Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 12, 1993 TAG: 9306120041
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA LENGTH: Short
To help combat the problem, President Clinton will ask Congress to approve a grant program of more than $175 million to help school districts screen for weapons and to train students in the art of conflict resolution, Secretary of Education Richard Riley said Friday.
Districts with a history of school violence could receive up to $3 million each over two years.
"All our efforts to raise the standard of American education will be to no avail unless we provide children with a safe and disiplined environment that is conducive to learning," Riley said during a speech to the Education Press Association of America.
Riley said the administration will ask Congress to approve a five-year program calling for $75 million in fiscal year 1994 and $100 million in fiscal year 1995. Figures for the final three years were not detailed.
He said he thought the proposal had a good chance of passage.
About 3 million incidents of theft or violence occurred on or near school grounds every day in 1991, according to a survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The survey showed that 20 percent of students carried a weapon on a regular basis, 16 percent of high school seniors were threatened with a weapon at school and 8 percent of public schoolteachers were physically threatened by students, with 2 percent actually being attacked.
by CNB