Secretary Co-hosts Conference on School Safety
| FOR RELEASE: October 10, 2006 |
Contact: Katherine McLane or Samara Yudof (202) 401-1576 |
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Washington, DC — To protect students, increase school safety and raise awareness of effective ways to prevent violence, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales today hosted the Conference on School Safety at the request of President Bush.
"Our country has seen terrible and senseless violence in our schools in recent weeks and my heart goes out to the families and communities whose lives have been so tragically affected," said Secretary Spellings. "Nothing is more important to parents than knowing that their child is headed to a safe place when they send them off to school every morning. That is why President Bush asked us to bring together parents, teachers, law enforcement and community leaders to focus on school safety, share our best practices and emphasize what all of us — including students — can do to shield our schools from harm. Communities bear the first responsibility when it comes to creating a safe learning environment and we must do everything we can to support their efforts to protect our children."
Following the recent streak of violence in schools around the nation, President Bush asked Secretary Spellings and Attorney General Gonzales to convene a conference on school safety. Today's conference participants include education, threat assessment, legal, crisis counseling and intervention experts, as well as teachers, elected officials, school administrators and parents.
Secretary Spellings led panels on preventing school violence and helping communities cope with traumatic events and introduced First Lady Laura Bush. To conclude the conference, Secretary Spellings and Attorney General Gonzales presented President Bush with a summary of the panel discussions and led a dialogue on federal, state and local cooperation to enhance school safety.
For practical information regarding crisis planning for schools and communities, please visit: http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/emergencyplan/crisisplanning.pdf
For emergency planning resources, please visit: http://www.ed.gov/emergencyplan or http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061010-1.html
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