston, Mass.
-- Liberty Franklin, Everett Boys and Girls Club,
Everett, Wash.
-- Jamon Kent, superintendent, Springfield Public
Schools, Springfield, Ore.
-- Joanna Quintano, teacher, Coral Way Elementary
School, Miami, Fla.
-- Thomas C. Frazier, police commissioner, Baltimore
Police Department, Baltimore, Md.
-- Lt. Gary French, Boston's Operation Ceasefire,
Roslindale, Mass.
-- Mariana Gaston, director, Resolving Conflict
Creatively Program, New York, N.Y.
-- Lynn McDonald, Ph.D., founder, Families and
Schools Together, (FAST), Madison, Wis.
-- Irma Howard, FAST Graduate, New Orleans, La.
-- Sandy McBrayer, executive director, Children's
Initiative, Sad Diego, Calif.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: October 13, 1998
PAGE
26
12TH STORY of Level 2 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1998 M2 Communications Ltd.
M2 PRESSWIRE
October 19, 1998
LENGTH: 5320 words
HEADLINE: THE WHITE HOUSE
Press briefing by Dick Riley and Ray Fisher
HIGHLIGHT:
The Briefing Room
BODY:
MR. TOIV: Good afternoon, everybody. As you know, tomorrow here at the White
House we will have going on all day the White House Conference on School Safety,
Causes and Prevention of Youth Violence. Here today to brief on the conference
and to brief on the
- and to tell you about a report that they are issuing today on this same
subject, which is the first Annual Report on School Safety, are Education
Secretary Dick Riley and Associate Attorney General Ray Fisher.
SECRETARY RILEY: Thank you, Barry.
Before Ray Fisher and I talk about the report and the conference, let me
make just a few comments on the current budget negotiations.
As you know, education has been and remains the centerpiece of the
President's budget, and I think for very good reason. We have more children in
our nation's schools today than ever before and more are on the way. There's not
going to be any let-up in this enrollment increase. We need many more quality
teachers. We need to reduce class size and help communities build or modernize
thousands of schools. I think the time is now to do it. This is no time to wait
around. Schools are over-crowded and wearing out right now, and I can't
emphasize that enough.
We have put a $1.1 billion class size reduction proposal on the table that
is targeted to grades 1-3 to get average class size down to 18 to 1, 18 students
to a teacher, in those early grades - teachers who are well trained in reading.
And this is where we need to place our emphasis. Congress has accepted the
funding, and I'm so pleased that they have done so. But Congress has not
accepted the targeting, and that is an educational mistake. So I hope that's
worked out. Children need to master the basics, especially reading, and that
happens in those early grades when they get the individual attention that they
sorely need.
And it's also why we're facing a strong focus on literacy and why I urge the
Congress to fund the President's reading bill. I also urge Congress to take a
serious look at our school construction initiative. I just had a call from
Chancellor Rudy Crew in New York City, talking to me in very serious terms about
how the critical facilities situation was there and how critical it was to
quality schools.
PAGE
27
M2 PRESSWIRE October 19, 1998
I'll tell you there is still time to do that. We've offered a proposal with
offsets. Congress has refused to look at this offer and I think that's a
mistake. But parents all over America want their children going to safe and
modern schools. So I urge the Congress to come to the table on that, to support
the President's request for middle school counselors, in terms of drugs and
violence, to keep young people safe and away from drugs. If Congress would step
up to the plate today, we can have a bipartisan budget agreement that is good
for American education.
Now, let me turn to the report that we are releasing today. The report is
the result - and this is what it will look like and I think all of you will be
given copies of it. The report is a result of a directive issued by the
President to the Attorney General and to me to develop for the first time an
Annual Report on School Safety. As you know, we've issued several separate
reports over the course of the last year on school safety. This report, however,
is the first comprehensive effort by the federal government to give the American
people a clear picture regarding safety of their children when they go to
school.
We've pulled together information from all the pertinent agencies - the
Department of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Education. And to my way
of thinking, it makes good sense to have an annual report like this one. We have
more children in school than ever before, as I mentioned. We face
record-breaking enrollments. We're releasing the report, the research document
entitled "Indicators of School Crime and Safety," that lays the groundwork for
this first Annual School Safety Report.
Much of the data we're releasing today has been released in other reports,
but this is a compilation in one document where all of this information is, and
then it also contains some new data. For example, we note that 90 percent of our
schools are free of serious violent crime - 90 percent. This is something we
reported to you last February.
Three things, however, make this report different. It is comprehensive, and
it will be an annual report, and it goes beyond just reporting data to suggest
positive solutions. And that's very important. A report like this can be useful.
It can reassure parents that our schools are safe and also tell us where we need
to improve.
Now, let me mention this about the findings. The report tells us that
overall school crime is down. Much of the crime is theft related. Young people
are more likely to be in harm's way outside of the school than inside. This
report also tells us where we need to pay attention. The number of gangs has
almost doubled - 15 percent to 28 percent, and that's very troubling. Too many
teachers are victims of violence, and we should do better at targeting our
resources to the 10 percent of the schools that have to deal with serious
violent crime. The President will be making some recommendations on this
tomorrow at the White House Conference.
We're all sensitive to the terrible tragedies like West Paducah, Kentucky;
Edinborough, Pennsylvania; Pearl, Mississippi; Jonesboro, Arkansas; and
Springfield, Oregon. And that's why the Attorney General and I issued an early
warning guide at the beginning of the school year in September. We sent this out
to 81,000 public schools and to 27,000 private schools, as a help to them to
deal with this kind of potential problem.
PAGE
28
M2 PRESSWIRE October 19, 1998
This report that we're issuing today tells us that these types of multiple
homicides are very, very rare. We had two in 1992. We had six last school year,
and that was terrible. We don't want any of these, obviously, and we must do
everything in the world that we possibly can to prevent them from happening.
We've got to keep guns out of schools; that's an automatic need. This report
notes, for example, that fewer young people are bringing weapons to school. I
think our zero tolerance policy is having an impact. Some 6,000 kids plus were
expelled from school last year based on that policy.
I'd like to emphasize that the budget President Clinton submitted to
Congress, which is being discussed, will go a long way toward helping schools
and communities get needed resources to implement effective violence prevention
strategies. It's clear that there's no easy solution to improving schools, but
the President's meaningful proposals - like smaller class size in early grades,
modern school buildings, after-school programs, drug and violence prevention
counselors, targeted funding for effective programs are all common-sense ways to
help our schools.
This study emphasizes that smaller schools are better than bigger schools
when it comes to safety. I pulled in all of the largest school districts'
security officers, with the Attorney General. We had a couple-of-day session
with them. And they came back and said the most important thing we could do to
prevent the Jonesboro-Paducah-type thing to happen would be have smaller schools
and smaller classrooms so you can have that personal contact with students.
We've pushed hard during the budget process to build more schools, expand on
after-school efforts, and that's why we want more counselors in schools for
young people.
I can tell you that when young people feel connected it makes a powerful
difference. The Attorney General and I have gone around to some schools. We were
at T.C. Williams High School. They talked about a Ms. Finney there. She was a
guidance counselor who dealt with conflict resolution. She was tough on kids,
but they felt very connected to her. And several of them talked about how tough
she was on them, demanded a lot of things, but they felt very close to her. And
these kids, some of them told us that they didn't have the strong connections at
home and in their community, but being connected to this strong, important
teacher.
This report puts a strong emphasis on the fact that schools can't do this
alone. Everyone has to be involved. It starts with young people, themselves.
Students have to be accountable to each other. Parents have to slow down their
lives and spend more time with their children and pay attention to them and
listen to them. All the research tells us that comprehensive community-wide
prevention strategies work.
Now, let me let Ray Fisher make some comments and we'll be happy to discuss
also the White House Conference somewhat. That will be all day tomorrow here in
the White House. Top people from all over the country will be here
participating. There will be 600 downlinks all around the country so people can
participate. So we're very hopeful that it will be a very good conference and
I'm sure it will.
MR. FISHER: Thank you. Good afternoon. I have the privilege of working very
closely with the Attorney General on the very important issue of school safety
PAGE
29
M2 PRESSWIRE October 19, 1998
and the broader issues of youth violence and, generally, the issues of public
safety throughout this country. And I'm very proud to share today with Secretary
Riley as we talk to you about this first ever Annual Report on School Safety.
When tragedies occur we have to seize the opportunity to make some good
sense grow out of misfortune, and that's what we have tried to do here. In
response to a directive from President Clinton following the horrific shooting
in Paducah, Kentucky, last December, the Department of Justice and the
Department of Education have worked very constructively together to create a
report that is a practical, common-sense approach that is going to be useful to
all Americans.
It will allow communities to solve problems strategically, to work
cooperatively at their level and with the federal government. This is a report
that moves beyond the hype to define the school crime problems that we do have
and also to sort out those that we don't have.
We learned, for example, that our schools are, in fact, safer - safer than
they were five years ago. But, unfortunately, students are more likely to feel
unsafe in their schools. We learned, too, that while students are bringing fewer
weapons to school, the presence of gangs has doubled, as Secretary Riley pointed
out. We learned that while the number of multiple homicide events in schools
have increased, which is what triggered this report in the first place,
preliminary data suggests that, over all, the number of school-associated
violent deaths has actually decreased in the past two years.
It is these type of date that are critical not only because they capture the
essence of the issues that we face and our communities face, but also, more
importantly, probably, it informs us and the communities how to make decisions
on how to confront these issues. In fact, as you, in reviewing the report will
note, it provides vital information on ways that entire communities can address
their own unique local issues - information on the most effective
problem-solving processes and, most importantly, on individual programs that
work.
The report has a section on demonstrated effective programs and those that
we candidly call "promising programs." We are trying to identify where
communities, so they don't have to go out and reinvent the wheel, so that they
have resources available to them so they can jump-start some of these programs
if they meet their local needs.
Just recently there was a meeting here at the White House that I attended,
and others, with the principals, teachers, local law enforcement folks from
those schools where the tragic shootings have occurred. Everyone was so
absolutely adamant about the need for this kind of information. All of these
schools caught these issues out of nowhere. They were confronted just like that,
in the space on an instant, with these tragedies and these emergencies, and they
had to find ways to deal with both the aftermath of the shootings and how to
prevent them in the future.
What we have tried to do with this report is pull together data, as
Secretary Riley pointed out, data that is known but not assembled in this useful
form, and also add to it programs that will help folks in the local communities
deal with these problems. They will deal with these problems, of course, with
the support and assistance of the Department of Education, the Department of
PAGE
30
M2 PRESSWIRE October 19, 1998
Justice, Health and Human Services, whatever resources we can bring to bear.
So we are very pleased to be able to do this and look forward to an ongoing
dialogue with the communities. And, of course, we'd be happy to answer any of
your questions.
Thank you.
Q Secretary Riley, about the budget - you mentioned that the Republicans are
willing to spend this $1.1 billion, but that they don't want the money
specifically earmarked for hiring of new teachers. What if a local school
district said, rather than hiring new teachers we want to spend the money on a
violence prevention program that's not covered under the President's budget?
What would be wrong with that? What would be wrong with that school district
choosing to use the money that way?
SECRETARY RILEY: Well, there wouldn't be a thing wrong with it. The problem
is we have developed what we think is an important national policy. We have
developed, in targeting this particular purpose - that is, class size for grades
1, 2 and 3, with teachers well trained in reading - we have identified
accountability as an important feature of federal programs. And if you just send
money down for general purposes, you don't end up with a national purpose being
accomplished.
And that is what we're looking at. The President knows, based on what
everybody says, that having smaller classrooms in these early grades affects not
just education, it's very critical for the learning process. But it's also
critical in what we're talking about today. As I indicated, these security
people that came in and talked to us about how you identify troubled young
people that really are not connecting up with school or connecting up with
programs in school - small classrooms, then, in these early years can identify
these young people. Teachers can work with them and help them and, if not, bring
in others who can, who are professional. That's certainly true in that area.
When you look at special education, that's a very important area. Now, if
you have 35 young people in a classroom, then you have two or three kids who are
having trouble managing in the classroom structure, the teacher then is inclined
to say, well, I've got to move these kids out, they've got to be put into
special ed, or whatever. If they've got 16, 17 or 18 children, that teacher can
deal directly with them and often keep them then and in the regular classroom.
So I think this deals with a lot of issues other than just improving reading
and improving achievement of children. And it is a national purpose. It's very
important to target that and then you can evaluate it. Just like we did 100,000
police officers in the communities, on the street - when that is done, it makes
a difference. You can analyze that and evaluate it. When we put 100,000 teachers
out there - and it will take seven years - you've got to recruit, you've got to
bring teachers through the system, you've got to teach them specially how to
handle reading - but when we have them out there, I promise you it will be very
good for education in this country.
Q Can I ask another budget related question? When you were talking about the
school construction money it sounded more like a plea than a demand. I mean, the
White House has laid down some pretty clear markers on some issues and said,
we'll veto if this isn't included; this is not just a request, it's a demand.
PAGE
31
M2 PRESSWIRE October 19, 1998
Are you saying now, with regard to the school construction that you want the
Republicans to get off the dime on this, but if they don't, so be it?
SECRETARY RILEY: Well, that's not exactly what I'm saying. I'm certainly
saying we want them to get off the dime on it. As you know, it's on the tax side
of the measures and so you don't have to have a tax bill that is out there. You
have to have an appropriations bill and so we can deal more directly, the
President can, on the appropriations bill.
The construction, the modernization of schools, is very, very critical for
this country. And it is a high priority of ours, and we pushed on it for two
years, and we're pushing right now. So I certainly hope that they will include
it, but it is not anything that we can veto because it's not part of the
appropriations bill. So it's a little bit of a process problem, but it is very
much a priority of all of ours in the administration.
Q Either one of you can answer this. Republicans say that you're handing out
paper and holding a conference, but Democrats are opposing both a juvenile
justice bill that would address - seriously address the issue of serious crime
by juveniles and that the Democrats are also resisting in the examination of the
Safe and Drug-Free Schools program, the major program that addresses school
violence and drugs. Can you comment on that, the resistance to looking at the
Safe and Drug-Free Schools programs and the resistance to a strong juvenile
justice bill?
SECRETARY RILEY: Let me speak to the education one and then Ray can to the
justice one. The Safe and Drug-Free Schools program is really kind of a block
grant - what I call a responsible block grant because it has to be targeted in a
broad sense for safe and drug-free schools. But the money goes down and the
state then develops the plan with the local school districts. We don't do that
in Washington. It's done there. And there have been some concerns about - some
programs were effective and some were not as effective.
We did send down what we call our principles of effectiveness, and those are
now being used by the states to make sure all of these programs develop data as
to what their needs are, develop goals and purposes, then develop research-based
programs, and develop evaluation. And all that is taking place right now. So we
think it's going to make a big difference in the effectiveness of these
programs.
MR. FISHER: On the juvenile justice bill, there has been a longstanding
effort on the Justice Department's part to get a good bill which will have money
for and resources for prevention as well as punishment. And that has been where,
up until now, the hang-up has been. There is a very, as this report indicates,
tremendous amount of preventive programs that are needed out there, and that's
where the obstacles have come. We are, it's my understanding, in conversations
now attempting to get this dislodged. The Attorney General - none of us has
given up on that yet.
Q The report says that schools are safer, but kids are more fearful. What is
the source of the insecurity? What was your finding on that?
MR. FISHER: I think what the data is showing, it's reflecting that this is a
perception of kids. Some of this is data that's collected by asking kids how
they feel, and I know from having three public school teachers in my own
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family that teach out in California, that they will have experiences that the
kids read about in newspapers, their friends that are shot off campus, not on
campus, but that creates a climate of fear. And I think that is what we are
seeing. And I think in part it's also reflecting the increase in gangs on
campus, that it creates a sense of uncertainty and fear.
Q Are the gangs a sort of response to this insecurity? Are they joining
gangs for protection? Does that account for the rise, do you think?
MR. FISHER: There are lots of reasons why kids join gangs, but primarily -
and it depends on the area of the country you're in. My experience is with Los
Angeles; I can speak to that. There are a number of organized gangs that are
reactive to insecurities that the kids feel in the neighborhoods. Some of them
are out for - they deal in drugs, so they have an organization behind them which
is, in fact, recruiting young kids to deal in criminal behavior.
But kids basically, I think as Secretary Riley identified, join gangs or are
at risk in schools in very large measure because they aren't connected. They
don't have something to anchor them, be it at home in many cases and often in
the schools. And that's why they look for peer support.
Q And aside from smaller classrooms, what other sort of practical policy
implications does your report suggest? I mean, what other remedies have you
looked at?
SECRETARY RILEY: If you look through the report, one whole section deals
about what you can do as a student, as a parent, as a community, as a school, or
whatever, and very concrete suggestions. Then the final section has what works.
And you can connect up
- if you're in a small rural school, you can find an example of a rural
school there that has a violence prevention, drug prevention technique that
works. And if you're in a big school, the same thing, big inner-city school.
So the report goes a lot further than just the data talking about what the
problem is. We think that's extremely important, but it goes on to give models
and examples so you can get in touch with a school principal in Miami who is
having very good success, whose name and how to reach him and all is in the
report. So that's a key part of it.
MR. FISHER: Just one other illustration, a major one, which is one of the
things we've discovered are the kids do not know how, or are not trained in how
to work out conflict in a non-violent manner. And one of the repetitive things
we are learning is that if kids are given training early on, and all through
their education, how to resolve conflict in a peaceful manner, kids can then
turn around and train on a peer basis. But that is certainly one area that has
emerged as a very, very promising activity.
Q If the schools are safer, why is there a need to have this conference and
why is there a need to having new initiatives?
SECRETARY RILEY: Well, schools are safer in a slight percentage in terms of
overall criminal acts. But any criminal act, any act of violence makes it worthy
to improve. It still is a major concern of ours. When you look at - 47 percent
of the schools say that some form of violence related incidents have occurred.
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M2 PRESSWIRE October 19, 1998
They might be a fistfight or it might be a theft, a vandalism, or it might be a
homicide.
So we say, yes, it's gotten somewhat better, but it is important now to pay
more attention than ever. And, of course, these four or five terrible multiple
homicides last year really caught our attention as to the important need for
emphasizing this issue.
Q Secretary Riley, you were saying that these homicides last year in these
schools, and this last year with the schools caught your attention. And there's
been a large criticism that the government is starting to act on this because
these instances were in white schools. And on page 21 of this report it shows
that urban areas have been affected by this, as well as black students have been
affected by the murders at schools, and suicides. And there's been a constant
criticism that it's been overlooked before because of where it's happened. And
now that it's happened in these predominantly white communities, it's getting
more attention. What are your thoughts about that? Because what you're saying is
kind of contradicting page 21.
SECRETARY RILEY: Well - and Ray might want to add this to it - I am very
sensitive to homicide, wherever it occurs, whoever it involved, just as much for
one as another. We did have this rash of multiple homicides over a small period
of time that caught people's attention. And previous to that the average had
been one or two or less in a year - this was six, all of a sudden. And so I
think it's easy to understand how it did catch attention.
I'm very sensitive to what you're talking about. I, personally, and as far
as our policy is concerned, I'm just as concerned about any homicide anywhere,
anything in anyway related to a child, and especially at a school.
MR. FISHER: Yes, I would agree that, historically, the resources devoted to
all school violence problems has been inadequate. Indeed, that's why we have
been pushing the juvenile justice bill for so long, to get some of these
programs funded.
But what happened - and if you'll think back to these incidents, there were
people going on television talking about this as an epidemic of violence. And
that is what triggered our inquiry into it. And once we got into and pulled in
experts both at the Justice Department and here at the White House to analyze
it, to try and get information, it began to coalesce around the need in the
communities for information. There have been programs - there are the programs
that we put in this report that have been out there. People are working at the
local level. But what is happening is that somebody in New York develops a very
good program; they don't know anything about it in Los Angeles or San Francisco,
where the causes are still there.
Q They're saying it's an epidemic, but is says clearly -
MR. FISHER: No, that's what they were saying, and we're trying to find out
whether it was or not.
Q It says clearly, urban 62 percent, suburban 30 percent, rural 8 percent.
MR. FISHER: Our concern was that there suddenly were going to be a lot of
these copycat shootings and multiple homicides. There was no doubt - I can
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M2 PRESSWIRE October 19, 1998
'tell you that in my experience people were quite aware that there are gang
problems in the barrio and ghetto schools, inner-city schools, that needed to be
addressed. And I'm not going to stand here and say enough resources are deployed
to them. But what was the concern - and I think with the constructive aspect
that is coming out of all of this - is having been triggered by these very
tragic incidents, we are taking a look at all schools all across the country to
try and bring it home so that we can deal with schools of all kinds, large
urban, rural. They have different kinds of problems, but they have a common
problem of needing to have resources and intelligent scientific information
brought to bear on these problems. That's what we're trying to bring to it now.
SECRETARY RILEY: And I think you make a good point, and I'll see to it that
your point is raised in the conference that takes place tomorrow.
Q Secretary Riley, could you talk just a little bit about the main purpose
of tomorrow's conference? Are you going to be just discussing talking points in
sort of a town hall fashion, or do you expect to come up with some list of
things to do? Or what's the upshot of the conference?
SECRETARY RILEY: We will have some research experts here that are well-known
research people who have dealt with children's violence and school violence.
We'll have a lot of education people here, law enforcement people, child
psychologists, mental health - all of the different areas that would be of
interest - community-based groups, superintendents, and so forth.
And then, as I say, it's going to be downlinked out into 600 different
areas, so a lot of places that have a special interest in violence now are
connected up to it. Then we will break out into small groups and have very good
discussions to hear from all of these people and to really, hopefully, come up
with some sound suggestions of ways that we as a country and states and school
districts can move forward.
I don't know - do you want to say anything else about that? You think that
covers it pretty well? But that's kind of generally what it will be.
Q Can you clarify one point? Are you saying that parents' and students'
fears about crime is misplaced, that that fear is misplaced? And do you reject
the term "epidemic" that people were using?
MR. FISHER: Yes, I reject the notion of epidemic, only because of what we
learned through these various conferences. And, indeed, I think that initial
reaction generally has been dispelled. But the reason people were fearing for
their safety is what they were seeing on the nightly news, every night. When
that's drummed in, the kids begin to pick up on it, obviously. And that creates
a climate. What we, and the President particularly was trying to deal with was
let's find out precisely what's going on. And that's what we have been about.
Q Should they fear or not fear now? Is that misplaced, the fear?
MR. FISHER: They should not be fearful, except they should assess - and
that's what the report directs them to do, as well as the earlier guidance. If
they have concerns about their schools, they should get involved in their
schools and get real information instead of going on suppositions, which a lot
of people do. So we're trying to give them assistance and aides in how to get to
that place, give them information, but ultimately the schools are a local
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M2 PRESSWIRE October 19, 1998
'issue, very local, and they need to get familiar with their own schools. And
that's what we're trying to - we're trying to provide the tools and the
resources so that we can dispel the myths.
Q You raised the issue of gangs has doubled - the presence of gangs. But,
actually, that's the students reporting the presence of gangs, which might be
something altogether different. So that doesn't - I mean, couldn't that be the
product of increased awareness, or people reading some items of clothing or
behavior as indicative of a gang presence when you don't have a real clear
notion of what is a gang? And could you get into that number, since you raised
it as one of the sources of alarm or concern? There is a difference between
reporting the presence of gangs by students and the actual existence, the actual
presence of gangs.
MR. FISHER: No, I take your point - are we talking about perception or are
we talking about law enforcement figures? Within local jurisdictions there is
good intelligence on the existence of gangs. In terms of the data that's
reflected in the report, I'll have to defer to those who have dealt with the
underlying data. We can get that for you and find out what it's based on.
Q Secretary Riley, what has been your impression or your findings of schools
that do have a dress code and uniforms? Has that brought down crime and brought
better discipline?
SECRETARY RILEY: I think generally - and you have to be general because some
things work better in some places than others do - I think generally, if parents
are involved in the decision to get into uniforms or something like that, and
students are involved, it seems to work very, very well. If it's perceived to be
put upon them by someone other than the people who are involved, normally it
doesn't work as well.
As you know, the President has seen a couple of schools, like in Long Beach,
that he was very impressed with. And he wants that to be considered by people as
an option. But it is not a panacea. It is an option, but it is a very good
option and in many, many cases causes certainly better discipline in the school
and impacts violence in that way.
Q Mr. Secretary, do you disagree then with the results of an ETS study that
was released yesterday that said that school uniforms did not have much of an
impact on discipline in school?
SECRETARY RILEY: Well, I don't think I've seen that study, but I can show
you some schools where it has had a major impact, and I can show you some where
it has not had much of an impact. So I think probably, rather than trying to
generalize on it is effective in all cases, as I indicated, it is not, but it
usually is effective if it's gone about in the right way. So I'm not going to
argue with the generalization, but I do know cases where certainly it has
helped.
Thank you all very much.
LANGUAGE: English
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13TH STORY of Level 2 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1998 Star Tribune
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
October 16, 1998, Metro Edition
SECTION: Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 1186 words
HEADLINE: School safety summit leads call to battle antigay bias;
Amid concerns about a lack of tolerance, a report shows school crime is down
overall.
BYLINE: Rob Hotakainen; Staff Writer
BODY:
Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton on Thursday joined gay and lesbian
leaders who accused the nation's schools of failing to do enough to address
antigay bias, saying it's time for Americans to "stand up and scream and holler"
and put an end to hate crimes.
"We need to do it now and be serious about it before another gay person is
killed or another African-American is hung by his neck and dragged down the
streets of an American city until he's dead," said Sayles Belton at the first
White House Conference on School Safety.
The first national report on school safety says the overall crime rate in
schools is down, but concerns are mounting over gay and lesbian students' safety
in the wake of Matthew Shepard's killing.
The 22-year-old gay man was beaten to death in Wyoming last week.
"It really struck home for me: I realized that I could have been Matthew
Shepard," said conference participant Jamie Nabozny, of Duluth, a 23-year-old
gay man who won a $ 900,000 settlement after he was abused by schoolmates in
Ashland, Wis.
President Clinton used the conference to urge Congress to approve hate-crime
legislation. The president's call came after the head of the Gay, Lesbian and
Straight Education Network urged the administration and school officials to step
up their efforts against antigay violence.
"We view the tragic events in Wyoming as a failure of America's schools to
address antigay bias," said Kevin Jennings, executive director of the New York
City-based group. "Our schools not only failed Matthew Shepard. They failed his
murderers. They failed to teach these young men to live in the real world."
Nabozny, a sophomore at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, agreed. "It's
very important that - from the highest levels of our government - we're hearing
things about gay and lesbian issues, especially youth issues," he said. "What
happened in Wyoming should never have happened. And it happened because the hate
and the biases and the prejudices are not taken care of in schools."
Nabozny won a $ 900,000 out-of-court settlement from his school district,
which he claimed had failed to protect him from abuse from other students who
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Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), October 16, 1998
shoved, beat, spat and urinated on him and pushed his head into a urinal. He
said the abuse occurred from the time he entered Ashland Middle School in 1988
until he dropped out of Ashland High School as a junior in 1993. Nabozny said he
was kicked in the stomach so many times that he required surgery.
A plea for tolerance
"I'm lucky enough to survive, and I'm lucky enough to be a spokesperson to
make sure that this doesn't happen to other kids," said Nabozny, who attended a
vigil Wednesday night for Shepard. "It really scares me that something like
this could happen. And it puts a fear back into me that I haven't had for a
while for my own safety."
Nabozny's case was "a landmark school safety case" and the reason why he was
invited to participate in the landmark conference, said Sarah Gegenheimer,
Clinton's assistant press secretary. In his first trip to the White House, he
met the president and spoke with U.S. Education Secretary Richard Riley and Vice
President Al Gore.
He is studying to be a social studies teacher and said he wants "to make
changes so that gay and lesbian kids can feel safe" in public schools.
Sayles Belton, who attended the White House conference with the mayors of
Detroit, Boston and Salt Lake City, said the public needs to express its outrage
over the Shepard case.
"It's absolutely horrific," she said in an interview. "It's the most
horrible thing that anybody would ever expect to happen to anyone.
"It hurts so much that an innocent person who didn't do anything to anybody
was just singled out because he was different, because he was gay, and somebody
decided that they had a right to take his life away because they didn't agree
with his lifestyle. And that's wrong. America really does have to stand up and
scream and holler that that's not right, that it's not tolerated, and it won't
go on."
Sayles Belton said that "we have as a total society failed" to get the
message across that gay-bashing and attacks against people for any racial or
religious differences cannot be tolerated.
"I think schools have to do more," she said, adding that they must stand
firm against criticism that they're promoting gay lifestyles by addressing the
issue in school curricula.
"It's not a question of condoning or promoting," she said. "It's the idea of
tolerance."
Twin Cities fare better
Twin Cities schools fared better than most of their urban counterparts in a
report card released recently by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education
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Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), October 16, 1998
Network.
The group gave the Minneapolis School District a B, while the St. Paul
district received a C. Among other things, districts were ranked on whether they
provided staff training on gay and lesbian issues, whether they supported
curricula that reflected gay and lesbian issues and whether their policies
protected staff and students from discrimination.
The nation's top-ranked districts were Los Angeles, San Diego, San
Francisco, Dade County and Philadelphia. All received A rankings. Denver, Boston
and Seattle were graded A-.
In Minnesota, all districts now are required to have plans that address
harassment issues for students, said John Hustad, deputy commissioner of the
state Department of Children, Families and Learning.
"Our department wants schools to be tolerant and respectful and safe places
for all students, regardless of their background,' Hustad said. "Violence is
just not tolerable, under any circumstance, for any reason."
Despite a spate of publicity caused by recent school shootings, the nation's
schools are safer today than they were just a few years ago, according to the
report on school safety.
"The greatest problem of violence in schools turns out to be thefts and
fistfights, the kinds of things you might expect in schools," said Ray Fisher,
associate attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department. "Generally, what
this report has told us is that the schools are safe."
Minnesota officials said they're experiencing the same trend.
"I'm very glad to know that this is happening across the nation, Hustad
said. "Minnesota is parallel with the rest of the country, with violence
declining."
In Washington, Clinton announced a series of initiatives to curb school
violence, including a $ 65 million program to help local communities hire 2,000
new police officers to stand guard at high-risk schools.
"Preventive policing has helped to make our streets safe. It can work for
our schools, too," the president said.
The police will be hired to work at the 10 percent of public schools, mostly
urban, that have been hit hardest by violence. For districts that apply, the
federal government will provide the $ 225,000 that it costs on average to hire a
police officer for three years.
- This story includes material from the Washington Post.
- For Web sites on school safety, hate crime prevention and a discussion, go
to http://www.startribune.com.
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LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: October 16, 1998