II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 973

To provide for school safety, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 6, 1999

Mr. ROBB (for himself, Mr. KERRY, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To provide for school safety, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘School Safety En5 hancement Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:

8 (1) While our Nation’s schools are still rel9 atively safe, it is imperative that schools be provided

10 with adequate resources to prevent incidents of vio11 lence.
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1 (2) Approximately 10 percent of all public

2 schools reported at least 1 serious violent crime to

3 a law enforcement agency over the course of the

4 1996–1997 school year.

5 (3) In 1996, approximately 225,000 students

6 between the ages of 12 and 18 were victims of

7 nonfatal violent crime in schools in the United

8 States.

9 (4) From 1992 through 1994, 76 students and

10 29 non-students were victims of murders or suicides

11 that were committed in schools in the United States.

12 (5) The school violence incidents in several

13 States across the Nation in 1998 and 1999 caused

14 enormous damage to schools, families, and whole

15 communities.

16 (6) Because of escalating school violence, the

17 children of the United States are increasingly afraid

18 that they will be attacked or harmed at school.

19 (7) A report issued by the Department of Edu20 cation in August, 1998, entitled ‘‘Early Warning,

21 Early Response’’ concluded that the reduction and

22 prevention of school violence is best achieved

23 through safety plans which involve the entire com24 munity, policies which emphasize both prevention

25 and intervention, training school personnel, parents,
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1 students, and community members to recognize the

2 early warning signs of potential violent behavior and

3 to share their concerns or observations with trained

4 personnel, establishing procedures which allow rapid

5 response and intervention when early warning signs

6 of violent behavior are identified, and providing ade7 quate support and access to services for troubled

8 students.

9 SEC. 3. NATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOOL AND YOUTH SAFE10 TY.

11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Education

12 and the Attorney General shall jointly establish a National

13 Center for School and Youth Safety (in this section re14 ferred to as the ‘‘Center’’). The Secretary of Education

15 and the Attorney General may establish the Center at an

16 existing facility, if the facility has a history of performing

17 two or more of the duties described in subsection (b). The

18 Secretary of Education and the Attorney General shall

19 jointly appoint a Director of the Center to oversee the op20 eration of the Center.

21 (b) DUTIES.—The Center shall carry out emergency

22 response, anonymous student hotline, consultation, and in23 formation and outreach activities with respect to elemen24 tary and secondary school safety, including the following:
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1 (1) EMERGENCY RESPONSE.—The staff of the

2 Center, and such temporary contract employees as

3 the Director of the Center shall determine necessary,

4 shall offer emergency assistance to local commu5 nities to respond to school safety crises. Such assist6 ance shall include counseling for victims and the

7 community, assistance to law enforcement to address

8 short-term security concerns, and advice on how to

9 enhance school safety, prevent future incidents, and

10 respond to future incidents.

11 (2) ANONYMOUS STUDENT HOTLINE.—The

12 Center shall establish a toll-free telephone number

13 for students to report criminal activity, threats of

14 criminal activity, and other high-risk behaviors such

15 as substance abuse, gang or cult affiliation, depres16 sion, or other warning signs of potentially violent be17 havior. The Center shall relay the reports, without

18 attribution, to local law enforcement or appropriate

19 school hotlines. The Director of the Center shall

20 work with the Attorney General to establish guide21 lines for Center staff to work with law enforcement

22 around the Nation to relay information reported

23 through the hotline.

24 (3) CONSULTATION.—The Center shall estab25 lish a toll-free number for the public to contact staff
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1 of the Center for consultation regarding school safe2 ty. The Director of the Center shall hire administra3 tive staff and individuals with expertise in enhancing

4 school safety, including individuals with backgrounds

5 in counseling and psychology, education, law en6 forcement and criminal justice, and community de7 velopment to assist in the consultation.

8 (4) INFORMATION AND OUTREACH.—The Cen9 ter shall compile information about the best prac10 tices in school violence prevention, intervention, and

11 crisis management, and shall serve as a clearing12 house for model school safety program information.

13 The staff of the Center shall work to ensure local

14 governments, school officials, parents, students, and

15 law enforcement officials and agencies are aware of

16 the resources, grants, and expertise available to en17 hance school safety and prevent school crime. The

18 staff of the Center shall give special attention to

19 providing outreach to rural and impoverished com20 munities.

21 (c) FUNDING.—The Secretary of Education shall

22 make available $15,000,000 from amounts appropriated

23 to carry out title IV of the Elementary and Secondary

24 Education Act of 1965, and the Attorney General shall

25 make available $35,000,000 from amounts appropriated
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1 for programs administered by the Office of Justice Pro2 grams of the Department of Justice, for each of fiscal

3 years 2000 through 2003 to carry out this section.

4 SEC. 4. SAFE COMMUNITIES, SAFE SCHOOLS.

5 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—Using funds made avail6 able under subsection (c), the Secretary of Education, the

7 Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Attor8 ney General shall award grants, on a competitive basis,

9 to help communities develop community-wide safety pro10 grams involving students, parents, educators, guidance

11 counselors, psychologists, law enforcement officials or

12 agencies, civic leaders, and other organizations serving the

13 community.

14 (b) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—Funds provided

15 under this section may be used for activities that may in16 clude efforts to—

17 (1) increase early intervention strategies;

18 (2) expand parental involvement;

19 (3) increase students’ awareness of warning

20 signs of violent behavior;

21 (4) promote students’ responsibility to report

22 the warning signs to appropriate persons;

23 (5) promote conflict resolution and peer medi24 ation programs;
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1 (6) increase the number of after-school pro2 grams;

3 (7) expand the use of safety-related equipment

4 and technology; and

5 (8) expand students’ access to mental health

6 services.

7 (c) FUNDING.—The Secretary of Education shall

8 make available $24,000,000 for each of the fiscal years

9 2000 through 2003 to carry out this section from amounts

10 appropriated to carry out title IV of the Elementary and

11 Secondary Education Act of 1965.

12 SEC. 5. AMENDMENTS TO THE NATIONAL CHILD PROTEC13 TION ACT OF 1993.

14 Section 5(10) of the National Child Protection Act

15 of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 5119c(10)) is amended to read as fol16 lows:

17 ‘‘(10) the term ‘qualified entity’ means—

18 ‘‘(A) a business or organization, whether

19 public, private, for-profit, not-for-profit, or vol20 untary, that provides care or care placement

21 services, including a business or organization

22 that licenses or certifies others to provide care

23 or care placement services; or

24 ‘‘(B) an elementary or secondary school.’’.

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