Date: 2013-05-22
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. in the wake of the horrific tragedy in Newtown. Connecticut. where 20 children were murdered. the issue of keeping children safe has been on the minds of all Americans. Since this tragedy occurred in a school. districts and States have. understandably. focused conversations on preventing and responding to violent crime that occurs in the school building itself. However. protecting children will require much more than preventing an outside intruder from committing acts of violence against students or a good emergency response plan to deal with an event. We need to recognize that violenceor the fear of violenceagainst children does not begin or end at the schoolhouse door. Thats why Ive devoted this month to introduce legislation that focuses on the safety needs of children as a national priority. First. I introduced legislation to establish the minimum safety standards to prevent abusive seclusion and restraint practices in schools across the country. The Keeping All Students Safe Act would protect schoolchildren from inappropriate uses of seclusion and restraints and provide school personnel with the necessary tools. training. and support to ensure the safety of all students and school personnel. These practices are. at best. cruel and. at worst. deadly. They continue to be used on children across the country. In Indiana. an 8yearold girl with Down syndrome had her shoes ducttaped painfully to her ankles because she refused to put her shoes on. In North Carolina. a 14yearold boy with a traumatic brain injury was confined inside a cardboard box as a form of timeout. In some cases. children have even died from improper restraints and seclusion. My bill also would stop these abusive practices. but safety shouldnt stop at the schoolhouse door. Investigations conducted by the Government Accountability Office. at my request. in 2007 and 2008 found that private and public residential programs. including therapeutic boarding schools. wilderness camps. boot camps. and behavior modification facilities are not always run in a safe manner. Recently. the Tampa Bay Times confirmed that problems of abuse and neglect continue. with stories of children being bruised. bloodied. and choked into unconsciousness at these programs. all in the name of discipline. More horrific stories of child abuse. including deaths in some cases. have been documented in seven States residential programs in just the past 2 years. Last week. I introduced the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act. a bill that would set basic health and safety standards the State would need to adopt to enforce and protect teens from physical. mental. and sexual abuse in these programs. It would also create easily accessible information for parents about the safety records of the programs so that parents can make sound decisions about if they want to send their child there or not. No one disputes that our schools and residential programs must be a safe place for children where they can focus on learning and improving their lives. not fearing for their lives. Though some States have made progress developing policies to protect children from acts of violence. abuse. and neglect. a patchwork of protections. riddled with holes. is not acceptable when it comes to our Nations children. We cannot sit idly by as incidents of children being abused or killed continues to occur. Today. Im introducing legislation that will prevent registered sex offenders and criminals convicted of crimes against children from working at schools. The Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act would require public schools to conduct comprehensive background checks on any employee. using State criminal and child abuse registries and the FBIs fingerprint database. It would also prohibit school districts from hiring or retaining anyone who has been convicted of certain violent crimes. including crimes against children. crimes involving rape or sexual assault. and child pornography. Mr. Speaker. keeping our children safe isnt a partisan issue. its a moral obligation. This Congress must do more to protect our children. One way Congress can immediately help to ensure that students and schools have the support needed to address all aspects of violence is through the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Through a bipartisan rewrite of the Nations education law. we can ensure that schools and students have the necessary support to provide key nonacademic services essential for students to succeed in a safe and healthy learning environment. In the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Democrats will be fighting for these critical services. including other measures to promote safety. such as school services for violence prevention activities. bullying and harassment prevention. drug and alcohol abuse prevention. and programs to prepare for and respond to natural disasters and emergencies in our schools. Mr. Speaker. on my last point. my thoughts continue to be with the victims and families of all those who have suffered and continue to suffer from the terrible tragedy that took place in Oklahoma earlier this week. We are just amazed and honor all of the efforts of school staff. teachers. and parents trying to get children out of harms way. and our heart goes out to those who were unsuccessful. I hope that Congress can support these communities in healing in every possible way. As always. keeping kids safe requires the coordinated efforts of children. principals. superintendents. community partners. and parents. And protecting children from violence and freeing students to learn and better their lives means ensuring that states. districts. schools and communities have the resources and supports needed to implement evidencebased approaches that are tailored to the unique needs of children in that area. My bills are only part of the solution. but an important step forward. We owe it to parents and to the children and to the school officials who follow the rules to consider these bills. We also owe it to them to send a strong message that people who abuse children or do not do their jobs to keep children safe will face serious consequences. I hope that this Congress will be able to take an even more comprehensive approach to protect children in our schools and residential programs. and I urge all of my colleagues to support these bills.