G ood morning. I am Dick Riley, the U.S. Secretary of Education.

This morning we are releasing our annual report on the implementation of the Gun-Free Schools Act. This is a congressionally mandated annual report. I would like to thank Senator Diane Feinstein and Senator Byron Dorgan for their strong support for this important piece of legislation.

I am joined today by Eric Holder, the Deputy Attorney General, who is here today representing the Justice Department and Attorney General Janet Reno. I am also joined by six chiefs of police for school security from around the country as well as senior members of my staff. Let me introduce each of them to you.

a.. Wesley Mitchell is the chief of police for the Los Angeles unified school district. Los Angeles unified is the third largest school district in the country with close to 700,000 students.

b.. Bruce Marquis is the chief of police for the Houston independent school system in Houston, Texas.

c.. Jack Martin is the chief of police for Indianapolis public schools.

d.. Lieutenant Karen Hall represents the Atlanta public school system.

e.. Edward Ray is the director for school security for the Denver public schools.

f.. Michael Gough is the director of security for the Montgomery County, Maryland school system, which is a suburban community just outside of Washington. Montgomery Country is also the 13th largest school system in the country.

I am going to make a few brief comments and then I am going to ask Eric Holder to comment as well. Then, in order to make this a more interactive panel, I am going to ask Wesley Mitchell to do his best to represent the collective wisdom of the other school security experts we have on the panel today. I will then open up the round table for questions. Feel free to ask any member of the panel a question.

Now to the data. Today, we are reporting that there has been a significant decrease in the number of young people expelled for bringing a firearm to school during the last school year. A total of 3,910 students were expelled from school last year, a drop of 31 percent. A total of 5,724 students were expelled from school for bringing some form of firearm to school the year before.

The majority of expulsions, 62 percent, were for handguns; 7 percent were for rifles or shotguns; and the remaining 31 percent were for other types of firearms such as bombs and grenades.

The majority of students who were expelled, 57 percent, were in high school; 33 percent were in junior high; and 10 percent were in elementary school.

How should we interpret this data? The sharp decline in the number of students bringing guns to schools tells us that we are starting to move in the right direction.

However, we are all acutely aware of the tragedies of the last two years. I don't think any of us rests easy today. The recent tragedy in Atlanta reminds us once again that this country really has created a culture of violence with this easy access to guns. Americans really need to stop and think hard about what is happening.

We are determined to do all that we can to keep all of our children out of harm's way. I know that school officials across the country-including those here today-have been more than diligent as they prepare for the school year ahead. Even though less than one percent of all homicides among school-aged children (5 to 19) occur in or around our public schools, there is a new level of vigilance and a new level of concern.

America's schools should be safe havens for all children. By and large we have done a good job of reaching that standard. I believe that all of us-parents, educators, students and all citizens-can look to this new school year with hope, not with fear. But more needs to be done and this can only happen if every community puts its heart and soul into reconnecting with all of our children. Our schools cannot do it alone.

Everybody-parents and neighbors, teachers and principals, police officers and community workers, pastors and rabbis, and students-has a role to play in helping to keep our schools safe.

For our part, we are taking four immediate action steps. First, we will soon release $100 million to 50 communities for our "Safe Schools/Healthy Students" initiative. These grants will support a comprehensive community-wide approach to reducing violence.

Second, next month we will release $35 million to support coordinators in middle schools to help start or improve prevention programs to reduce drug and alcohol use and to help young people find other ways to resolve problems other than through violence. I urge Congress to support these important programs rather than insist on a misguided tax plan cut that would mean drastic cuts in education.

Third, we will send out an advance version of our Early Warning Guide to help schools and communities develop strong prevention programs and specific ways to deal with a crisis when a crisis does occur. Over 300,000 copies of the Early Warning Guide have gone out so far, and I can tell you that it remains in high demand.

Fourth, we are asking the Congress to support an increase in our Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program. I am asking the Congress to pay close attention to our $12 million request for Project SERV. Project SERV will provide emergency assistance to school districts that are affected by serious violence or traumatic incidents.

Thank you all very much.

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