WILDER SIGNS SCHOOL VIOLENCE BILL PACKAGE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 4, 1993                   TAG: 9304040126
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short
WILDER SIGNS SCHOOL VIOLENCE BILL PACKAGE
Gov. Douglas Wilder on Friday signed a package of bills intended to curb violence in the schools by cracking down on disruptive students.
The legislation will allow school superintendents to exclude students who try to enroll after being expelled from another school district. It also requires juvenile court judges to notify superintendents of students convicted of crimes involving weapons, assaults or drugs.
Courts also will be allowed to deny drivers' licenses to students convicted of drug, alcohol or handgun offenses.
Another bill will establish four regional alternative schools for disruptive students at a cost of $1.2 million.
"Creating a safe, orderly environment is necessary to any meaningful school improvement," Wilder said at a signing ceremony.
"We must ensure that each child in our society has at least one `safe haven' and one of those places must be the school," he said.
The legislation grew out of a report by a governor's commission on school violence, which was formed following several incidents of school shootings and weapons being brought into schools.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB