A 1999 White House summit on school safety after Colorado’s Columbine High School shootings was seen as heavy on talk, light on action, says Gannett News Service. What is the prospect of a similar summit being convened tomorrow by President Bush? The event comes after a series of school shootings; last week, five Amish girls were killed in a Pennsylvania schoolhouse.
Directed by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, the session will include teachers, parents, school administrators, law enforcement officials and other experts. The president and first lady will take part. National dataics show a steady decline in school crime, including murder, over the past decade. Safety consultant Ken Trump warns that schools often under-report incidents and that the recent shootings in rural Wisconsin, Colorado, and Pennsylvania show no classroom is absolutely safe. Most schools under $10,000 in federal security aid. Federal funding to combat crime and drugs in schools has steadily fallen since Bush entered the White House.
Link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-10-08-school-summit_x.htm