<b><center>Mayors Meeting With President Clinton; Present National Action Plan For School Safety</center></b>
For Immediate Release
Mayors Meeting With President Clinton; Present National Action Plan For School Safety
WASHINGTON. (October 14) --- One hundred thousand youth counselors should be hired and placed in the nation's schools. Uniforms should be worn by all the nation's schoolchildren. Handguns should be "personalized" to allow their firing only by the adults legally authorized to use them. The firearms industry should halt advertising that suggests a gun in the home makes a family safer. And a coalition of parents, educators, mayors and other elected officials should be formed to pressure the news and entertainment media to offer more positive coverage of young people and drastically curtail the depiction of violence among youths.
These are among the bold recommendations The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) will present at a White House Conference on School Safety, hosted by President and Mrs. Clinton and Vice President and Mrs. Gore, on Thursday, October 15.
The ideas emerged during the USCM National Summit on School Violence and Kids from 2 to 8 PM, held in Salt Lake City in September to prepare for the White House meeting. About 60 mayors from The US Conference of Mayors Leadership met with Attorney General Janet Reno, over 15 police chiefs, education experts, and top health, parks, recreation and arts officials, as well as representatives from the entertainment industry and news media, and students.
The National Action Plan on School Violence and Kids from 2 to 8 PM addresses four critical areas: violence in schools, kids' activities after school, the impact of the news media and the influence of the entertainment industries on children's values and behaviors. Among other measures, the National Action Plan calls for later starting times for schools, a boycott against products whose commercials fund violent television programs, and metal detectors for schools that need them. The plan also advocates holding gun owners liable for children who gain access to improperly stored guns, and keeping schools open after-hours to provide children a safe place to go.
Mayor Deedee Corradini of Salt Lake City, host of the USCM Summit and President of the US Conference of Mayors, said, "We need to take dramatic steps to stop the violence in our schools. Kids are bringing weapons to school, or are too afraid to go to school. Our suggestions range from things that can be done at home to things that we need the support of Congress to legislate. All of our recommendations can make a difference in the crisis we face."
She adds, "Preventing violence is the goal and it requires attention from many angles: providing alternative activities for kids, stricter penalties for offenses, more deterrents to violence, ways to intervene before a child erupts and ways to change attitudes, to instill a respect for life. This Plan works on each of these fronts. "
Representing the USCM at the conference with Mayor Corradini will be, Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton from Minneapolis, Mayor Tom Menino of Boston and Mayor Dennis Archer of Detroit.
Contact: Chip Brown, United States Conference of Mayors, 202-861-6708 or
Rob DeRocker or Melissa Rossi Wood, Development Counsellors International, 212-725-0707
|
