[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
[April 23, 1999]
[Pages 604-605]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on School Safety and an Exchange With Reporters
April 23, 1999

    The President. Good morning. Before I leave to go to the NATO Summit 
this morning, I'd like to say just a few more words about the tragedy in 
Littleton and the steps we're taking to make all our schools safer.
    The images from Colorado have become painfully familiar, the 
terrified children, the racing ambulances, the grieving families. We saw 
them last year, in Pearl, West Paducah, Jonesboro, Springfield. We were 
reminded again this week that none of our communities is immune to 
senseless violence.
    Still, it is important to remember and to remind our children that 
the vast majority of our schools are safe. Nearly everywhere in America 
a child still is safer in school than anywhere else in the community.
    But this week's tragedy reminds us again that one act of violence is 
one too many. We must do more to keep guns out of the hands of children, 
to help our young people express their anger and alienation with words, 
not weapons, to prevent violence from shattering the peace of our 
schoolyards.
    I've spoken to Attorney General Reno, who was 
at the scene yesterday to assist law enforcement in their investigation 
and to offer comfort to the students and the families. I also talked 
with Dr. DeStefano and the school board last 
evening for a few minutes to share some thoughts with them and to 
express my appreciation to them for their efforts.
    The Justice Department today will make $1\1/2\ million from our 
crime victims trust fund available to help the communities assist the 
victims in their long journey toward recovery. And we will do more.
    Last October, at our White House Conference on School Safety, I 
launched a new initiative to bring more of the same community policing

[[Page 605]]

that is doing so much to reduce crime on our streets to our schools. 
Today I'm pleased to announce the first of the grants funding these 
community police will be awarded to 336 schools and communities to help 
hire more than 600 police officers. Like their counterparts on the 
streets, these school officers will work closely with the citizens they 
serve, with students, teachers, and parents, to improve campus security, 
to counsel troubled youth, to mediate conflicts before they escalate 
into violence.
    I want to thank Senator Chuck Robb for 
his strong leadership on this issue. By the end of the year we hope to 
have 2,000 new officers in our schools, and I encourage all communities 
to apply for these grants.
    I also want to take this opportunity to remind communities that they 
have until June 1st to apply for the Federal Safe Schools-Healthy 
Students funds, to help them put in place comprehensive violence 
prevention programs. Those of you who were with me yesterday in 
Alexandria at T.C. Williams High School know how important the students 
there believe such a program is. These funds can be used for everything 
from establishing conflict resolution groups to hiring more mental 
health counselors, to establishing new mentoring programs, to installing 
metal detectors and other security equipment.
    By taking actions to prevent future acts of violence in our schools, 
we can best honor the memories of those who lost their lives.
    Thank you very much.

Legislative Initiatives/Kosovo

    Q. Mr. President, you didn't mention gun control. Are you going to 
do more on gun control?
    Q. To be clear, sir, do all hostilities in Kosovo have to end before 
there can be consideration of ground troops, sir?
    The President. First of all, I know you understand I've got to run 
over there and meet all the people who are coming. We will have more 
legislative initiatives to announce in the days ahead. As I said a 
couple of days ago, we will have some legislative responses and efforts 
we have been working on for some time, actually.
    On the other, I think our conditions are clear.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 8:18 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House, prior to his departure for the Ronald Reagan International Trade 
Center. In his remarks, he referred to Jon DeStefano, president, board 
of education, Jefferson County, CO.